Pure Pitch surprise twist: Techweek competition adds pre-teen innovator to KC startup lineup
October 8, 2018 | Startland News Staff
In a surprise announcement Monday, organizers of the Pure Pitch Rally announced the third annual pitch competition would feature the Kansas City pre-teen innovator behind the Storm Sleeper.
Update: Click here to find out who won big at the Pure Pitch Rally.
Donald Hawkins, CitySmart
Julia Luetje — a Barstow School student from Leawood, who at 10 years old won Frito-Lay’s $250,000 Dreamvention grand prize winner for her noise-reduction invention — joins established entrepreneur Donald Hawkins, founder of the white label, SaaS platform CitySmart, and eight early stage startups Wednesday in the fast-paced, invite-only pitch event during Techweek Kansas City.
Click here to learn more about Luetje’s Storm Sleeper device.
Pure Pitch contestants are vying for $30,000 in cash and $500,000 in Amazon AWS Activate credits, as well as $50,000 in tech resources from Full Scale, the high-growth talent development startup helmed by Startup Hustle podcast hosts Matt DeCoursey and Matt Watson. Prizes are awarded by “land sharks,” who each give $1,000 to companies of their choice, but take no equity in exchange.
Startup competitors include:
- Sara Baker, FastDemocracy
- Rhonda Dolan, Üdo
- Brian Kearns, HipHire
- Lauren Lawrence, Stenovate
- Erin Little, Rx Hackers
- Carlanda McKinney, Raaxo
- Kirby Montgomery, TheraWe Connect
- Aubrey Young, Fluence
“For our third year, we have the magic aligned — the land sharks, the funding, the velocity of ideas and our networking mission,” said Karen Fenaroli, founder of Pure Pitch Rally and CEO and founder of talent consultancy Fenaroli & Associates. “Why does the Pure Pitch Rally work in Kansas City? We have a hunger to help others, and this means showing up as mentors, as angel funders and as a community. The pitch works in this great Midwest city because of startup mentor friends like Polsinelli, Circle Sideways, BKD, Amazon and Full Scale.”
Some of the new and returning land sharks include such high-profile funders as Terry Dunn, DD Ranch Ventures; Pam Berneking, chief commercial officer, CommunityAmerica Credit Union; Matt Watson, CEO, Stackify and FullScale.io; Angela Hurt, CEO, Veracity Consulting, Inc.; Scott Hedrick, CEO, Pro Athlete Inc.; Jill Groebl, senior vice president of client services, Intouch Solutions; Ryan Merket, Amazon BD Startups; Lesa Mitchell, managing director, Techstars Kansas City; and Keith Molzer, general partner, Flyover Capital.
Featured Business
2018 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Cannabis biz expected to grow like a weed after MO voters light recreational marijuana
Tuesday’s vote in favor of recreational marijuana in Missouri shows Kansas City’s obvious appetite for legalization, said Michael Wilson, whose cannabis startup sees a vast new market opened by the election outcome. Statewide, Missouri poll-goers this week approved the high-profile constitutional amendment with 53.1 percent of the more than 2 million votes cast. In Kansas…
New $2.2M funding round powers WorkTorch career platform expansion into KCK, KCMO
Less than a year after sisters Deborah Gladney and Angela Muhwezi-Hall became the first Black women in Kansas to raise $1 million in seed funding for their startup, their rebranded Wichita company announced another $2.2 million investment for its rapidly scaling service industry career platform. The new influx of funding — led by Wichita-based Tenzing Capital…
No ratings, no negative reviews: Restaurant app guides diners through crowd-sourced trust
Popular restaurant review sites — clouded by negative reviews and manipulated ratings — have often led Leo Esposito astray, he shared. To revolutionize the way people discover their next favorite place to eat, Esposito launched the social app Bōzt. “Our vision is to be the most trusted platform for sourcing restaurant recommendations,” said Esposito, who founded…
Meet three tech startup founders pitching in KC’s women-led ‘Dolphin Tank’ event
A pitch event is set to return to Kansas City with a trio of female founders spotlighted for a panel of “dolphins.” “Springboard’s Dolphin Tank brings the power of our collective community to women entrepreneurs innovating in enterprise tech,” said Natalie Buford-Young, CEO of Springboard Enterprises. “Our Dolphin Tank events showcase exciting women-led companies and…