Caitlin Coffman will be making a different kind of pitch at the Indiana Conference for Women in Indianapolis.
“There is no prize at the end of the rainbow,” said Coffman, founder of tend.ly and a Carmel resident. “It’s kind of like ’Shark Tank’ without the money flowing at the end. We have a series of panelists. We have five minutes to pitch, and then there is five minutes to ask questions. I think the goal is more exposure to the people in the room and potential investors.”
The other pitch finalists are Christine McDonnell, Codelicious co-founder, Carmel; Marie Maher, Synapse Sitters founder, Geist; and Stephanie Corliss, SnapShyft, co-founder, Indianapolis.
The Indiana Conference for Women will be held Nov. 7 at the Indianapolis Convention Center. Actress Diane Keaton will be one of the speakers.
Coffman’s business, tend.ly, provides a communications platform that enables care providers to share meaningful moments with family members.
“I talk about the reasons tend.ly is having success right now and the kind things we are looking for in the next six months or so as far as community involvement and investment,” Coffman said.
Coffman said she started the business approximately four years ago as an outgrowth of her desire to feel more connected with her kids.
“It’s very easy to make the leap from feeling that you are disconnected from your children to feeling you are disconnected from your aging parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, especially because there is distance involved in a lot of those relationships,” she said. “It creates an easy-to-use way for caregivers to stay in touch with family members. Everyone working with that loved one through that care journey can be made active participants.”
Codelicious’s mission is to accelerate technology and code instructions in schools. It builds and licenses curriculum for elementary and middle school educators to teach students problem solving and computer science principles through coding.
McDonnell said it was an honor to be chosen a pitch finalist.
“The process was extremely competitive, and to be part of a group of such talented, strong, entrepreneurs with uniquely impactful businesses is exciting and humbling,” she said.
For more on the conference, visit indianaconferenceforwomen.com.
