LaunchTN Partners with National Student Startup Competition at SXSW; Offers Winning Team A Trip to 36|86 
Tuesday, March 3, 2018 — Launch Tennessee (LaunchTN), an organization that fosters entrepreneurship, is partnering with Student Startup Madness (SSM), a college student startup competition with finals held at SXSW in Austin on March 12th.
Through this partnership, LaunchTN is awarding the winner a trip to Nashville in August to attend LaunchTN’s annual 36|86 Entrepreneurship Festival and to experience the fun, the vibe, and the energy this emerging tech hub has to offer. The SSM National Champion team will receive two passes to 36|86 Entrepreneurship Festival and a $750 travel stipend. At 36|86 they will participate in panels tailored to student entrepreneurs and get to meet more than 1,000 investors, technologists, and entrepreneurs.
“I went to 36|86 last year, and now I see why everyone is talking about Nashville as the next Austin,” said Sean Branagan, founder of SSM. “The energy is real. The startups are happening. I met terrific people, including the CTO of Walmart; innovators from Google, Coca-Cola, MIT, and Time Warner; founders from all kinds of tech startups; investors from every industry sector; and movers-and-shakers from all over the Southeast — from Atlanta to Cincinnati, from Raleigh to Memphis.”
“And the Nashville downtown scene is happening!” Branagan added. “We had a ball there!”
About LaunchTN
Launch Tennessee is a public-private partnership that fosters entrepreneurship, with the goal of making Tennessee the most startup-friendly state in the nation. Partnering with Entrepreneur Centers in six regions across the state, LaunchTN offers access to entrepreneurship skills development, capital sources, business resources and more for tech-enabled startups. Visit LaunchTN.org to discover what makes Tennessee the best place for student founders interested in relocating to the Heartland. Follow @LaunchTN on Facebook and Twitter.
About Student Startup Madness
The Student Startup Madness concept was developed by Sean Branagan, director of the Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, in conjunction with SXSW. Student Startup Madness, along with its partners, believes in American entrepreneurship and on-campus startups—and wants to help young student entrepreneurs succeed and become a part of the SXSW experience.
For more on Student Startup Madness, visit the website (https://studentstartupmadness.com), see us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter: @StartupMad.
Sign up for the Student Startup Madness Newsletter for press releases & updates here.