Max Gallinek

Student and founder at the University of Tennessee.

Supply Chain Management, minor in Entrepreneurial Studies. Haslam College of Business, class of 2028. Based in Knoxville.

Max Gallinek presenting to a room of students at the Haslam College of Business

Knoxville, Tennessee

Portfolio

Companies I started and built, plus concepts I pitched and got funded. The founders I've advised have their own list.

Co-founder and CEO, 2025 to now

Rise Alarm

An NFC pod and iOS app that makes you get out of bed to turn off your alarm.

1,000+units distributed
$15K+revenue generated
2leaders brought on

Max Gallinek on WATE 6 talking about Rise Alarm

My part Founded it, built the first product myself, and still run it as CEO. Brought on an operations co-founder and a marketing officer as it grew.

Validated it the scrappy way: polls, free 3D-printed prototypes, friend testing, then real pre-orders before manufacturing anything.

1st place, Graves Business Plan Competition
Finalist, Boyd Venture Challenge
Winner, Bolt x Half-Baked Global Hackathon

Founder, 2026

Reefy

An AI underwater speaker system that diagnoses damaged reefs and plays the sounds of healthy ones to bring fish and coral larvae back.

Top 15 of ~24,000 entrants, Red Bull Basement U.S. national finals

Max Gallinek scuba diving alongside a shark

My part Came up with it, built the pitch, and took it to the national finals.

Started from scuba diving. Built on peer-reviewed research showing healthy reef sounds draw marine life back to degraded reefs.

Concept, 2023

ResQTalk

Real-time translation for first responders talking with people who don't speak English.

My part A concept I pitched and received funding for.

Concept, 2022

NarConnect

An app concept to get Narcan to an overdose faster, started after I helped save someone from one.

My part A concept I pitched and received funding for.

Founders I've advised

12+ founders advised 1:1

As a startup consultant at the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, I work with student founders on whatever is in their way. A few of them, and what I did.

Big Al's Hot Mustard

A spicy mustard CPG brand

Helped the founder define the brand and its values early, then reworked his investor deck. That landed $15K in non-dilutive funding plus outside investment, and sales hit ~$50K over summer 2026.

3xsales since we started
ServCue

Tableside tech for restaurant servers

Advised the founders as they built out the product.

ProductStrategy
T-Karts

Late-night electric golf cart rides around campus and Fort Sanders

Built the investor deck for their seed money and advised on the grant application. Now setting up pay-per-rider partner nights with local bars ahead of their first pre-seed round.

Pitch deckGrantsPartnerships
VolDining

A campus dining app for UTK

Advising the founders on launch strategy and app development, plus a partnership with the university dining hall.

LaunchProductPartnerships
Men's apparel brand

A men's clothing site

Built out their website.

WebsiteBuild
Venuu

A bar startup

Recommended a technology change that grew its launch size 7x, then helped it lock in bar partnerships.

7xlaunch size

Leading and working

President

Entrepreneurs Club at UTK 2025 to now

Took over a club that had shrunk to 11 members. Rewrote the constitution so it outlasts me, landed sponsorship from 2 companies including Market Square Ventures, and rebuilt the semester around four competition blocks.

11 to 40+ paying members