South Carolina’s entrepreneurial future was on full display as Clemson University hosted the 6th Annual Palmetto Pitch Competition at the Brook T. Smith Launchpad and this year set a new record. Nearly 200 attendees gathered to watch student founders from colleges and universities across the state compete, connect, and showcase ideas with the potential to shape South Carolina’s next decade of innovation.
What makes this event special isn’t just the pitches. It’s the energy in the room. Students from every corner of the state, faculty members cheering them on, mentors offering guidance, and judges from across the #StartupGVL ecosystem coming together to champion the next generation of entrepreneurs.
The Palmetto Pitch Competition is supported by a network of partners committed to nurturing early entrepreneurial talent including the South Carolina Department of Commerce, Clemson SBDC, SCRA, Founderville.vc, Cultivation Capital, and many others. Clemson’s Lori Trudell led the event with incredible organization, passion, and care, helping make 2025 one of the strongest competitions yet.
Importantly, several judges represented the Greenville and Upstate startup ecosystem:
For the final round, Tony Nolte and Cliff Holekamp joined the judges panel, continuing a tradition of statewide collaboration that strengthens South Carolina’s entrepreneurial pipeline.
These touchpoints matter. Conversations continue across the state about how we keep this talent – and these ideas – in South Carolina.
This year’s finalists impressed judges with creativity, technical skill, and a deep understanding of real-world problems. All eight teams stood out, making judging incredibly difficult.
“They were outstanding. Just as good as I have seen anywhere. All finalists were 1st place quality.” said judge, Cliff Holekamp.
1st Place – Crystal XG (Clemson University)
Prize: $7,000 + consulting with Shay Houser + mentoring lunch with Clemson SBDC
Founder: Lukas Garcia
2nd Place – Bright Futures (Clemson University)
Prize: $5,000 + mentoring with Blake Thomas + Clemson SBDC mentoring
Founders: Bridget Kollman, Paige Sciarra, Kirsten Scro, Rachel Sepaniak
3rd Place – Learn Ripl (Clemson University)
Prize: $2,000 + mentoring with Danielle Michel + Clemson SBDC support
Founder: Lucas Martin
Sullivan Foundation Social Impact Award – DermAlert
Founder: Alejandra Rodriguez
Fan Favorite – Veni Vision
Founders: Morgan Mitchell, Grant Moore, Destiny Drain, Alexandrea Zaburski & Brandon Royer
Runner-Up Finalists:
Puddle Shuttle • Cuffway • NeuroSleeve
Closing keynote speaker and serial entrepreneur Danielle Michel reminded students that great ideas are only the starting point. Her message was simple, direct, and grounded in real experience:
As she put it: “Passion fades, but purpose remains.”
Her talk was the perfect capstone to a day focused on potential and on the mindset required to turn that potential into progress.
Events like Palmetto Pitch do more than award prize money. They create pathways. They surface new ideas, strengthen networks, and give students firsthand experience navigating an entrepreneurial ecosystem that wants them to succeed.
And for the statewide partners, mentors, judges, and organizations like NextGEN, the goal remains clear: Make sure South Carolina’s best ideas have every reason to grow here.
Seeing the talent, ambition, and creativity on stage this year, it’s easy to believe they will.
There’s something special about walking into GROK and immediately spotting familiar faces.
Not just one or two, but dozens. Founders, operators, creatives, technologists. People from the StartupGVL community who are all building, questioning, experimenting, and showing up.
Ian Thompson built Miracle Hummus with a simple goal in mind: to create something real that he could one day pass down to his family. With a background in mechanical engineering and a long-standing drive for entrepreneurship, Ian stepped away from the traditional career path to build a business rooted in ownership, health, and legacy.
Every startup has a pitch. But not every pitch is actually working.
Too often, founders are walking around with a deck or a one liner that explains what they do, but does not land, connect, or clearly communicate the value of what they are building. That is the gap NextGEN’s brand new Fix My Pitch program is designed to address.