October 27, 2020

Auburn University’s Zac Young wins 2020 SEC Student Pitch Competition

SEC Student Pitch Competition Winner, Zac Young

By: SEC Staff
SECU (Twitter: @TheSECU)

Auburn University senior mechanical engineering major Zac Young won first place in the 5th annual SEC Student Pitch Competition, hosted virtually by the University of Georgia on October 26. His winning company, Vulcan Line Tools, includes Wave Timer – a device that quickly measures the slack, tension and temperature of power lines.

“I cannot begin to explain how much Auburn and the accelerator program have helped and prepared me for this competition,” Young said. “I’ve only been in the accelerator for about three weeks, but I’ve learned more in those three weeks about business, entrepreneurship, and pitching a product than I have in my entire life. The support and advice I’ve received from my professors has been astounding.”

Stephanie Young from Texas A&M University finished second with SKYPaws, and Stephanie Hoskins from Louisiana State University finished third with Debtle.

The SEC Student Pitch Competition provides teams of SEC students at the undergraduate or graduate level a platform to showcase their ideas for ground-breaking products and services to a panel of judges. For the first time, the event was held virtually to align with current industry trends, but similar to the in-person format, it featured two preliminary rounds of pitches, and judges selected three teams for the final round. The 16 judges selected this year work in fields ranging from the financial sector to brand management to software development, and were announced before the competition.

First held in conjunction with the SEC Symposium in 2015 in Atlanta, the Competition is now contested on various SEC campuses, and 2021 is scheduled to be organized by the University of South Carolina.

A full list of winners for the 2020 SEC Student Pitch Competition is below.

First Place Team: Vulcan Line Tools, Auburn University, Zac Young

Second Place Team: SKYPaws, Texas A&M University, Stephanie Young

Third Place Team: Debtle, Louisiana State University, Stephanie Hoskins