The Pitch competition launches as management team completes MBO
The Pitch has been acquired by its management team and applications open today as part of the newly formed Box 2 Media.
The Pitch supports small businesses with a free programme of educational events that culminate in a live pitching competition. Contestants compete for the chance to win a money-can’t-buy mentoring package and national PR.
Propel by Deloitte are returning as headline sponsors this year, providing advice on the technology small businesses can use to help them grow.
“We are delighted to be headline supporters of The Pitch for another year,” said Pete Harris, operations lead at Propel by Deloitte. “Our purpose at Propel is to provide a market-leading service to support exciting and ambitious small businesses to start, run and grow. The Pitch is a perfect fit for us to continue our exciting journey in helping these businesses flourish.”
Box 2 Media CEO Yiuwin Tsang and COO Chris Goodfellow were inspired to take on The Pitch by years of working with entrepreneurs. The team expects to have more than 500 delegates to The Pitch events this year, including putting 100 small business owners through free bootcamps.
“Having worked on The Pitch for the last few years, it’s really hard not to be inspired and motivated to start up. It’s such a meaningful event that we feel both engages and adds value to delegates, contestants and sponsors, and we’re looking forward to developing the brand over the next few years,” said Yiuwin.
Bristol-based Sift launched The Pitch in 2008. Since then it has grown from a ubiquitous pitching contest to a truly unique year-long programme of events to support entrepreneurs.
Speaking about the deal, Sift CEO Tom Dunkerley said: “Yiuwin and Chris were a great asset to Sift and we’re sorry to see them leave the team. However, they’re well suited to running a business and it made sense to give them the opportunity to build the event. I wish them the best and we’ll continue to work closely with them in the future.”
The Pitch is unique in providing mentoring and support before contestants face the judges at the final. The top 100 businesses go on a free, practical boot camp covering sales, marketing, finance, pitching and more. The founders that make it to the final receive national exposure and the winner receives a prize packaged centred around mentoring support.
Previous Pitch judges include Kashflow founder Duane Jackson, Crowdcube founder Darren Westlake, Fitness First founder Mike Balfour and Entrepreneurial Spark founder Lucy-Rose Walker. Last year's free boot camp sessions had a Net Promoter Score of 89 and The Pitch final 75.
Beelinguapp founder and The Pitch 2017 winner David Montiel said taking part in the event was “one of the greatest experience” in his startup journey so far:
“Hopefully, this project ends up being a big product and this will be one of the key moments together with the Kickstarter campaign for the iPhone version. Not only because of what it means to win but in terms of motivation, it makes me aware of what I’ve achieved,” David added.
Complaint handling service Resolver secured £2.8m of investment several months after winning The Pitch 2016 and now has over 1.4 million users. Other 2016 finalists include advertising hologram company Kino-Mo and deals website Latest Free Stuff.
"The Pitch has been a major defining point and milestone for our business,” said Hire an Artist founder and 2016 finalist Gareth Craven. “Not only did we make some invaluable connections with other people and their businesses, it also marked a recognition of how much potential our business had. No more than five months from being a finalist in The Pitch, we received a £50,000 investment! We’d like to show a huge amount of gratitude to The Pitch Team!"
Startups and small businesses that want to take part can apply here.
ENDS
Contact details
For photography, an interview or more information please get in touch with Chris@Box2Media.com (07554662101).
For commercial enquiries please get in touch with Yiuwin@Box2Media.com (07717410490).