Vermont Business Magazine For the third consecutive year, FreshTracks Road Pitch will take place August 1-5. Road Pitch is a five-day motorcycle tour of Vermont in which a gang of “business bikers” (comprised of investors, entrepreneurs and business advisers) ride around the state and stop in 10 towns to listen to entrepreneurs pitch their business concepts. This year, the tour will stop in Essex Junction (Aug 1), Rutland (Aug 1), Bennington (Aug 2), Brattleboro (Aug 2), Barre (Aug 3), Randolph (Aug 3), St Johnsbury (Aug 4), Lowell (Aug 4), Hyde Park (Aug 5) and Grand Isle (Aug 5).
Come cheer on your local entrepreneurs as they compete for the coveted “Riders’ Choice Award” consisting of $500 and a special edition “Vermont Biker Bear” contributed by Vermont Teddy Bear. In Barre, Hyde Park and Lowell, the local organizers are enhancing the prize package with additional prize money and products. The Riders Choice winner from each town will be invited to a final statewide “Pitch-Off” event where they will pitch for a grand prize of $4,000 and a year’s worth of mentoring from the Road Pitch Riders.
The Pitch-Off is sponsored by and held at Champlain College.
Cairn Cross at the 2015 Road Pitch. Vermont Business Magazine photo.
“We are pleased that Champlain College has agreed to host the brand new final Road Pitch Pitch-Off event during Innovation Week in Burlington” said Cairn Cross, Road Pitch Founder and Co-Founder of FreshTracks Capital, “The final event will bring together the best pitches from the summer’s Road Pitch for one final pitch competition. As with our other Road Pitch events the final event is open to the public.”
“We are able to offer these prizes through the generous sponsorship provided by Vermont Department of Economic Development, Champlain College, Burlington Bytes, Key Bank, Gallagher Flynn and Company, Vermont Small Business Development Center, Dinse, Vermont Business Magazine, Moulton Law Group, DesignBook, Milk Money, Merritt and Merritt, North Country Angel Group, Champlain Mini Makers Faire, LaunchVT, and Vermont Teddy Bear” said Cross, “each of these sponsors plays a key role in the statewide entrepreneurial ecosystem and we are happy for their support.”
This year Road Pitch will again have the Twitter handle @ThisisVT and become the voice of Vermont during the week of August 1st through August 7th. Twitter users can follow the event as it makes its way around the state by following the @ThisisVT Twitter stream. This year the rider group numbers 50 different riders and the riders expect to listen to 50 pitches from a wide variety of Vermont entrepreneurial companies including food and beverage product companies, software companies, advanced manufacturing companies, natural product companies, and clothing companies.
The goals of Road Pitch are to connect Vermont entrepreneurs to resources such as capital and advice, advocate for entrepreneurs throughout the state, help entrepreneurs polish and refine their pitching skills, showcase entrepreneurship through a highly visible annual event, find investible opportunities for private investors and source capital for entrepreneurial businesses, and promote motorcycle touring in Vermont while having fun and riding safely.
This year while touring the state, the rider group will hand out 1,000 Vermont Brownie Company Brownies during the week with a Share the Road riding safety and motorcycle awareness message.
ROAD PITCH SCHEDULE
August 2016
North Hero – 3:00PM (link is external)
Find out more » (link is external)
Road Pitch:
Road Pitch is a multi-day motorcycling event where motorcyclists with investing, business advising or entrepreneurial experience ride through Vermont stopping in small towns to listen to entrepreneurs pitch their business concepts. Riders provide advice, connect the entrepreneurs with resources where appropriate, and occasionally make an investment in a business opportunity. The ride also promotes Vermont as a terrific place to do business as well as a perfect motorcycling destination with lots of scenic twisting roads, picturesque small towns, and plenty of locally sourced food and beverage. Road Pitch was founded in 2014 by Cairn Cross co-founder of FreshTracks Capital.
The Road Pitch website: www.roadpitch.co has a detailed listing of the dates and times for each event. The events are free and open to the public.
Source: Road Pitch 7.26.2016