Join us on Wednesday, September 9th for WORKS Demo Day! 

It's been a big summer here at KEC, with six startups learning from mentors and subject matter experts over the course of nine weeks! Now - it's your turn to see what everyone has been working on! Each founder will showcase their company in a five minute pitch, followed by lively Q&A. From operational development to energy intelligence, healthcare to AI, The WORKS Startup Accelerator brings together a powerful group of early-stage software, technology, and tech-enabled companies poised for rapid growth.

Schedule: 

• 5pm Doors open
• 5:30- 7pm 
  • Kickoff and introductions from Knoxville Entrepreneur Center
  • "Where Are They Now" Fireside Chat with previous WORKS Accelerator grads
    
  • 5 Minute Pitch presentations from each WORKS Accelerator company
• 7pm Happy Hour and Networking

THE WORKS, powered by Knoxville Entrepreneur Center, is an intensive, eight-week startup accelerator designed to help early-stage software, technology, and tech-enabled companies scale through customer insights, industry connections, and investment readiness. ​

Meet the six Startups and their mentor teams:

VeriQual, Bryan Crosby, paired with lead mentor Patrick Slain
VeriQual builds VOSE™ — a deterministic, rules-based income verification platform for non-W2 borrowers. We serve institutional lenders: mortgage companies, auto lenders, and community banks that need a fast, auditable alternative to manual tax return analysis for self-employed applicants.

Equipment Locker, John Nelson, paired with lead mentor Bill Broussard
Equipment Locker is a machine-level operational knowledge platform that connects manuals, procedures, troubleshooting data, training, parts information, and AI-assisted guidance directly to industrial equipment through QR-based access. They help maintenance and operations teams reduce downtime, preserve tribal knowledge, improve training, and access governed, evidence-bound information at the point of work.

VAC Score, David O’Dell, paired with lead mentor Kevin Stewart
VACScore is an independent evidence scoring framework designed to support hospital and health system Value Analysis Committees. It brings structure, transparency, and repeatability to how medical devices are evaluated — helping VACs make more informed decisions without replacing their judgment or authority.

Raina Ventures, Raymond Decker, paired with lead mentor Chris Van Beke
Raina helps verify content before it becomes a headline. Raina is a real-time verification and trust layer for newsrooms, election authorities, and universities. It helps teams assess authenticity, provenance, and corroboration before misinformation spreads.

Green Routine, Ryan Ebanks - paired with lead mentor Lily Tench
Green Routine is a unified content and advisory ecosystem focused on energy intelligence, providing solutions for energy cost optimization, tariff analysis, operational efficiency, and infrastructure planning. We serve a broad spectrum of commercial, industrial, and growing businesses in not only reducing costs but managing risk and deploying capital with confidence.

DhyanaTech, Steve Dickens - paired with lead mentor Tommy Nguyen
DhyanaTech builds DhyanaERP Precast Edition, a mobile-first ERP platform that helps precast concrete manufacturers streamline operations and improve efficiency. Founded by experienced manufacturing and operations professionals, the company creates software solutions rooted in real-world industry challenges.

Thank you to our 2026 Works partners:

Clayton Homes, Pilot, Boldsquare, 121 Tech Hub, Teknovation.biz,

Carrasco Trump, GrowthX, Launch Tennessee, The City of Knoxville