Ryan DeMars is used to working behind-the-scenes as the chief operating officer of Winston-Salem startup Beam Dynamics.
But on Friday, DeMars proved he’s a capable front man, making the pitch that brought Beam Dynamics the $5,000 first prize in the Pitch Showcase at Converge South 2022 conference powered by Flywheel.
“It was the first pitch I’ve done for Beam Dynamics, but I’ve made pitches and presentations in previous jobs,” said DeMars, who co-founded the company with CEO David Kaszycki. “It was fun.”
The pitch competition was the culmination of a two-day conference that was the result of a merger between Flywheel’s Startup Expo and the ConvergeSouth Conference. The conference drew more than 60 startup exhibitors and a large crowd to 500 West Fifth in downtown Winston-Salem.
The pitch competition was divided into two groups – 5-minute “traction pitches” from a group of companies selected for the competition and 2-minute lightning round pitches from nine businesses selected from the exhibitors by a team of judges.
inStryde of Winston-Salem won the lightning round and the $3,000. Minerva Lithium of Greensboro finished second and won $2,000, and Green Solutions Group of Salisbury won $1,000 for its third-place finish.
Beam Dynamics won in the traction round against a field that included some of the Triad’s most successful startups, including Village Juice and Kitchen, Wellnecity, AeroX, Orbital RX, Renaissance Fiber, Unbox the Dress, Jenni Earle and Point Motion.
The companies in the traction round were chosen because of their affiliations with groups such as Winston Starts, Agile City, Launch Greensboro, the Winston-Salem Partners Roundtable, the Center for Creative Economy and Flywheel.
“Winning’s always great – it’s great to get some affirmation from those outside your circle of family and friends and co-workers that you’re on the right path,” DeMars said.
DeMars said Beam Dynamics drew some interest from the investors who attended the conference. Beam is closing a $1.25 million convertible note fundraise at the end of the month and is about 90% to its goal.
Beam Dynamics provides asset management and equipment intelligence to help the entertainment industry reduce on-set downtime, and its customers include WXII in Winston-Salem and WRAL in Raleigh.
Now the company is aiming to increase its annual recurring revenue (ARR) from its current $125,000 to $1.5 million.
To attain that growth, it will need to continue to move companies from its pilot program to its customer base. It’s 3 for 3 on conversions and has a half-dozen companies in the pilot program that includes some of the nation’s largest media groups, including Hearst, Sinclair and Graham.
More customers would also mean the need to add to Beam’s customer success team.
The company, which moved from Atlanta to Winston-Salem in 2020, has already been in growth mode, growing from 12 in January to its current 16-person staff.
