The best part of Thrival Music Festival (more on that to come later this week) was my invitation to PNC's The Pitch. At The Pitch several start-ups gave their elevator pitch to a panel of judges in front of a crowd of at least 200 people to win $25,000. It was basically Pittsburgh's version of Shark Tank!
Bobby Zappala introduces the day!
The event was hosted by AlphaLab Gear in the entrepreneurial haven of East Liberty, right next door to Thrill Mill the start-up incubator that produces Thrival Music Festival. The business forward energy and innovation was inescapable. If you are a budding entrepreneur be sure to look into Thrill Mill's Business Bout.
An entrepreneur's day is never over.
The companies who pitched were Thread International, Lifeshel, Future Derm, Diamond Kinetics, Conversant Labs, Nymbus, AthleteTrax and Imagine Careers. All the business owners who presented were impressive. I can only imagine how intimidating it was to stand in front of all those people while answering serious questions about business growth, competitive markets, patents and so forth!
The judges came from a range of spaces such as Draper Triangle Ventures, Revolution Ventures, Drive Capital, Chatham University and of course, PNC Bank.
The Mayor is on the left.
Mayor Peduto gave an incrediably inspirational speech. He talked about how this is a special moment in time to be living in Pittsburgh, as the city is on the verge entrepreneurial greatness.
Check out the different companies by clicking the click through links above, who would you vote for?
The winner was…... Thread International! They are one of the first companies in the world to make fabric that is made of 100% recyclables. I've been following them since their collaboration with Moop and was excited to see them win.