RoadPitch hits the Midwest: Cincinnati native aims to connect Black tech founders, investors

Meagan Turner is likely spending her spring break in a much different way than many of her peers. The Cincinnati native and University of Louisville senior is the co-founder of RoadPitch, a multi-city road tour that connects Black tech founders to investors, and she’s currently leading the venture’s latest iteration – a six-city tour throughout the Midwest.

It includes a layover in Cincinnati Wednesday, March 13. The goal, she said, is for the traveling founders to make connections. It could also serve as a key recruitment tool for cities looking to grow their entrepreneurial talent pool.

The RoadPitch cohort includes founders all based outside the broader region. Some could be looking for a future home to base their business.

“We started this to connect our traveling founders to investors in a region they're not in – and to learn about the different tech ecosystems, because they're early enough along to where they're considering relocating,” Turner told me. “I want to see Black founders get the resources they need to grow."

Turner, a Mariemont High School alum, is an electrical engineering major at University of Louisville. She launched RoadPitch as an offshoot of sorts to StartupBus, which brings hackers together to potentially form a new startup in real time – all while traveling the country.

Turner spent one year as a StartupBus hacker before leading an all-Black cohort of developers in 2022, when StartupBus traveled from Cincinnati to Austin, Texas.

RoadPitch was inspired by that latter trip. It’s been billed as “The Amazing Race" meets "Shark Tank.” ("The Amazing Race," a CBS smash, pits teams of two against each other on a race around the world, while ABC’s “Shark Tank” is a reality show in which business owners pitch their ideas to a panel of celebrity investors.)

The founders plucked for RoadPitch are raising pre-seed or seed rounds. It’s much easier to develop relationships with venture capitalists or angel investors in person, she said, versus a Zoom or Teams call.

RoadPitch so far has completed tours in the Northeast, stopping in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., as well as the West Coast, hitting Seattle; Oakland, Calif.; San Francisco; Palo Alto, Calif.; Los Angeles; and Las Vegas.

This will be RoadPitch’s first swing through the Midwest. The founders for this round were narrowed to sectors like insurtech, cleantech, mobility/transportation, life science and foodtech.

While Turner has roots in Cincinnati, it’s also a growing hub for Black founders, she said. She specifically cited successes born from offerings like Black Tech Week and organizations like Mortar for the status.

Black Tech Week, founded in 2015 in Miami, Fla., relocated to Cincinnati in 2022, after being acquired by Lightship Foundation. The global tech conference, tailored to founders of color, women, disabled and LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs, will call Cincinnati home for the next three years following a national bid for host cities for the event.

Mortar, an accelerator and nonprofit that serves underserved entrepreneurs and small businesses, is currently building out a new headquarters in Walnut Hills. It has expanded to 10 other cities since its founding in 2014.

“There's a growing movement to support diverse founders,” Turner said. “Cincinnati just makes sense. At Black Tech Week, a lot of people I knew from the Northeast (tour) were there, and I’ve seen how some of the local corporate partners have also invested in trying to support diverse talent in the city.”

RoadPitch gets underway

The current RoadPitch tour kicked off Monday, March 11, from Ann Arbor, Mich., and includes stops in Cleveland, Indianapolis, Milwaukee and Chicago.

Cincinnati is stop three.

Over the course of the six-day trip, the traveling founders will make 18 pitch demos in total – three at each stop. Two demos are offered at varying times for accredited investors and corporate venture arms, and during the third and final pitch of the day, the founders pitch alongside local startups as part of an open-to-the-public mixer event.

The event will also include a panel on angel investing in Ohio. Scott Jacobs, executive director of Cincinnati-based Queen City Angels (QCA), is among those slated to talk. He said he was introduced to Turner through Cincinnati Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney.

The panel also includes QCA’s Ann Mooney and Corey Myers with Ohio Angel Collective, an investor network that launched in September 2023.

“QCA knows the challenges underrepresented founders face when raising money and getting support for startup ideas,” Jacobs told me. “We believe in inclusivity and providing opportunity for diverse founders and angel investors. And it’s great getting the chance to assist Meagan in bringing the event to her hometown of Cincinnati.”

In Cincinnati, Blacks in Technology Foundation, a locally headquartered but global community of Black technologists, is serving as presenting sponsor. Cintrifuse is the venue sponsor, and the day’s activities will take place at Union Hall in Over-the-Rhine. The mixer is scheduled from 5:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. March 13.

The confirmed Cincinnati founders participating in the pitch include:

Following the tour, Turner remains on track to graduate this spring. With a degree in hand, she plans to dive into RoadPitch full time. The concept is a startup itself. Her goal is to make it a sustainable offering going forward.

“It's really adventurous,” she said. “Our founders create this really cool relationship with each other, and it’s interesting comparing different startup ecosystems. There’s a lot that goes into the logistics, which can make it overwhelming, but, so far, it's been worth it.”