Invest Atlantic on the Hunt for PitchCamp Participants
Organizers and participants alike are gearing up for this year’s Invest Atlantic PitchCamp, where startup and early-stage businesses will participate in pitch coaching workshops.
Following the workshops, ten finalists will face off in a pitch competition in front of Invest Atlantic attendees and members of the startup community, including investors, established entrepreneurs and government, financial, legal, and marketing organizations.
This year’s Invest Atlantic event will be held from September 18 to 20 at the Confederation Centre in Charlottetown, P.E.I.
With a solid track record of established and successful businesses participating in PitchCamp, many now say that the experience was a valuable one to take their company to the next level and greatly improve their pitch skills.
Fundmetric co-founder Mark Hobbs, who participated in PitchCamp in 2016, says the event was a crucial one for himself and his company at such an early stage. At the time, he says they hadn’t done much pitching but had a couple early adopters.
“The PitchCamp really gave me a boost of confidence. It made me more concise. I was able to better articulate what I wanted investors to know about the business and it really was the beginning of a very exciting journey,” he says.
Hobbs says they’ve since been able to secure a number of high-profile investors and were accepted to do a six-month residency at the Google Canada headquarters in Waterloo.
As a company with a product geared towards non-profits that require fundraising, some of Fundmetric’s clients now include Amnesty International, Oregon State University, Kent State University and World Wildlife Fund Canada.
Chrissy Rossiter was in the very early stages of development with her company Peachy, which helps home care agencies deliver better services to improve the quality of life for seniors, when she decided to participate in PitchCamp last fall. In fact, she and her co-founder had dramatically changed the idea of their business days before participating.
“I thought it would be a great way to work on organizing some of the plans we had,” she says.
“You’re required to do a pitch, which really forces you to know your stuff. But more importantly, be able to talk about your business and talk about how it’s going to evolve in a pretty simple way and in a way that can get others excited. It was a test of that.”
Rossiter says that in addition to what she learned during the PitchCamp, she found the experience rewarding thanks to the connections she made with people she says she wouldn’t have been introduced to otherwise.
“Right now we’re doing great. We just signed a one-year contract with a customer and we are beginning to sell into the United States,” she says.
“Since Invest Atlantic, there’s been a lot of work done and we’re going to do continue to do a lot of work. We’re really happy with where we are and where we’re going to be going.”
There are still a few days left to register for PitchCamp and get free admission to the Invest Atlantic Event. Registration to PitchCamp closes Friday, August 24.
This story is sponsored by Invest Atlantic.