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12/07/11 | Uncategorized

Apply To Women 2.0 PITCH Early-Stage Startup Competition

 

For the latest Women 2.0 PITCH Competition, click here.

The 5th Annual PITCH: Women 2.0 Startup Competition is open to early-stage ventures around the world, from high growth business ventures in mobile to web, from double bottom line businesses to connected devices.

Applying companies must have a female in the founding team, be in beta stage, and have received less than a million in funding.


Application deadline: December 7, 2011 @ MIDNIGHT (PST).
Thanks for applying — now hang tight! Finalists will be notified by January 2 — thank you for your patience!
Check out previous PITCH events: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007.

Why Apply to PITCH:

How to Enter the Women 2.0 Startup Competition:

1.)  Fill out the one-page application online.
You can start and continue updating your online application here anytime up to the closing date of November 30, 2011 December 7, 2011. Applying teams must have at least one female on the founding team.
2.)  Mail in your napkin business plan.
Scribble and doodle your business idea on a paper napkin, and send it in.
3.)  Film a quick 2 minute video pitch.
This isn’t a business pitch to the investor, but a marketing pitch to your consumer.
4.)  Submit everything by December 7, 2011.
Last day to edit your application online and upload your 2 minute video is December 7, 2011.
5.)  Hang tight!
The judging panel will review submissions and and we’ll notify the finalists.
6.)  Join us on February 14, 2012 as the finalists pitch live at the Women 2.0 Conference

Entry Requirements:

  1. The founding team must have at least one female.
  2. The founding team must have a technologist* on the founding team. A technologist is an engineer, scientist, mathematician, biologist, etc.
  3. Your venture must be in beta. This means you should have a prototype (alpha or beta version) or the product is already in the market.
  4. Raised less than a million in funding
  5. PITCH is focused on companies with high-growth potential.

Awards will go to the startups for:

  • Most likely to change the world
  • Most disruptive
  • Most likely to be a sticky time suck
  • Most promising team
  • Most promising business model

Got questions about PITCH? Email askpitch@women2.org.

Finalists pitch live at the Women 2.0 Conference on February 14, 2012 in San Francisco. Previous years’ prizes included meetings with Michael Moritz (Sequoia Capital), Tim Draper (Draper Fisher Jurvetson) and Esther Dyson (EDventure Holdings).

Apply to PITCH: Women 2.0 Startup Competition

How to apply to the Women 2.0 PITCH Startup Competition — there are 3 parts:

  1. Fill out the one-page application for PITCH on Gust. Once you start an application, you may edit your application anytime prior to the closing date of November 30, 2011 December 7, 2011. Application fee is $100 per startup. Thanks to a generous sponsorship from Bing, the first 100 applicants to PITCH in San Francisco will have their application fees waived.
  2. Mail in your business model scribbled on a paper napkin — Capture your creativity on the paper napkin with your doodles and drawings. Submit your business idea on a paper napkin no larger than 7×7 inches. Your name and contact info must be on the napkin so we can match it with your online application.Mail this napkin to “Women 2.0 c/o PITCH Director, 625 2nd Street, 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94107” but first email a picture of it to askpitch@women2.org if the napkin doesn’t arrive to San Francisco by December 7, 2011. Napkins will be exhibited to the public at the Women 2.0 Conference. By default, your napkin will be exhibited. If you do not wish to participate in the exhibition, state clearly on a note and attach it on the napkin.
  3. Film a 2-minute video pitch — Think of this as a traditional television commercial, and the audience/viewers are your “perfect” customers. How will you pitch your product to them? The video should be uploaded along with your business plan through Gust. Uploading video takes time and bandwidth, we suggest you do not wait until the deadline to submit your video pitch. Gust will allow you to upload a video of up to 5 minutes long, but we strongly suggest you keep your video to 2 minutes — you should be able to distill your message into a 2 minute video for uploading.

Finalists will be invited to present at the Women 2.0 Conference in San Francisco on February 14, 2012. If you are selected as a finalist, the entire team must present at the conference.

This competition is in line with Steve Blank’s position that startups model while companies plan — hence, Women 2.0 is holding a business model competition rather than a business plan competition. Judging is based on not just the initial business model but what the team learned by pivoting, for example, avoiding the “beauty contest” of business plans where judges resort to choosing the best “paper exercise” plan (rather than the best business or the team that has made the most progress in figuring out product-market fit). Teams, whether they win or lose, finish the competition significantly more prepared to launch their business in the real world. Read more »

 

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