Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Swarm, the new name of Volfluence, won this year’s “What’s the Big Idea 48-Hour Launch.”

The weekend-long event concluded Sunday night at Scruffy City Hall with six teams competing. Founded by Michael Newton, Swarm is a Gen-Z-focused marketing solutions company helping brands generate attention and exposure through leveraging the social status of micro-influencers to create largescale word of mouth campaigns.

Jeff Gotcher, Co-Founder of Medicapps and one of the forces behind the UpStart co-working community in West Knoxville, was the lead mentor. Ironically, MedicApps won the 2017 edition of “What’s the Big Idea” with its BreatheEasy^TM product.

“What’s the Big Idea” is an annual offering of The Development Corporation of Knox County. Since its founding earlier this decade, the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center has coordinated the event, and Harper Auto Square joined the effort this year as a sponsor. The winner received a package that included access to $10,000 in start-up reimbursement costs, office space, and complimentary business services.

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