Seattle-area young entrepreneurs capture third straight win at TiE’s first global competition
A group of Seattle high school students won the 2026 TiE Young Entrepreneurs (TYE) Global Pitch Competition earlier this month, earning three points for the TYE Seattle chapter.
More than 35 teams from 27 chapters around the world competed in the finals, held simultaneously at Bellevue College in Bellevue, Wash., and the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) in India, from June 11-13.
With one team finishing third, the Seattle chapter has produced five teams that have won the world event in the past three years.
- DuggAI won first place and a $3,000 prize. The startup’s AI agent is designed to handle the “non-defect side” of software development: estimating, scoping, and resolving engineering tickets so developers can stay focused on shipping product. Team members Ashish Naik, Shaurya Duggal, and Kruthik Ankam all hail from Skyline High School in Sammamish, Wash.
- Hydrobin took third place and a $1,000 prize. Operating under EcoProducts LLC, the startup transforms ocean-bound plastic into reusable packaging designed to eliminate single-use containers from all consumer use cases and shipping. Team members Ananya Sharda, Aarav Narayan, Yatharth Kothari, Adithya Gogini, and Nissi V. are from Interlake High School in Bellevue, Wash.
TYE is a program under the global network of The Indus Entrepreneurs that gives students in grades 9-12 the experience of building companies from scratch. The program has been in operation for over 20 years, and now includes more than 40 cities around the world.
TYE Seattle credits its winning ways to a dedicated variety of mentors, judges and sponsors. In the 2025-2026 cohort, 22 mentors from the Seattle area’s technology leadership contributed, and more than 25 sponsors supported the program.
The Seattle chapter finals and global semi-finals engaged 10 judges with questions and answers directed at the contestants. Bellevue College hosted the semis on June 12, where judges selected three teams from a field of 18 from the US, Canada, and Singapore to advance. On June 13, those three teams faced off against India’s top three in the world title.
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TYE Seattle’s leadership team includes Aravind Bala (faculty), Kishor Panpaliya (board member), Yashovardhan Wagh (program chair), and Aalok Doshi (program co-chair). Several are founders themselves who have spent years iterating through a high school entrepreneur training program on aspects of customer acquisition, prototyping, and pitch prep.
“In the world of AI, the sooner you get into business, the better. It teaches students how to build their own products, and it puts many of them in a position to change the world,” said Wagh, who is the founder of Renton-based recommerce company gone.com. “We want to create a national program, and ultimately a natural program, that allows students to experience the real world and bring that experience back into their education.”
