StartupNation, Toshiba and GoToMeeting team up for Elevator Pitch Contest
Today, a group called StartupNation announces its Elevator Pitch Contest for 2009 — a competition designed to reward bright business ideas with capital.
Sponsored by Toshiba and GoToMeeting, it will give winners a chance to pitch their ideas to top venture capitalists in their industries, as well as win a Toshiba Satellite laptop and one-year GoToMeeting account, and of course legitimacy in an economic environment that doesn’t favor fledgling enterprise.
Prospective competitors are asked to submit a pithy two-minute video pitch online (the deadline in March 20). From this batch, 100 contestants will move onto the next round where they will be assessed by StartupNation judges and panels of outside angel and seed-stage investors. Only five teams will move on from there, required then to deliver an hour-long pitch to even more venture capitalists with the power to turn their ideas into reality.
StartupNation says the goal is to give young entrepreneurs constructive feedback on their pitch routines and how they might improve in the future. StartupNation otherwise focuses on providing advice and support resources to businesses struggling to gain traction.
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About the Author, Camille Ricketts
Camille is the lead writer for GreenBeat. She came to VentureBeat from Google where she worked on its traditional platforms team, particularly in TV. Before that, she was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in New York and London. Follow her on Twitter at @camillericketts, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.
With GreenBeat 2009, VentureBeat's all-star conference on all things Smart Grid, coming up in November, Camille will be expanding coverage of this exciting space. Stay up to date by following @greenbeat2009 on Twitter or by becoming a fan of the event on Facebook here.