A 'reverse' TCNewTech event being planned for July 5

Mark Urban, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
·3 min read

Jun. 29—TRAVERSE CITY — This Pitch Night is a change-up.

Typically held the first Tuesday of every month, TCNewTech features startups and entrepreneurs making a pitch for funding and development assistance for a wide variety of ideas and inventions.

The July 5 event will be completely different.

Five investors will be the ones on the City Opera House July 5 to discuss a type or stage of investment.

These five will also be presenting "what they might be looking for in young companies and ideas that are seeking investment," according to the TCNewTech newsletter.

"I know it's been on the books for a little while, even before I got here," said TCNewTech Event Director Chris Nesbit, who will host his second event. "The investor pitch is something we're going to do annually."

Making the five pitch presentations are:

* Lowell Gruman of Boomerang Catapult, presenting on Series A-C funding

* Broc Edwards of Pronoia, presenting on seed stage funding

* Jody Trietch of Northern Michigan Angels, presenting on angel investors

* Josh Hart of Sweater and The Fund School, presenting on venture capital firms

* Thomas Coke of Grand Valley State University, presenting on incubators and accelerators

Corey Hart of the Startup Grind is the panel moderator.

"The goal is education in this situation," Nesbit said. "The idea is it gets investors in front of start-ups so they know who they are. One of the biggest problems is that (some entrepreneurs) don't know who all the players are."

In addition to being the City Opera House, the Reverse Pitch Night and Networking event will continue as a hybrid.

It will be livestreamed on TCNewTech's Facebook and LinkedIn pages and YouTube channel.

As is custom, each pitch presentation will be five minutes, followed by a five minute question-and-answer session. The audience will vote for the winner of the $500 cash prize, provided in July by Cambrium Analytica.

Instead of the winner pocketing the $500 though, it will be donated to a nonprofit of the winner's choosing.

The Reverse Pitches begin at 6:15 p.m. followed by an investor panel discussion at 7:15 p.m. The winners will be announced at 7:30 p.m.

The July 5 event begins with networking at 5:30 p.m. followed by the 6 p.m. premier of a Rural Edge video from Southend Films, a short documentary film showcasing "the startup and entrepreneurial community in and around Traverse City," according to the newsletter.

"That's really exciting," Nesbit said of the premiere. "That's a collaboration between 20Fathoms and TCNewTech, which are pretty ingrained in the startup ecosystem."

Also making its debut July 5 is a new app developed by TCNewTech board treasurer Dan Mastromonaco.

"The goal is people will be able to check-in, register and vote at the event or at home all through their phone," said Nesbit, adding the app offer several other features.

More information about the Reverse Pitch Night and TCNewTech is available at tcnewtech.org.

Anyone interested in making a presentation at future event can visit https://tcnewtech.org/pitch/ or email chris@tcnewtech.org.