zWORKS and the Boone County Economic Development Corp. have partnered to present an inaugural Pitch Night at 6 p.m. Oct. 3 at the Underground, 91 S. Main St. The event is designed to allow entrepreneurs who want to start their businesses in Boone County to pitch their ideas to a panel of expert judges.
“We’ve got a top-notch panel of venture capitalists and investors that are going to be judging the pitches,” said Kate Swanson, zWorks executive director. “Having these experienced investors as judges is a huge benefit to the companies pitching.”
Judges include Scott Kraege and John Garry of High Alpha, Jason Whitney of IU Ventures, Scott Henderson of Purdue Foundry and Jacob Schpok of Elevate Ventures.
zWORKS co-founder Dan Moyers will be the emcee.
“Dan is no longer on the board, but he actually works for one of our startups that graduated out of zWORKS called 120WaterAudit,” Swanson said. “It’s really a neat story to see one of the zWORKS co-founders now working for one of these startups. It really shows the caliber of startups that we are producing.”
The event is open to the public. The grand prize is zWORKS office space and resources for one year. The audience will choose a People’s Choice Award winner, who will receive a cash prize and resources.
“I’ve been to a lot of pitch contests around the state, and I thought it was time for zWORKS to host one,” Swanson said. “I really wanted to be able to show the type of startups we have here. I think it’s going to be interesting to the community to the get a glimpse inside of zWORKS and the type of companies that are starting here in their town.”
Tickets are $25. To purchase, visit betterinboone.org/pitch-night/.
