SWORL Pre-Event

Event Details:

Join the Orlando Innovation League as we prepare for Startup Weekend 2024, the biggest community event for startups all year.

Meet us at Seminole State College at 6:30 PM for food, networking, and incredible speakers including successful startup founders! Stay tuned for speaker announcements!

And that's not all; learn the basics of a pitch during our impromptu pitch competition. Anyone can do a one-minute pitch. ALL attendees to this event will receive a discount code for their Startup Weekend Orlando tickets.

Phil Dumas - Builder, Creator, Founder of UniKey Technologies

An Engineer by degree, and entrepreneur by practice, Phil Dumas has played key roles in several startup and large companies. Most recently, Phil founded UniKey Technologies, a mobile key platform company focused on enabling people to move freely and securely through the world’s doors, with ultimate control, convenience, and peace-of-mind. Phil has a passion for, and has been working on, alternative access control solutions for over a decade. With extensive product development, large customer management, turn-around, and M&A experience, Phil has been able to wear the multiple hats required to disrupt the access control space. Phil is also known for his successful appearance on ABC’s Shark Tank, becoming the first company to get an offer from all five sharks.

Rob Panepinto -

Rob is the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer for Govo Venture Partners, an early-stage fund that invests in innovative companies in regulated industries or selling to governments.

Rob also serves as Director of Strategy and Partnerships for the UCF Innovation Districts and Business Incubation System. Rob is also the CEO of Entrepreneurs in Action, who manage a social venture fund that invests in social enterprises, helping them create successful businesses and jobs while addressing community and global social needs.

Actively engaged in the Florida entrepreneurial ecosystem, Rob is the Co- Founder and Board Chair for the Rally Social Enterprise Accelerator (an international impact accelerator), and a board member of the

Florida Venture Forum, Orlando Tech Council and Starter Studio. He is also a Board Member and Past Chair of the Central Florida Foundation, the Orlando Police Foundation, the Chair of the Central Florida Housing Action Team and the Board of Overseers for Rollins College Crummer School of Business. Rob was appointed by Gov. Ron Desantis to the Board of the Florida Development Finance Corporation in 2024. Rob was named as one of the Orlando Business Journal’s inaugural Power Players in 2021.

Parking Instructions:

The event is in Student Center (SC) Building. Room 185. There is plenty of free parking in front of the building.

Host or Publisher Orlando Innovation League