# Max Gallinek

> Max Gallinek is a University of Tennessee student founder in Knoxville whose ventures have moved from emergency-response software to Rise Alarm, an NFC-linked alarm app and physical pod, and Reefy, a concept for AI-assisted acoustic coral restoration. His record is defined less by one company than by rapid experiments: AlertX and ResQTalk won campus pitch funding but were shelved, while Rise reached customers, generated $5,000 in sales during the first three weeks of March 2026, and won the growth category at UT's spring 2026 Graves Business Plan Competition.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CEO at Rise Alarm; President of the UT Entrepreneurs Club
- **Organizations:** Rise Alarm, Reefy, UT Entrepreneurs Club, Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, VolWake
- **Education:** Supply Chain Management major with minors in Entrepreneurship and Applied Artificial Intelligence, Haslam College of Business, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
- **Known for:** Won second place and $1,000 at the fall 2024 Vol Court competition for AlertX., Won first place and $1,500 at the spring 2025 Vol Court competition for ResQTalk., Built and shipped Rise Alarm after teaching himself Swift and iOS development.

## Career timeline

- **High school** — Ran small ventures including retrieving and reselling golf balls from golf-course ponds, landscaping and trash-bin cleaning; volunteered and shadowed through a Mecklenburg County EMS Explorer program.
- **2024** — Started at the University of Tennessee and won second place plus $1,000 at the fall Vol Court competition for AlertX, a campus Narcan alert concept.
- **2025-02** — Won first place and $1,500 at spring Vol Court for ResQTalk, a proposed real-time voice translation service for 911 calls.
- **2025** — Shelved AlertX/NarConnect over legal and adoption barriers, and later moved on from ResQTalk and a campus clothing marketplace.
- **Late 2025** — Co-founded Rise Alarm with Dan Fishman and Collin Tornstrom, pairing an iOS alarm app with a physical NFC pod.
- **2026-03** — Reported $5,000 in Rise sales during the first three weeks of March and 350,000 Instagram views in the prior month.
- **2026-04** — Rise Alarm won the $5,000 growth-category prize and the $1,000 UT Entrepreneurs Club prize at the Graves Business Plan Competition.
- **2026-05** — Presented Reefy at the Red Bull Basement U.S. National Finals in Detroit after being selected among 15 national finalists.
- **2026-08** — Became president of the UT Entrepreneurs Club, orienting its program around peer connections, competitions and founder gatherings.

## Achievements

- Won second place and $1,000 at the fall 2024 Vol Court competition for AlertX.
- Won first place and $1,500 at the spring 2025 Vol Court competition for ResQTalk.
- Built and shipped Rise Alarm after teaching himself Swift and iOS development.
- Reported $5,000 in Rise sales during the first three weeks of March 2026 and 350,000 Instagram views during the preceding month.
- Won $5,000 for first place in the growth category plus a $1,000 UT Entrepreneurs Club prize at the spring 2026 Graves Business Plan Competition.
- Selected as one of 15 U.S. finalists for the 2026 Red Bull Basement competition with Reefy.
- Served as an Anderson Center student ambassador and taught entrepreneurship and elevator-pitch skills to Tennessee youth groups.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — Announced his presidency of the UT Entrepreneurs Club and plans for four competitions, guest speakers and more founder-to-founder connection.
- **2026-05** — Presented Reefy at the Red Bull Basement U.S. National Finals in Detroit; it did not advance, while Gallinek described the experience as one of his best weekends.
- **2026-04** — Rise Alarm won first place in the Graves growth category and the UT Entrepreneurs Club team prize, totaling $6,000.
- **2026-03** — Reported that Rise had generated $5,000 in sales in the first three weeks of March and that its Instagram had received 350,000 views over the prior month.

## Links

- Website: https://maxgallinek.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxgallinek
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/maxgallinek

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/max-gallinek
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-28