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Three students take home $3,000 in prize money through the Vol Court Idea Pitch Competition 

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September 25, 2025 |

Katelyn Biefeldt

Three students take home $3,000 in prize money through the Vol Court Idea Pitch Competition

Vol Court is a bi-annual series hosted by the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation that encourages students to pitch business ideas for the opportunity to win grant funding.

It’s a new school year at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), which means there are new students with big new business ideas and the boldness to pitch them for a chance to win prize money.

This fall semester, 15 students pitched, and three students wowed the judges with their business ideas. The winners were as follows:

  • 1st Place ($1,500 prize) First Glance Knox, founded by Jonathan (Ben) Naugle.
  • 2nd Place ($1,000 prize) High Heat, founded by Josef Govednik.
  • 3rd Place ($500) World’s Fair Furnishing Company, founded by Jeremiah Vecchioni.

Vol Court is facilitated, organized, and hosted by the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ACEI), and the funding for the competition is provided by the Scott and Dianna Roe Foundation.

Jonathan (Ben) Naugle, First Glance Knox
First Glance Knox is an operational window cleaning service-based business. During the pitch, Naugle said 2025 is predicted to be his first six-figure year for the business. He said his company is built on a delicate, soft wash method and exceptional relationships with his clients. 
“We elevate Knoxville’s most beautiful homes,” he said.
Naugle said he would use the prize money to put toward Google Ads so his company can have more visibility online.
High Heat, Josef Govednik
High Heat is a software-based analytics company specifically targeting baseball and softball players who aim to strengthen the speed of their pitches. Govednik plans to build the mobile app, which will allow users easy access to the training tool. He said he would put the prize money toward building out the technology and helping it work with phone cameras.
World’s Fair Furnishing Company, Jeremiah Vecchioni

Vecchioni shared with the judges about his business, World’s Fair Furnishing Company, which was also a participant in the Emerging Entrepreneur Competition at 865Fest earlier this month. His company is based around a furniture rental model for college students who are constantly moving in and out of dorms, apartments, and homes. Instead of paying to furnish an entire living space, Vecchioni is working to show students that there is a more practical, sustainable, and cost-friendly way to rent.

This semester, the ACEI changed some of the Vol Court format to better prepare students to pitch their business ideas. Instead of having three entrepreneurs come and share their founder journey, the three sessions focused on how to come up with a business idea, how to create a plan for it, and how to present it.

Those three sessions were led by ACEI Executive Director Breanna Hale, attorney and ACEI Startup Coach, Melissa Centers, and recent UTK grad and founder of KnoxBots, Wesley Pitts.

Learn more about the Anderson Center.

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