Elevation Pitch contest launched to empower aspiring entrepreneurs in the Mountain West

To inspire and empower entrepreneurs in the Mountain West region, an online elevator pitch contest has been launched by the Colorado chapter of the Founder Institute (FI), the world’s largest pre-seed startup accelerator.

Elevation Pitch, which is organized in conjunction with transactional and business law firm Bold Legal, is open to those residing in Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Montana, Idaho, or Nevada.

Applicants must have an idea or startup with less than $10,000 revenue or investment, be over 18 years old, and submit a short public video by July 2.

The accepted pitch videos will be published on the competition’s website for online voting, and the public can vote until July 12. The votes will play a major, but not sole, role in the selection process.

The top pitches, picked by audience voting and competition judging, will participate in the Elevation Pitch Demo Day on July 27. The live online event will help participants receive significant exposure as it will be broadcast to hundreds of attendees and judged by top startup leaders.

The top-ranked pitch from the Demo Day will be named the Elevation Pitch Champion and will receive $1000 in cash from Bold Legal, a Fellowship to the FI Colorado to join its renowned program for no course fee ($999 value) plus $1000 cash, and a wide range of resources and mentorship opportunities.

Participants are invited to join the free “Idea Jam” online workshops to develop their ideas further, and finalists get personalized coaching to improve their pitches before the Demo Day.

The Elevation Pitch’s partners include Startup Colorado, Greater Colorado Venture Fund, Technical Integrity, Adattivo, West Slope Works, Finmark, ScreenSpace, BrandShine Creative Services, Athena Digital, TrueNode, COVENTURE, Publicize, Rockies Venture Club, Nylas, Buderflys, The Walden Agency, Greater Colorado Pitch Series, and GAN.

Jonathan Greechan, co-founder of the Founder Institute, said in comments to StartupBeat that the competition is designed to give people with great ideas the feedback and mentorship needed to turn their ideas into tangible businesses.

Diane Bailey, director of Founder Institute Colorado and founder of GetToTraction.com, says the competition was inspired by the big gap in resources to help aspirant entrepreneurs take the first steps in building a successful business.

Greechan and Bailey will judge the pitches alongside a number of seasoned entrepreneurs and business people such as Marc Nager from Greater Colorado Venture Fund, Peter Adams from Rockies Venture Club, Shea Gerhardt from Buderflys and PurdyLabs, and Gary Gaessler from Nylas.

Those interested in joining the pitch competition should submit their application here by July 2nd.