The Vinetta Founders Showcase and pitch panels done right
As our project begins to gain traction in Charlottesville, we’ve been reaching out to other organizations dedicated to inclusiveness and diversity in business. The Vinetta Project is a real stand-out, with concrete goals and demonstrated success in enabling conversations between women founders and investors.
Last week I drove up to Washington, D.C. to attend the Vinetta Female Founders Showcase. It was a great chance to meet other people working in the space of diversity and entrepreneurship, but I was especially interested in seeing how the pitch panel of the event was organized. Although it is a necessary part of the entrepreneurship experience, the pitch panel can be an alienating experience — when done poorly, a general attitude of critique-for-critique’s sake can dominate the atmosphere. It was clear that this session did not suffer from that particular weakness: the event was thoughtfully set up, and there was a general understanding that all of the projects being presented were worthy of interest and investment.
The structure of the panel was familiar, although the pitches themselves were quite short: only 2 minutes each. During the more lengthy Q&A, it was clear that the panelists evaluating the pitches had been given more time to study the slide decks and develop thoughtful feedback and responses. I was particularly struck by the insightful and supportive comments by Caren Merrick, Founder and CEO of Pocket Mentor, and self-described “serial entrepreneur.” She encouraged the presenters to think deeply about relationship-building as a valuable endeavor, whether within or without their growing businesses. This was the theme of the night, I found: discussions returned often to social challenges and rewards within entrepreneurship. The conversations that night validated one of the core tenets of INITIATE’s mission: entrepreneurship is not a zero-sum, lone-wolf enterprise. Businesses are supported by a whole network of relationships, and it’s important that those connections are highlighted and encouraged.
In the end, Saureen Desai was chosen as the finalist to represent her company, ShipLync, as a finalist at the $20k prize showcase in September. Fellow presenters, CMO Alice Hu of BigSpool and Founder / CEO Sarah Rumbaugh of RelishMBA offered equally impressive pitches, and it was clear that all companies up for consideration show great promise. In all, the Female Founders Showcase was an excellent demonstration of the Vinetta mission statement, “investing in women is smart business.”
This article was written as part of INITIATE, a project sponsored by CoshX Labs to find new ways to explore business and entrepreneurship. You can follow us on Twitter, and visit our website to learn more about our efforts.
