July 7, 2026 · Talent

A Student-Built Solution for Campus Connection

There’s true power in collaboration, especially when building a company from the ground up while attending college. For Julian Woods and Lars Griffin, their collaborative chemistry was apparent soon after they met through a student organization at the University of Alabama.

“We grabbed some lunch one day, and we just started talking about all the innovative ideas we had prior to coming to college,” said Griffin. “We felt a good vibe that we could start a business together.”

And that’s exactly what they did. Woods, a marketing and management major and recent graduate of the University of Alabama, and Griffin, an MBA candidate at the university, started their entrepreneurial journey by identifying a clear problem that emerged for college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout that complicated time, Griffin and Woods believed that students faced an unclear landscape of digital events and experiences and, as a result, missed out on important opportunities. The issue was particularly acute for Woods during his freshman year.

“I didn’t get involved as much my first year because I wasn’t aware of the opportunities that were around me. I figured other students were missing opportunities too,” said Woods. “We saw a real problem.”

As most great entrepreneurs do, Woods and Griffin set out to solve that problem. Between their strong shared vision, lived experiences, and coursework, they were able to conceive of and build TappedIn, an app that aims to connect students to events and opportunities that align with their interests.

Rather than recreating another calendar app or social media platform, though, Woods and Griffin used their unique insights as students to shape TappedIn.

“Because we were students, we had the mindset of students. We had ears to hear what our peers were saying,” said Griffin. “We knew what we had experienced. So, we were able to build a product that we knew people needed.”

As TappedIn started to take shape, the co-founders uncovered additional entrepreneurial resources that could help them iterate on their app and refine their pitch. One of those resources was the Emerging Innovation Scholars (BIG Ideas) Contest, which is facilitated by the University of Alabama Honors College in collaboration with Innovate Alabama. The program provides students with access to strategic advising and mentorship, ensuring first-time student-founders are ready for on-campus and real-world pitch competitions. Woods and Griffin leaned into the experience and thrived, eventually leading them to the 2024 Sloss Tech Student Pitch Competition, which they won. Through that experience, they deepened their relationships with leaders in Alabama’s innovation ecosystem, increased awareness of their company, and earned $5,000.

For Griffin, the BIG Ideas competition served as an important reminder that the University of Alabama is committed to supporting young entrepreneurs and meeting them where they are. “They have onboarding ramps to get your feet in the water for everybody. So, through appropriately sized pitch competitions and prizes… they’re able to help anybody take their idea and make something out of it,” said Griffin.

Following their experience with BIG Ideas and Sloss Tech, Woods and Griffin continued seeking ways to evolve their business by listening to their customers (and prospective customers). Thankfully, through their work on the University of Alabama’s campus, they had an unexpected opportunity to engage with the Parent Advisory Council, leading to listening sessions with hundreds of parents. Those conversations ultimately reshaped their target audience, while also preserving the core of their original mission.

“Parents were struggling to find trustworthy information. Many were relying on Facebook groups, Reddit threads, and unofficial sources to answer important questions about university policies, deadlines, housing, financial aid and student life,” said Woods. “The problem wasn’t a lack of information. The problem was knowing what information could be trusted.”

Armed with that insight, they made a significant pivot, expanding their vision with the development of Askera—a platform that helps institutions provide verified answers directly from approved sources.

“Askera gives schools a way to maintain a trusted source of truth while helping families get answers quickly and helping administrators understand where confusion and information gaps exist,” said Woods.

That evolving vision has already begun to gain recognition. At Sloss Tech 2026, Woods and Griffin earned third place in the Innovate Alabama Student Innovation Competition, securing $5,000 to support the continued growth of Askera.

And, as many entrepreneurs will tell you, more shifts are likely on the horizon. Regardless, with their collaborative dynamic solidly in place and ongoing access to mentorship from innovators across the state, Woods and Griffin will be ready to embrace those moments with confidence and clarity.