Just two simple words have the ability to make investors turn
their heads and make entrepreneurs’ palms sweat: Demo day. Demo day is the opportunity for startups to
get in front of angel investors and venture capitalists and pitch their ideas
with the hopes of getting funded, or at the very minimum, making strong
connections.
Think Big hosted its very first Demo
Day on Wednesday, August 28, 2013 at the Think Big Partners loft. You could feel the energy and passion of each
entrepreneur as they stood solo on the Demo Day stage in front of 85+
investors, community leaders and startup enthusiasts. And although each 8-minute pitch seemed
simple and comfortable enough, what the audience may not have realized is that
many of these entrepreneurs had been practicing for weeks to deliver the
perfect pitch--after all, that’s what it takes to get funded.
For the eight presenting entrepreneurs, Think Big Demo Day
didn’t just take place on August 28. The
journey toward Demo Day started when they decided to turn their idea into a
business. From there, the entrepreneurs
built, grew and launched a new startup right here in Kansas City. Four of the presenting startups went through
the Think Big
Accelerator program. Many utilized
the benefits of Think Big Coworking
space. And all were consulted and
mentored by Think Big Partners along their startup journey toward Demo Day.
Think Big Demo Day began with a 45 minute networking luncheon
and an opportunity for entrepreneurs, startups, community leaders and investors
to get acquainted with one another.
After lunch, the audience warmed up with energetic opening remarks from
Think Big Co-founder and Managing Partner, Herb Sih and a quick 10-minute tour
of Think Big Coworking.
By 1:00PM, it was time for the pitches. Polished presentations from Nathan Benjamin (InvenQuery), Jeb Ory (Phone2Action), Parker Hills (Keyzio) and Jeff Alholm (CandyCam) were followed by Q&A sessions
from the audience and were then followed by explosive applause.
After a short break, it was Group 2’s chance to pitch. Many audience members frivolously jotted down
notes as Scott Tibbits (Katasi), Connor
Sweeney (WeeJay), Bryan Richard (Fully) and Pierre Barbeau (Moblico) presented their startup concepts
to the crowd. Once again, the room burst
into applause after each and every pitch.
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By the time Pierre Barbeau stepped down from the stage, the
audience was still fully energized and geared up to get some face time with the
presenters. Lucky for them, Think Big
Demo Day wasn’t over. The chance for
investors to entrepreneurs to connect was just beginning. Many decided to stay at Think Big to meet
one-on-one with each other while others moved the event down the street to Snow & Company for frozen
cocktails, power networking and further beneficial connections.
Although the ultimate goal of Demo Day was to connect
entrepreneurs with investors and funding, another goal rose from the gathering
of so many passionate and energetic people: an increased number of
collisions. As mentioned by Herb Sih
during opening remarks, the reason that companies get funded and that more jobs
are created is because of increased collision
density. The term “collision
density” is the level of collisions made between entrepreneurs, investors and
connectors in a single area. The higher
an area’s collision density is, the more quickly and efficiently innovative
development can occur. Increased
collision density was just another much anticipated outcome of Think Big Demo
Day.
Think Big Partners would like to thank all attendees and
presenters, as well as the partners of the Think Big Accelerator who help
address the needs of the startup companies: The City of Kansas City, Missouri;
Microsoft BizSpark, Twilio, SendGrind.
And a special thank you to all mentors and resident advisor, Dr. Julie
Edge.
The next round of Think Big Accelerator applications open
September 16, 2013. For more
information, please visit www.thinkbigpartners.com
or call 816-842-5244.
