Matt Hughes’ connection to the University of Tennessee (UT) began at UT Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business, where he developed lifelong relationships and, perhaps without realizing it at the time, an entrepreneurial mindset.
“I wasn’t intentionally trying to be an entrepreneur,” Hughes said. “I was commercially savvy enough to think, well, there’s a consumer white space. I’m going to go do something about it.”
That instinct carried through a career spanning nearly 40 years in the beverage industry, including co-founding Coca-Cola’s corporate venturing platform, Venturing & Emerging Brands. When Hughes was introduced to the idea behind UT Ventures, his experience as an investor and entrepreneur made the decision easy.
“Once the ambition for UT Ventures was shared with me, it was an easy yes,” he said. “If you’re already wired to be an investor or have that appetite for investment, what you all have done makes it really easy for people like me to be an investor in UT Ventures.”
Hughes also understands firsthand why access to capital can matter. Earlier in his entrepreneurial career, he launched an energy shot business but ultimately ran out of money before he could fully develop the opportunity.
“I think about the times in my entrepreneurial life when I had an idea, but gosh, I just didn’t have the capital,” he said.
Today, Hughes brings his consumer and venture experience to a founding group with expertise across a wide range of industries. “That’s one of the other nice benefits of UT Ventures is having a broad group of investing partners who have a lot of career diversity,” he said.
For Hughes, that combination of experience makes UT Ventures a place where investors can not only put capital to work but also help entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of building something new.