What is SEED (formerly TSIC)?
Impact Entrepreneurship Starts Here
The Sustainability Education and Enterprise Development Challenge is a semester-long impact entrepreneurship program that provides mentorship, workshops, online materials, and competition funding to aspiring student innovators. Since its founding in 2020, the program has awarded $50,000 in seed grants to 20 winning teams through our final Challenge. Over 380 students have registered for the program and used our resources to build out their sustainable venture ideas. For instance, many signed up for Expert in Residence mentoring to ask questions of seasoned entrepreneurs, others have attended our workshops like “Perfecting the Pitch,” and others have gone on to compete in our Semifinals each March with their pitch. SEED 2024 saw our largest Semifinal turnout yet with 34 teams of graduate and undergraduate entrepreneurs. SEED has also sponsored 10 teams’ trips to the Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge, where they have all won grants ranging from $1,000 to $25,000. In fact, our 2022 champion Gazelle Ecosolutions won FGSIC, went on to win the Shell Changemaker’s Award of $100,000, and is raising their first venture capital round! Winners of the SEED Final Challenge each April may be eligible for a trip to FGSIC or a similar global competition.
SEED provides the community and support needed to move UT Austin student interest in sustainable innovation from ideation to implementation. We are a great resource and next step for innovators coming out of other programs on campus like SELL,but can also serve as a first step for those new to impact entrepreneurship. Our Canvas materials are customizable to your needs. Students do not need a venture idea to join, but must have a fleshed out idea and completed basic market research to compete for funding by March. We welcome those who want to join for the materials and learning too. Our goal is to train future problem solvers to address root problems through a sustainability lens – not just to give a great pitch! Sign up this January to join our impact community.
Register for SEED
Ready to join SEED? Register today and begin your sustainable entrepreneurship journey.
Applications are due by 3/1 to pitch in the qualifying round. Early submissions will provide access to our Canvas page and Slack channel for earlier support and announcements.
Past SEED Winners
Program Details and Eligibility
Preparation
- This competition is an outlet for those interested in social and environmental innovation. You can join as an individual or a team. You do not have to have a venture or an idea already, but you are welcome to apply if you do.
- Pitch for a chance to win $10,000 in seed funding.
- The Global Sustainability Leadership Institute is providing free social entrepreneurship curriculum and workshops to participants. If you sign up, you will access online modules, workshops, and socials with students from across campus.
- Register by January 27 for full access to our workshops.
- The 2022 pitch competition will be April 13th. However, participants will have two internal milestones to meet in the spring to prepare for the competition.
- The top two teams from SEED will attend the Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge in June 2023 for a chance to win an additional $75,000 in funding.
Goals
- Build a community of socially and environmentally conscious innovators.
- Develop ubiquitous skills such as systems thinking, impact measurement, and pitching.
- Support students’ career exploration through experiential learning and mentorship.
- Break down campus departmental silos and support interdisciplinary entrepreneurship.
Eligibility
Must have at least one UT-Austin student on the company’s founding team.
Must register by 1/27/2023 and attend at least one Spring workshop.
Must complete Spring quarter-final submission requirements:
- 2/6/2023: Systems infographic (challenge, existing solutions, gaps); Summary of problem and system surrounding it (5 pages)
- 2/27/2023: Business canvas and summary; 2-minute pitch video
Top teams will be selected to move to live 10-minute pitches on 4/13.
Deliverable examples are available on the FGSIC website and Canvas.
Format
Jan. 30: Info session & Impact Entrepreneur’s Ask Me Anything at 5:30 pm in RRH 5.210.
Feb. 27: Pitch Workshop with Texas Venture Labs & Edovo Founder, Brian Hill at 5:30 pm in RRH 5.210.
Mar. 1: Pitch registration due to compete in qualifying round.
Mar. 20: Qualifying pitches will take place from 1:30-5:30 pm in RRH Crum Auditorium.
Apr. 10: Final pitches will take place from 6:00-8:00 pm in RRH Crum Auditorium.
May 3-5: Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge takes place in San Diego, CA for qualifying students.
