The Colorado chapter of the Founder Institute (FI), the world’s largest pre-seed startup accelerator, launched Elevation Pitch, an online elevator pitch contest that is open to those in Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah, Montana, Idaho and Nevada.
The pitch competition is for applicants who have an idea or startup with less than $10,000 in revenue or investment. Applicants must submit a short public video by the deadline, July 2.
The videos will be published on the competition’s website for online voting, open to the public until July 12. The votes will play a big role in the selection process.
The top pitches, selected by audience voting and competition judges, will participate in the Elevation Pitch Demo Day on July 27, a live online event that will help participants get significant exposure.
The top-ranked pitch from Demo Day will be named the Elevation Pitch Champion. It will receive $2,000 total from both FI Colorado and Bold Legal, the business law firm that helped organize the competition. The champion will also receive a fellowship to the FI Colorado to join its program for no course fee.
Participants can join Elevation Pitch’s “Idea Jam” online workshops to develop their ideas further. Finalists also get personalized coaching to improve their pitches before Demo Day.
Jonathan Greechan, co-founder of the Founder Institute, said in a statement that the competition is designed to give people with great ideas the feedback and mentorship needed to turn their ideas into tangible businesses.
Greechan will judge the pitches, alongside seasoned entrepreneurs and business people, like Marc Nager, Greater Colorado Venture Fund; Peter Adams, Rockies Venture Club; Shea Gerhardt, Buderflys and PurdyLabs; and Gary Gaessler, Nylas.