Now accepting startup business pitches on a napkin…for real!! Silicon Valley folklore has it that many of today’s most successful companies were pitched to potential funders, with ideas scribbled on a napkin. With that in mind, Pitch, a competition for startups, with at least one woman on board, is taking applications for their 4th Annual Pitch competition.
They’re requesting as low tech an entry as you can get: ideas submitted on a napkin. And that’s only part of the creative requirement.
Minimum requirements, if you will, are the founding team must have a female, and some flavor of technologist, and that your venture must at least be in alpha or beta testing. Slant the pitch towards what they’re looking to fund: a company with high-growth potential in a variety of businesses including: consumer web and mobile, enterprise web and mobile, consumer hardware, biotech and cleantech. If you’re a finalist, the venture capital doors open (check out last year’s panel) and you get to pitch a panel of high level funders where the real money comes your way.
Move fast to be considered. Fill out the application, your business idea napkin and a 2 minute video as if you were talking to your customer by the October 8, 2010 deadline. That gets you into the consideration pool where judges evaluate your ideas. Feedback will be sent by Oct. 14, with judging on Nov. 4 at the Women 2.0 Startup Competition in San Francisco (get tickets here). Even better, if you’re not sure how to write up your business plan, you can link here for ideas on how to gets started using the sample application form.
Got questions? Feeling Shy? Get in touch with the Pitch 2010 peeps at this address – askpitch@women2.org
Grab a napkin and video camera and start your pitching!