Road Pitch rides into Brattleboro August 1

Submitted by tim on Wed, 07/25/2018 - 07:40

Vermont Business Magazine Strolling of the Heifers and Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation will host the 2018 visit of the FreshTracks Road Pitch at the River Garden on Wednesday, August 1 at 3 pm. The Road Pitch, a gang of motorcycling business investors and advisors, is stopping in Brattleboro on the afternoon of August 1 to hear funding pitches from local businesses that are ready to scale up.

The public is invited to hear the pitches of the local competitors, and stay for the announcement of the winning pitch. Light refreshments will be provided by Strolling of the Heifers’ Farm-To-Table Apprenticeship students.

The 2017 Brattleboro Road Pitch winner, Bob Hausslein, Sugar Bob's Finest Kind. Courtesy photo.

This is the fifth annual Road Pitch Competition. This summer, more than 40 motorcycle riders will hit the roads of Vermont and stop in 8 towns to listen to at least 50 entrepreneurial pitches. Their goal is to find exciting opportunities for investment.

The Brattleboro stop will be at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden (157 Main Street), organized by Strolling of the Heifers and the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation.

At each stop, the riders will award a $500 Riders’ Choice Prize plus a Vermont Teddy Bear “biker bear” to one pitcher in each of the 8 communities. More importantly, for the participating entrepreneurs, the Road Pitch is an opportunity to:

Tighten up their business model and scale-up plan
Get coaching on honing their business pitch presentation
Develop connections to a network of funders and advisors

In addition, the local winners will have a chance to compete at a statewide final event in October for over $4,000 in cash prizes.

Four local entrepreneurs will compete in the pitch competition. They are:

Dede Cummings, Green Writers Press, an independent, environmentally conscious book publisher
Darren Mark, The Invèntory - Sprang Chair, an active sitting chair
Kevin Parada, Venutopia, a digital platform for unique wedding venues
Hilary Famolare, Border Town Farm, a hemp farm focusing on CBD products

These entrepreneurs have received coaching sessions, and practiced their pitches in “dry runs” as part of the competition.

Each pitch is strictly limited to seven minutes, followed by an eight-minute question and answer period.

Road Pitch (www.roadpitch.co) is generously sponsored by Vermont Department of Economic Development, Champlain College, and Champlain College’s BYOBiz program, Burlington Bytes, Key Bank, Gallagher Flynn and Company, Moulton Law Group, Social Sentinel, Vermont Teddy Bear, Merritt-Merritt, Vermont Community Loan Fund and EMBOLDIA.

The Brattleboro stop is sponsored by Vermont Community Loan Fund.