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Pitch Club provides aspiring entrepreneurs of all ages with the opportunity to connect with investors, business angels, venture capitalists and other entrepreneur enthusiasts.
Pitch Club is a fun, fast and furious business networking event like no other and offers entrepreneurs the chance to pitch their ideas from a miniature boxing ring to an audience of potential investors.
A typical Pitch Club event starts with ten entrepreneurs invited into a miniature boxing ring, where they each have ninety seconds to pitch their idea to the crowd. The audience decides who makes it to the final round through preliminary voting and then the finalists have the opportunity to interact for another five minutes with the audience through their pitch and a Q&A session. The audience then votes for the winner of the night with Pitch Club dollars, signifying their endorsement of the ideas presented to them.
On 30 April 2009, Sara Redman from Launceston in Tasmania, became the first woman to win a Pitch Club event. Sara was one of three women pitching on the night and won the crowd over with her pitch for celebrity endorsement of her product, ‘Lighten Up – a new approach to weight loss.
Sara Redman told Australian Women Online, Pitch Club “was one of the best business experiences I’ve had.”
“For Lighten Up we wanted a celebrity endorsement and we had some specific celebrities we were seeking contact with and we got contacts for three of them, which is fantastic,” she said.
As the winner at a Pitch Club event, Sara Redman received: a huge bottle of Moet champagne; a one hour coaching session with KPMG; a free training program through the Tasmanian Department Economic Development; training with the co-founder of Pitch Club, Peter Cristo; and a number of books, cd’s and magazine subscriptions. The winner also receives free publicity via Pitch Club’s PR campaign.
“From Pitch Club we also raised our profile in the business community. There’s a really good representation from government, the private sector, individual entrepreneurs and investors – so it was an excellent opportunity to just to have their attention,” said Sara Redman.
With budding entrepreneurs required to pitch to a crowd from a boxing ring, it’s not surprising that initially, the concept appealed to more men than women. However, as the recent event in Launceston showed, Pitch Club is beginning to attract women in increasing numbers.
“I can’t thank them enough and I’m going to be an ambassador for the Pitch Club and encourage people to pitch, particularly women,” said Sara Redman. “I think it is a good opportunity for women.”
Pitch Club events costs just $25 to attend and are held in Brisbane, Launceston, Melbourne, Perth, Hobart, Sydney and Adelaide. For more information visit the website www.pitchclub.com.