Though the pandemic will cause AccelerateDFW’s second annual Pitch Battle to look different, the organization is looking to keep the excitement and networking going.
To highlight North Texas during Global Entrepreneurship Week Fort Worth, the community building nonprofit has put a call out for founders to send in their virtual pitches. And despite the changes the pandemic has presented, Walker Lutringer, director at AccelerateDFW, hopes it will also open up new opportunities.
“Basically, what I've told the entrepreneurs is, 'I don’t care what kind of pitch you submit… whatever you want to record for three minutes, you can put it up there,'” Lutringer said. “In response to COVID-19, it's more about we’ve got to end this year by having a little fun. I wanted to take away the stress of entering a competition but still give them that valuable feedback that they need on their pitch from people who actually know pitches.”
At last year’s pitch battle, founders made their presentations from a 360-degree stage without any props to a room filled with people. Eventually, Houston-bade 3D medical device printing startup Lazarus 3D took home the top prize of $10,000.
“This year it’s almost a 180 degree difference because it relies solely on technology,” Lutringer said.
This year, due to the pandemic, the event has moved completely online. AccelerateDFW is looking for founders to record pitches up to five minutes long and upload them to YouTube. The top 16, which will be chosen based on the number of views, likes and comments the pitch receives, will get a shot to give a virtual live pitch during Global Entrepreneurship Week Fort Worth. The event will culminate with the final four giving one-minute elevator pitches to a group of panelists at the end of the week-long event.
The panel this year includes Farhaj Mayan, founder at Kanna; Rodney D’Souza, managing director at the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at TCU; Rachel West, director of business development at RevTech Ventures; Jonathan Chavez, venture associate at Capital Factory; as well as Lutringer. There are also two unannounced panelist that Lutringer said are from VC firms in California and Copenhagen.
“It’s just kind of a way to have a ranking for the purposes of having a ranking it really is no reflection on the persons business ability,” Lutringer said.
While there will be no prize this year, the panel, along with the online audience, will vote on their favorites. The top prize this time around is a standing desk from Herman Miller, followed by a camera and microphone setup for podcasting and vlogging.
Even though the pandemic has changed the format and taken the cash prize, Lutringer said the switch to virtual will help draw more attention to the event and to the Fort Worth startup ecosystem as a whole, since companies and viewers from anywhere can participate.
“I think specifically here in Fort Worth… we tend to be an insular society and I think a lot of it is just because Dallas-Fort Worth is just so big,” Lutringer said. “Entrepreneurs here we don’t get a lot of influence from the outside and its one of our biggest impediments to creating a powerful businesses here in Dallas-Fort Worth.”
Lutringer said that while Fort Worth has done a good job creating an open and welcoming community by fostering small, main street businesses and is seeing growth with projects like AllianceTexas and Linear Lab’s recent grant funding from the city. However, he said the area needs to work to develop a stronger startup ecosystem.
“My goal… is to provide the entrepreneurs with whatever they need to get their company started or grow their company,” Lutringer said.
Pro tip: You can check out already submitted pitches here.
