Podcast: The Pitch


The show where founders pitch their startups to investors. We find early stage startups, listen to their pitch and help them raise money from our audience of angel investors. VC - Startups - Angel Investing - Seed Funding - Venture Capital

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Recent Episodes

  • #152 Oma Health

    Khaylah Epps wants to change the face of healthcare in the south. This is The Pitch for Oma Health. Featuring investors Cyan Banister, Charles Hudson, Elizabeth Yin, Mac Conwell and Jesse Middleton. ... Watch Khaylah pitch her healthtech startup on YouTub...

  • #151 Feedback Intelligence

    Is your AI hallucinating? This AI can fix it. This is Chinar Movsisyan's pitch for Feedback Intelligence. Featuring investors Cyan Banister, Charles Hudson, Elizabeth Yin, Mac Conwell and Jesse Middleton. ... Watch Chinar pitch her AI startup on YouTube @...

  • #150 Remynt

    Gwyneth Borden has a vendetta. This is The Pitch for Remynt. Featuring investors Cyan Banister, Mac Conwell, Ben Taft and Elizabeth Yin. ... Watch Gwyneth pitch her debt recovery startup on YouTube @thepitchshow Register for our virtual Season Finale Watc...

  • #149 Dopl

    Could robots bring healthcare access to rural America? This is Ryan James' pitch for Dopl. Featuring investors Cyan Banister, Charles Hudson, Josh Muccio and Jesse Middleton. ... Watch Ryan pitch his healthtech startup on YouTube @thepitchshow Register fo...

  • #148 ESAI

    Can a college advisor disrupt the system from the inside? This is Julia Dixon's pitch for ESAI. Featuring investors Cyan Banister, Charles Hudson, Elizabeth Yin, Mac Conwell and Jesse Middleton. ... Watch Julia pitch her edtech startup on YouTube @thepitc...

  • #147 Partytrick

    Award winning event planner makes the pivot to tech. This is Virginia Frischkorn's pitch for Partytrick. Featuring investors Cyan Banister, Mac Conwell, Ben Taft and Elizabeth Yin. ... Watch Virginia pitch her startup on YouTube @thepitchshow Register for...

  • #146 ReCraft Beer

    Two of Josh's favorite hobbies—beer and startups—collide in The Pitch Room. This is Dean Eberhardt's pitch for ReCraft. Featuring investors Cyan Banister, Charles Hudson, Elizabeth Yin, Mac Conwell and Jesse Middleton. ... Watch Dean pitch his beer techno...

  • #145 immersionED

    Chad Wilson wants to disrupt history class with video games. This is The Pitch for immersionED. Featuring investors Cyan Banister, Charles Hudson, Elizabeth Yin, Mac Conwell and Jesse Middleton. ... Watch Chad pitch his edtech startup on YouTube @thepitch...

  • #144 Bridgefy

    What happens when disaster strikes and the internet goes down? This is Jorge Rios' pitch for Bridgefy. Featuring investors Cyan Banister, Charles Hudson, Josh Muccio, and Jesse Middleton. ... Watch Jorge pitch his peer-to-peer networking tech on YouTube @...

  • #143 Vital Audio

    What if you could take someone’s vitals, using just the sound of their voice? This is Nyamitse-Calvin Mahinda's pitch for Vital Audio. Featuring investors Cyan Banister, Charles Hudson, Mac Conwell, Jesse Middleton and Lee Jacobs. ... Watch Nyamitse-Calvi...

  • #142 Kinometrix

    One million patients fall in hospitals each year, and it costs US hospitals over $35 billion. What if they could all be prevented? This is Devina Desai's pitch for Kinometrix. Featuring investors Cyan Banister, Mac Conwell, Ben Taft and Elizabeth Yin. ......

  • #141 Christie's Chips

    What happens when a Michelin-trained palate makes junk food with no junk? This is Christie Buck's pitch for Christie’s Chips. Featuring investors Cyan Banister, Mac Conwell, Ben Taft and Elizabeth Yin. ... Watch Christie pitch her potato chip startup on Y...

  • #140 geCKo Materials

    Biomimicry (noun): the design and production of materials, structures, and systems that are modeled on biological entities and processes. Founder Capella Kerst invented a material that mimics a geckos' gravity defying grip. This industrial velcro could be...

  • #139 FutureMoney

    Phil Barrar sold his last company for $65 million. Now he’s back in the game with FutureMoney, an investing platform that helps parents create generational wealth for their kids with the Junior Roth IRA™. Featuring investors Cyan Banister, Charles Hudson,...

  • Season 12: Tear Down The System

    A new season is here! Fourteen pitches start August 14th with one crazy season finale to tie it all together. These startups will blow your mind, and if you’re an investor on the show… your wallet. BONUS: Stick around at the end of the trailer for a speci...

  • #138 The Exit: Selling LearnVest for $375 Million

    Alexa Von Tobel started thinking about money after her dad died when she was young. By the time she got her first job out of college, she was horrified to learn that there weren’t any financial resources online. So she built LearnVest – one of the first c...

  • #137 Gnara: Disrupting Your Pants

    As a glacier guide in Alaska, Georgia Grace Edwards had a problem: her pants. While the male guides just unzipped and did their business, she had to find a secluded place and completely undress in the freezing tundra. So Georgia Grace created the GoFly zi...

  • #136 KredFeed: The Next Mexican Unicorn?

    Lending is one of the oldest markets in recorded history. But founder Luis Sánchez believes there’s an opportunity that remains untapped… manufacturing companies in Mexico. Can Luis mint a Mexican unicorn? Or will the investors decide that this market is...

  • #135 Thoras AI: The Twin Effect

    Twin sisters Nilo and Jennifer Rahmani used to be site reliability engineers. Where they worked night and day to keep servers running at companies like Slack. But Nilo and Jen left their cushy jobs in tech to build Thoras AI, a platform that helps startup...

  • #134 RobeCurls: From TikTok to Target

    When women started curling their hair with bathrobes, Emily Kenison didn't see a silly TikTok trend. She saw the creation of a new market – heatless hair care. This lawyer-turned-inventor decided to capitalize on the craze by designing her own patented li...

  • #133 PodcastAI: Josh Gets Displaced

    We thought it would take years before AI could replace a podcast host. That is, until founder Edward Brawer slid into Josh’s DMs to pitch his startup, PodcastAI. Edward thinks he can make podcast producers 10x more productive and he already signed two big...

  • #132 The Exit: Selling Shipt for $550 Million

    Since the beginning of The Pitch, we’ve told one story: what it’s like to raise money for a startup. But what about the rest of the journey? On our new segment, The Exit, we talk to startup founders who’ve done the impossible, sold their startup for hundr...

  • #131 Flock AI: Model Generated Models

    What if your favorite online store had models that look like you: your skin tone, your height, your body shape? That question propelled Vita Mallela to start Flock AI. Their AI generated models could help brands eliminate pricey photoshoots. But with AI s...

  • #130 FranShares: Invest in Franchises

    After spending a decade as a franchise broker, Kenny Rose decided to break out on his own and start FranShares. An alternative investment platform where anyone can invest in franchises. Now you can own a piece of your local fast food joint, a medspa, even...

  • #129 RedDrop: Pitching the Big Vision

    Monica Williams wants to revolutionize the period experience for tweens. With $5 million in sales in just two years, she’s on her way. Now she wants to raise venture to scale her bootstrapped company. Will Monica get to pitch the big vision for RedDrop or...

  • #128 ChurchSpace: Airbnb for Churches

    Growing up as a pastor's kid, Emmanuel Brown saw what a financial burden church real estate can be. Churches sit empty 70% of the week even though they have commercial kitchens and professional sound systems and oh so much space for activities! So Emmanue...

  • #127 Nectir: The Classroom of the Future

    Kavitta Ghai struggled in school due to autism and ADHD until a positive experience with a college professor transformed her academic journey. Convinced this was the future, she launched a startup to make classrooms more accessible. Now, she just needs a...

  • Season 11: We're Bringing the Heat

    The Pitch is back for season 11! Recorded for the first time in front of a live studio audience, we invited the top startup founders and VCs from across the country to join us in Miami. Visionary founders will pitch everything from pants you can pee in, t...

  • #126 Handle: The Uncut Pitch

    For our season 10 finale, we’re trying something crazy. We’re giving you a full pitch from start to finish with no editing whatsoever! Founder Chase Robbins presents his snack delivery business, Handle, to investors Paige Doherty, Neal Bloom, Elizabeth Yi...

  • #125 Locker: The Future of Online Shopping

    Online shopping was supposed to make things easier. But with so many options, it’s also made our shopping experience more fragmented than ever. Kristine Locker set out to fix that with her social shopping app Locker. However, her target demographic is a c...

  • #124 ECGO: Turning Trash Into Treasure With AI

    Ever stood at the recycling bin wondering, “Is this cup really recyclable?'' Enter Nicole Toole, the founder of ECGO, an AI-powered app designed to tackle this confusion. With ECGO, you snap a photo of any item, and the app will tell you how to properly d...

  • #123 Outlines: A Venture-Backed Shower Curtain?

    Luke Barkley Young was tired of two things: companies that don’t take responsibility for products they put in the world and moldy shower liners. So he created Outlines, a circular subscription for all your home essentials. Their first product is a recycla...

  • #122 Wist: The Killer Use Case for VR?

    Venture investors have spent the last decade searching for the killer use case for VR. Today’s founder, Andrew McHugh, thinks he’s found it with his startup, Wist. But days before Andrew gave his pitch, Apple sent shockwaves through the industry by announ...

  • #121 Ride iQ: Peloton for Horses

    Cofounding sisters Kinsey and Jessa Lux think they’ve found the next big opportunity in sports tech, audio lessons for horseback riders. But the equestrian market is way smaller than say, running or cycling. Is a passionate market enough to excite investo...

  • #120 Bevz: A Tech Bro Walks Into a Corner Store...

    Jason Vego wants to disrupt an industry so old school he has to sell door to door. Yet somehow his SaaS platform for convenience stores boasts a 95% conversion rate from free trial. Another number comes up in The Pitch Room though, Jason’s ownership perce...

  • #119 Amateur Golf Society: Venture Capital vs. Private Equity

    Dan Hershberg loves golf. So much so that he founded the Amateur Golf Society – a PGA-style tour that any golfer can participate in. The investors think his flexible tournament model is a hole in one. But things get complicated when they discover a majori...

  • #118 Uncovered: The Business of True Crime

    If you're murdered in the US, there's only a 57% chance your killer will be found. Jim Brown aims to change this statistic by enabling the massive true crime community to solve cold cases on his website Uncovered.com. But mysterious circumstances in the s...

  • #117 Lotus: Hardware Hail Mary

    Despite a decade in engineering at Apple, Dhaval Patel didn’t have any smart technology in his home. So he designed a ring that converts every home into a smart home – using old technology found in your typical TV remote. But hardware startups are extreme...

  • #116 Kimoyo: Is This African Startup Venture Backable?

    When Mariam Braimah led product design at Netflix she struggled to find participants in Africa to test new products. So she started Kimoyo Insights, a research analytics platform that helps companies like Microsoft & Flutterwave gather feedback from Afric...

  • #115 Gemist: The Crown Jewel of Venture

    When Madeline Fraser tried to design her engagement ring online, she was stunned to find it couldn’t be done. After bringing a cash deposit to a rando in LA, Madeline got her custom ring and, with it, a new business idea. She started Gemist – a vertical S...

  • Season 10: Deals, Dollars, Drama & YouTube!

    We’re back for Season 10 with double the digits, double the deals, and double the drama. Your favorite investors return along with some new voices ready to shake up The Pitch Room.  And for the first time ever, we’re posting new episodes on YouTube! Don’t...

  • #114 Brevity: Your AI Pitch Coach

    Co-founders Kelvin Johnson and Max Huc know first impressions are everything. That’s why they created Brevity, an AI powered software to help craft a persuasive first pitch. But pitching a pitch product to a room full of pitch experts proves to be a bit o...

  • #113 HILOS: Is This The Perfect Business?

    The fashion industry is one of the most wasteful and inefficient industries on the planet, and Elias Stahl wants to reinvent it. His company, HILOS, is creating an entirely new supply chain for shoes, made on demand with 3D printed components. But they do...

  • Rapid-Fire Recap + San Diego Meetup 🏄‍♂️

    Our next episode drops in two weeks, until then here’s the recap on what’s been happening at The Pitch. You can check out The Pitch Fund portfolio here, RSVP for our San Diego meetup on June 7th, and most importantly, subscribe to The Pitch Insider for al...

  • #112 Natrion: The Holy Grail of Battery Tech

    Alex Kosyakov claims to have discovered the holy grail of battery technology, a solid-state battery capable of mass production for electric vehicles. And with the ever increasing demand for EVs, investors are supercharged by this pitch. Can Alex convince...

  • #111 Stigma: Whose Business Is It Anyway?

    Founder Ariana Vargas wants to destigmatize talking about mental health. So she built a social app. No wait, now it’s a Slack app for the workplace? This founder is willing to do whatever it takes to secure investment - maybe too willing. Will Ariana buil...

  • #110 HandsDown: The Accelerator Pitch

    Jenna Sereni believes the best product recommendations come from family and friends. That’s the genesis of her social shopping app, HandsDown. Her pitch starts out like normal - until the investors flip the script and start pitching back, sending HandsDow...

  • #109 Modern Picnic: Surviving the Adpocalypse

    When Ali Kaminetsky started her first job out of college, she quickly realized she didn’t have a stylish way to pack her lunch every day. So, she created Modern Picnic, a company that makes insulated vegan leather lunch boxes for women. The first two year...

  • #108 Qleek Pt. III: A Postmortem and a Comeback

    Ismail Salhi and Johanna Hartzheim, co-founders of Qleek, have been through the wringer. They first pitched their company on our show in 2017, when an investment from a listener helped bring them back from the brink. Today we hear the rest of the story. I...

  • #107 Terrascope: A Computer Vision Tale

    This tale starts with a problem Kehan Zhou found when trying to buy a hobby farm. Zillow didn’t have good search options for land and LandWatch.com was even worse, so Kehan ventured off to combine computer vision technology and satellite imagery to create...

  • #106 Dotcal: The Calendar Wars

    There are tons of companies popping up in the scheduling space now that Calendly is valued at 6 billion dollars. Everyone wants to build the next billion dollar calendar app, including David Matthews, founder of Dotcal. He thinks he’s created a scheduling...

  • #105 Teffola: Granola Guy Approved

    A few years ago, Claire Smith moved back to her family farm, where they practice sustainable farming, and created Teffola. It’s granola made with an ancient Ethiopian grain called teff, which is filled with lots of protein, fiber, iron, and calcium. The o...

  • #104 Dressd: Red Carpet or Red Ocean?

    Clothing rental companies get a bad rap in the VC world. It seems like no matter how much money investors sink into them, they always just… fail? But today’s founder thinks she found a way to make it work. Capri Wheaton is going after a demographic that a...

  • #103 Get Lost in the AWSM Sauce

    AWSM Sauce founders Carl and Paul have perfected a sustainable way of making sauce. But then, they had another idea – a futuristic way of getting sauce on our plates. Will the investors see this as a two-innovations-in-one deal, or will they get lost in t...

  • #102 Tether: Bodyguard of the Grid

    Founder Luis Medina Rivas travels across the world to pitch his big vision on how to solve one of the most important problems of our time - energy. His pitch is close to perfect. However, the VCs worry about the location of his company and come back to hi...

  • #101 Josh Pitches The Pitch

    The Pitch is back! And a whole lot has changed since buying the show from Gimlet, bringing host Josh Muccio and cofounder Lisa Muccio somewhere they never thought they’d be — pitching in front of the investors…on their own show. But is the host of The Pit...

  • Our Comeback Season Is Here!

    Welcome back to The Pitch! This season, we head to Chicago to meet 14 founders with 12 business ideas big enough to change the world. Everything from a better ketchup to a potential solution to one of the biggest problems of our time - energy. The founder...

  • Return of The Pitch

    Host Josh Muccio picks up the mic once again... with some personal news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • #100 When Investors Take the Hot Seat

    This week, we've got a show like no other. Instead of startup founders asking for money to grow their business, we hear investors Jake Chapman and Howie Diamond pitch their new venture capital fund. And they learn right away that things on the other side...

  • #99 The Friends & Family Gap

    In VC, before you pitch investors, you’re expected to get some initial cash from friends and family. Getting this money is a critical first step for a new startup. But what if your friends and family aren’t wealthy? Two founders tell us what that experien...

  • #98 Hello! You’ve Reached The Pitch Helpline

    We're now in a business climate transformed by Covid. And founders need help figuring out how to impress investors, find new customers, and connect with potential cofounders in this uncertain time. We wanted to help out. So we got investors Elizabeth Yin...

  • #97 Secret Sauce or Snake Oil?

    Today's founder had everything going for him: a huge market, loads of experience, and $70k in monthly revenue. But then, everything went wrong. Christopher Hussain's startup, RealKey, is supposed to make the complicated mortgage lending process simpler, b...

  • #96 A Test of Time

    It was three years ago, when Claire Coder went in front of our investors to pitch Aunt Flow. At the time, her startup was a very risky bet. But now, in 2020, Claire’s business has stood the test of time. We find out just how far a business can go in three...

  • #95 You Asked. Investors Answered. Now What?

    In the spring, founders desperate for ideas about how to keep their companies afloat called in to get advice from our investors. Several months later, the economy is still far from recovering, so we called the founders back to see if the investors’ advice...

  • #94 The Breaking Point

    When gyms closed at the start of the pandemic, Kevin Allen’s at-home fitness app, Row Vigor, went gangbusters. But there was a problem -- a few lines of code were preventing Kevin from cashing in. The investors present at Kevin's original pitch were Phil...

  • #93 David vs. Godzilla

    When Alon Shwartz started his parental control app, UnGlue, he thought Apple would be an ally. But then Apple decided to make their own competing product and Alon was forced to go toe-to-toe with the biggest tech company in the world. The investors presen...

  • #92 Who Did the PPP Actually Save?

    We talk to three startup founders who got money from the Paycheck Protection Program and try to find out, what did the PPP money actually do? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • #91 “If We Don’t Get the Money by Friday …”

    In 2018, founder Cody Candee raised $150,000 on our show. He went on to raise over a million dollars in funding that led to extraordinary growth for his startup, Bounce. But then Cody found out the hard way that to keep growing fast you have to become the...

  • #90 How Startups Can Succeed in a Pandemic 2

    COVID-19 has pushed many founders to attempt risky pivots with their business. Other founders are hoarding cash. And many of them are seeing VC money dry up. On today’s show, investors Sarah Downey and Phil Nadel advise four worried founders on how to kee...

  • #89 A Big Bet on an Ex-Trucker

    For years, Pierre Laguerre worked as a truck driver. During those years he saw one of the biggest inefficiencies in the industry up-close: getting available drivers matched with trucks ready to get on the road. Barely a year after launch, his business, Fl...

  • How I Saved My Startup

    Investors are giving founders everywhere an ultimatum: just find a way to survive the next few months. This had us concerned about the entrepreneurs who’ve been on this show. Debbie Wei Mullen pitched Copper Cow Coffee to our investors a few years ago, an...

  • #88 How Startups Can Succeed in a Pandemic

    In the last few weeks, COVID-19 has changed just about every business in the country. Investors everywhere are scrambling to help their startups survive the pandemic. On today’s show, investors Elizabeth Yin and Charles Hudson take calls from listeners. T...

  • #87 Uber for Pets

    Last year, investors woke up to the fact that the biggest ridesharing companies still struggle to make money. But today’s founder, Aparna Srinivasan, thinks she can buck that trend by introducing pets into the equation. But our investors wonder if just be...

  • #86 If the Suit Fits, Invest.

    Founder Ray Li says he can make you a custom suit, out of a quiz. And his company, Sene, is already making a profit. Ray wants to pursue the technology AND build up a cool brand but the investors wonder if Ray would be better off choosing one or the other...

  • #85 Will Coronavirus Kill This Deal?

    There’s a tried and true playbook in tech: get a ton of users, then figure out how to monetize them. Today’s founder, Ofo Ezeugwu, has plenty of users on his site, but the investors press Ofo about his plans to monetize. And then, complications arise when...

  • #84 The Napkin Pitch

    Tiffany Walling McGarity called in to the show and you, our listeners, voted her on to pitch the investors. But from the moment she stepped in the room, it was clear that this pitch would play out differently from the rest. On this episode, what a pitch s...

  • #83 Can Small Bras Be a Big Market?

    In VC, investors want to win big — that’s why they love highly scalable tech companies so much. But today’s founder, Jaclyn Fu, is selling actual things. Her startup, Pepper, makes real bras in a very real factory. There’s no tech except that you can buy...

  • #82 A Deal Too Perfect to Pass Up

    This is how much of a go-getter Bobbie Racette is: when she got laid off, she started a business to help thousands of other people who were out of work. Now, she has so many customers, she can’t keep up. And Michael Hyatt, our most ruthless investor, was...

  • #81 Jillian to the Rescue

    During our last call-in show, Thor Wood wowed us with his 30-second elevator pitch for SnapShyft, a company that matches workers with open shifts at restaurants. Now Thor will have to convince a much tougher crowd, the investors. Today's investors are Jil...

  • #80 Can This App Silence The Trolls?

    Ben Trenda thinks he can stop the trolls on Twitter and other social spaces. He’s building Goodtalk, where famous people can have public one-on-one conversations without interruption. But if you strip away the bad, will you also lose the things that peopl...

  • #79 The Anti-JUUL

    “Move fast and break things” is a mantra for a lot of startup founders — but what if the federal government is slowing you down? That’s the situation that Josh Israel is in with his startup, Hava Health. Josh needs to wait for FDA approval before he can e...

  • #78 Got Goals? Grab a Cru

    Tiffany Dufu has spent her career uplifting women and girls. Now, she’s turning a lifetime’s worth of expertise into a venture-backed business. Her startup, The Cru, is dedicated to helping women achieve their goals by connecting them to a network of othe...

  • #77 Sell Online or Go Door to Door

    Kate Flynn has a plan to make her healthy snack bites stand out: skip the grocery stores, and find potential customers when and where they need a snack. It’s a strategy that’s outside of the investors’ wheelhouse, but if she can get them to try something...

  • #76 Pitchline Bonanza

    Back in September, we invited listeners to call in and give us their best elevator pitch for their startup. And the response was off the hook! In this episode we play our favorite calls — and choose one lucky winner to come pitch our investors. But there’...

  • #75 “I Want Bro Money Too”

    The 2.4 trillion dollar fashion industry is due for a makeover, according to Andrea Madho. She says her company, Lab141, will be the biggest change to the way clothes are made in over a century. But it’s a moonshot and she knows it, now the investors know...

  • #74 Stop Killing Your Plants

    Ryan Lee says he has a better way to buy plants, on his website, Rooted. To conquer the market, Ryan has a big, audacious plan, and this is his very first time pitching it to VCs. Find out if he can convince the investors that money really does grow on tr...

  • #73 Enough Sales Calls Already!

    For businesses, the process of buying software is brutal. Founder Andrew Hoagland launched his company to make it a breeze. In fact, he says that his startup Vetd has made it so easy that he can’t keep up with the demand he’s created … without the $2m he’...

  • #72 How Niche Is Too Niche?

    Orion Brown is very early in her journey as an entrepreneur. In fact, this is her first pitch to venture capitalists! At this early stage, the investors are listening for something a bit different. They just want to know, is this a good idea in a large, u...

  • #71 Raising Kids Is Hard. So Is Raising a Startup.

    When founder Jen Saxton landed a partnership with a big name retailer in the baby industry, she thought her startup, Tot Squad, was on the way to startup stardom. But five years into the deal, things just weren’t working out. In fact, they were a disaster...

  • #70 What Is Michael Phelps Jamming to Right Now?

    What if you could listen to the exact same music as your favorite celebrities, at exactly the same time? That’s the question that drove NFL lineman Jason Fox to build an app for that. An app called Earbuds. Now if Jason can just cash in enough star power...

  • When You Grow Too Fast

    A little over a year ago, Xiao Wang came on the show to pitch his startup, Boundless. He told investors that his company was going to help immigrants cut through all the bureaucracy and paperwork required to get legal status. Today, the stakes around immi...

  • #69 When Less Is Not More

    Founder Rahul Jindal might be the king of bootstrapping. And when investors see similarities between his startup, Hyde Closet, and a billion dollar business known as Rent the Runway, they start dreaming of unicorns. Until a wrinkle in the plan, snaps them...

  • #68 Dogs & Dating: A Match Made in Heaven?

    Back in May we asked entrepreneurs to call in and give us their best pitches. The winner was Leigh Isaacson and her startup Dig — a dating app for people who love dogs. In this episode, Leigh enters the pitch room and asks for $1.5 million to help get 1,0...

  • I’ve Looked Death in the Eye

    When he came on the show two years ago, Amado Guloy said his startup would change the business of animal agriculture. And the investors bought it! But since then, Amado has found himself at a crossroads between his own health and the health of Rex.  Today...

  • Fighting the 24/7 Startup Grind

    Back in 2018, Margot Schmorak pitched our investors on Hostfully. It’s a startup that ushers old-style vacation-rental companies into the digital age. Margot ginned up a lot of excitement in the room that day. But then, she had to put her fundraising on h...

  • #67 Call-in Pitch Competition

    Back in May, we invited listeners to call in and pitch us their startups. And you really delivered, giving us over 200 pitches! In this episode, we’ll play some of our favorite submissions — and then choose one lucky winner to come pitch our investors. Le...

  • #66 Does Anyone Really Want Your Product?

    Dennis Meng’s first company was a major flop. So he started another one that could’ve saved the first. It’s called User Interviews, and he needs $4 million to get it into the hands of big companies. Will investors buy into what he’s selling now?  Today's...

  • #65 Wait, Your App Does What Exactly?

    Spencer Shulem wants people to learn from their mistakes. Also, he wants to help them organize their time. Oh, and he wants to gather data on everything they do. All this is packed into a single pitch for his startup, WeDo. Can the investors dig through a...

  • #64 Startup Sale! 80% Off

    Ramya Possett and Rachel Lee founded BlueFoot to make tracking the competition easy for massive companies. And they think that what they’ve created is so powerful, it demands a premium price tag. One that takes the investors completely by surprise.  Today...

  • FightCamp: A Name Change, A Game Change

    When Khalil Zahar and Tommy Duquette first pitched their boxing workout startup, Hykso, the investors saw a big opportunity. They wanted to know: Could Hykso be more like Peloton, an at-home cycling system that was starting to take off? Three years later,...

  • #63 Can A Startup Solve Homelessness?

    Jonathan Kumar pitches his startup, Samaritan, which aims to help people who’ve lost their homes. But can he convince the investors it’s OK to earn a profit off of homelessness?  Today's investors are Charles Hudson, Michael Hyatt, Jillian Manus and Phil...

  • #62 Pivot or Die

    Ben Walters came on the show to sell the investors on Feedback, an app that lets restaurants change their prices on the fly. But when Ben shows up in the pitch room, he’s already decided that it’s time to make some changes to the business. Can he get the...

  • From Startup Novice to Veteran

    After a stellar pitch on our show back in 2017 — one that got $100K in the first five minutes — founder Mike Slagh hit the ground running with his startup, Shift. In this episode, we catch up with him to find out if Shift, a job-placement service for mili...

  • #61 Can a Zebra Survive in a Unicorn World?

    Jennifer Brandel of Hearken is pitching a new kind of business. She calls it a zebra: a company that’s driven by a mission — but still wants to make money. And Jennifer’s mission with Hearken is to help journalists do their jobs better. But can she and th...

  • #60 Is This the Amazon Prime of Airline Tickets?

    Rama Poola is here pitching his airline ticket business, SkyHi, where customers pay a monthly fee to access tickets on the cheap. But the investors are worried that it sounds a lot like MoviePass, a company that offered a subscription for unlimited movie...

  • #59 Disrupting Work Happy Hour

    Ryan Husk wants to take your workplace culture up a notch. His startup, Culture Force, matches companies to “experiences” designed to improve community at work. He says it can be a huge business, but the investors want to know why it’s more than just a co...

  • #58 Park Your Pooch Here

    Chelsea Brownridge wants to help dog owners keep their pooches safe when they’re out running errands together. Her startup, DogSpot, makes internet-connected dog houses, with features like webcams and A/C, and puts them in front of retail stores that don’...

  • #57 Where Losers Go To Win

    After losing his shirt on sports betting sites DraftKings and FanDuel, Adam Weinstein decided to flip the script on daily fantasy sports and give everyone a better shot at winning. He’s changing things up using prop bets instead of traditional fantasy tea...

  • ‘It Was a Disaster’

    After a failed pitch on our show back in 2017, Industrial Organic founder Amanda Weeks was ready for redemption. And she found it, to the tune of $4.2 million. Now she’s back — with a lot to say about how much she and her business have grown.  Today's inv...

  • #56 Shark Tank vs. The Pitch

    Zahra Kassam has been on the road in a major way, pitching her startup, Monti Kids. A few months before our show, she pitched on ABC’s “Shark Tank.” Today we find out: Did she win over any investors in her two very public pitches? And how do our investors...

  • #55 A New Spin on VR

    Tom Impallomeni is here to pitch Tribe XR, a VR app that teaches people to DJ. He’s got a vision for using virtual reality to teach creative skills — but the investors are skeptical. Can Tom convince them he’s putting the right spin on VR?  Today's invest...

  • #54 Is Selling in Walmart a Good Thing?

    Debbie Wei Mullin is pitching her pour-over Vietnamese coffee startup, Copper Cow Coffee. The company is already doing well on Walmart’s shelves. But does she have what it takes to take the brand online?  Today's investors are Alexandra Stanton, Jake Chap...

  • Is the ICO Gold Rush Over?

    After a frustrating round of fundraising for her company PopCom, Dawn Dickson decided that VC was broken. She opted to take a different route: an initial coin offering, or ICO. But then her best-laid plans got all mucked up ... by Uncle Sam.  Today's inve...

  • #53 Investors Get Feisty at Our Philly Pitch-off

    This week, The Pitch is live from The Wharton School at the University of Philadelphia. Three of Philly’s most promising young startups take the stage in front of Phil Nadel, Jillian Manus and a packed house for a live pitch competition. Learn more about...

  • After the Pitch: Sudden Coffee

    Back in 2016, Sudden Coffee founders Joshua Zloof and Kalle Freese tried to sell the investors on their premium instant coffee. Two years later, we checked back in with Joshua and found that Sudden Coffee is still working out some kinks in the business: t...

  • #52 Fitbit … for Dogs

    Susan Sierota wants to help dog owners keep their furry friends healthy with her pet-tech startup, Waggit. Can she convince the four investors that her smart collar will win best in show?  Today's investors are Alexandra Stanton, Jake Chapman, Charles Hud...

  • #51 This Bot Can Fight Your ATM Fees

    Founder Paul Kesserwani says we’re all losing way too much money to fees — credit card fees, bank fees, ATM fees. And he thinks his company, Cushion, has the answer: A friendly bot that will battle those fees for you. Can he convince investors that there’...

  • #50 Ticket Scalpers, Beware! Blockchain Is Coming for You.

    Why should you care about blockchain if you’re not a huge cryptocurrency nerd? Bandwagon founder Harold Hughes says it can help you score better seats to see your favorite team — and avoid the risk of walking up to the gate with a fake ticket. Can he conv...

  • #49 Nuts Can Kill. Are Seeds the Answer?

    Blake Sorensen has a deathly nut allergy — one that's led to some harrowing trips to the ER. But then he decided that enough was enough. So he started a company, Blake’s Seed Based, to make snacks safe for people like him. Will the investors get on board...

  • #48 Will This Space Startup Make It off the Ground?

    Atomos co-founders Vanessa Clark and William Kowalski want to build a nuclear-powered spacecraft for moving satellites around in orbit. Can they capitalize on all the new money flowing into the final frontier — or will their sci-fi ambitions be too much f...

  • #47 Can This Tiny Gadget Keep Kids in College?

    The college dropout rate is high, and schools are paying the price... to the tune of billions of dollars every year. Marquett Burton says his education startup can help solve the problem. Will the investors agree?  Today's investors are Phil Nadel, Jillia...

  • #46 Never Get Lost Again

    Somewear founder James Kubik thinks going off the grid shouldn’t have to mean going out of cell phone range. That’s why he created a device that turns smartphones into satellite communication hubs. Can he convince investors to join him on the trail?  Toda...

  • #45 Whatever Happened to Virtual Reality?

    Sophia Dominguez is on the show pitching SVRF, an augmented reality/virtual reality startup. But it can be tough to get investors excited about VR, which has attracted tons of hype—without much payoff. Can Sophia convince investors that VR’s time has fina...

  • #44 Is This Sports App the Next OpenTable?

    Finnish entrepreneur Topias Soininen says his startup, Playven, will revolutionize the way people book tennis courts. But first, the investors have to figure out exactly what it is he’s pitching.  Today's investors are Howie Diamond, Jillian Manus, Phil N...

  • #43 Get This Party Startup in Here

    Entrepreneur Julie Roth Novack says her party planning platform is exactly what event professionals have been missing. And it all hinges on a secret ingredient—something Julie calls "marketing gold". Now she just needs investors to fork over some gold of...

  • #42 How Much Do You Trust Your Barista?

    Cody Candee believes his company, Bounce, is the key to freeing us from the stuff we lug around all day. But can he convince investors that his temporary storage solution isn’t a liability disaster waiting to happen?  Today's investors are Phil Nadel, Jil...

  • #41 Can This Startup Help Retailers Take on Amazon?

    Amazon is on track to grab nearly HALF of all online retail sales this year. But not if Chelsie Lee’s startup Shipsi has a say in the matter. She wants to give online retailers the ability to compete, by helping them offer super speedy shipping. But it mi...

  • #40 Three Startups Enter. Only One Will Leave.

    At The Pitch’s first-ever live show, three startups face off: Honeyfi, a budgeting app for couples; CBlocks, a cryptocurrency starter kit; and OpenBottle, an app to help people try high-end wines. But can the investors agree on which company should take h...

  • #39 This Pitch is Damn Near Perfect

    Stefan Loble wows the room with his near perfect pitch for Bluffworks, a company that makes travel-business attire. But is his compelling story enough to get investors to sign on? Today's investors are Jillian Manus, Michael Hyatt, Nicole Verkindt and Cha...

  • #38 A Beauty Industry Veteran Goes Rogue

    Tina Hedges believes the future of beauty is all-natural, organic products. But the investors aren’t sure what to make of her food-grade products for your face.  Today's investors are Jillian Manus, Michael Hyatt, Nicole Verkindt and Charles Hudson. Learn...

  • #37 Can Tech Solve America’s Drug Crisis?

    Founder David Sarabia’s experience with drug addiction inspired him to build an app, called inRecovery. It’s meant to help people who are in rehab. But can he get the rehab centers on board?  Today's investors are Jillian Manus, Michael Hyatt, Nicole Verk...

  • #36 When Two Startups Love Each Other Very Much ...

    Margot Schmorak says half of all vacation rentals aren’t listed online—and she sees that as a big opportunity for her startup. But things get messy in the pitch room when Margot reveals that Hostfully comes with a little extra baggage. Today's investors a...

  • #35 The Proof Is in the Pudding

    Max Pouvreau has built gourmet pudding company Petit Pot with his Michelin star background and scrappy customer acquisition. Now he wants VC backing to take it to the next level—and potentially a big acquisition.  Today's investors are Jillian Manus, Phil...

  • #34 Can Storytime Become Big Business?

    Max Tuchman is on a roll with Caribu, an app that lets parents and kids read together virtually. But can she convince investors that early success will lead to future returns? Today's investors are Jillian Manus, Michael Hyatt, Nicole Verkindt and Charles...

  • #33 What Is a Startup Actually Worth?

    Jared Kugel needs a million dollars to get Tire Agent up and running. But things get tense in the pitch room when investors start questioning the value of his company. Today's investors are Jillian Manus, Phil Nadel, Daniel Gulati and Michael Hyatt. Learn...

  • #32 Is Immigration the Next Venture-Scale Business?

    The U.S. immigration system is a bureaucratic nightmare. And it’s only getting worse. Founder Xiao Wang has a plan to solve that with his startup, Boundless. Today's investors are Jillian Manus, Phil Nadel, Daniel Gulati and Michael Hyatt. Learn more abou...

  • #31 Are Vending Machines the Future of Retail?

    When you think of cutting edge technology, it’s unlikely vending machines pop to mind. But Dawn Dickson has a plan to change that with her startup, PopCom.  Today's investors are Jillian Manus, Phil Nadel, Daniel Gulati and Michael Hyatt. Learn more about...

  • #30 Can This Founder Reclaim Cocktail Hour?

    Craft cocktails are all the rage—but they tend come with high price tags and long wait times. Swig + Swallow founder April Wachtel wants to bring the craft experience out of the bar and into your home.  Today's investors are Jillian Manus, Phil Nadel, Dan...

  • #29 Could This Be the Next Airbnb?

    When Tye and Courtney Caldwell were having trouble renting space in their salon, they thought: why isn't there an app for this? So they created one, ShearShare. But can they convince investors that their skills will transfer from the barbershop to the boa...

  • #28 Is This Entrepreneur Ready to Take On Facebook?

    Facebook is the undisputed king of social networks. But Cesar Kuriyama thinks his app, 1 Second Everyday, could topple the giant. If he’s going to do that, he’ll need some serious cash. Today's investors are Phil Nadel, Jillian Manus, Daniel Gulati and Mi...

  • #27 Qleek Pt. II: What Happened After The Pitch

    The surprising story of what happened to one startup after its founders pitched to investors—and thousands of listeners. Today's investors are Phil Nadel, Jillian Manus, James Altucher, Daniel Gulati and Matteo Terrevazzi. Learn more about your ad choices...

  • #26 Dynofit

    Maria Schneider wants to take physical therapy out of the clinic and into the home with the help of a small device. But is her technology the answer patients and doctors have been waiting for? Today's investors are Phil Nadel, Jillian Manus, James Altuche...

  • #25 Rex

    When scientist Amado Guloy saw an opportunity to combine farm animals and big data, he traded the laboratory for the boardroom and created Rex Animal Health. But can he convince investors he’s got what it takes to make it in the business world? Today's in...

  • #24 unGlue

    The apps on our smartphones seem to be engineered for addiction. Alon Shwartz wants to fight this with an app of his own: unGlue. Today's investors are Phil Nadel, Jillian Manus, Daniel Gulati and Charles Hudson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit po...

  • #23 Jiobit

    After John Renaldi lost track of his kid on a trip to downtown Chicago, he vowed never to be in that situation again. So he created Jiobit, a tiny geotracker for kids. Can he convince investors that his device stands out among a sea of competitors? Today'...

  • #22 Investor FOMO: Lunar Wireless

    Hunter Rosenblume is pitching Lunar Wireless, a company he co-founded as an answer to pricey cell phone plans. But getting investors to gamble on a 22-year-old who claims he can take on a decades-old industry is a hard sell. Is a healthy dose of FOMO enou...

  • #21 Metabrew

    Romy Raad and her cofounder have created Metabrew, a healthy beverage they believe could replace your morning coffee. But can they get investors buzzing about this plant-based substitute? Today's investors are Phil Nadel, Jillian Manus, Daniel Gulati and...

  • #20 Harper Wilde

    The founders of Harper Wilde want to take the B.S. out of bra shopping. That means convincing our investors that they’ve found a way to turn it from a major inconvenience into an easy at-home experience. Today's investors are Phil Nadel, Jillian Manus, Da...

  • #19 Sandbox

    When Sterling Smith left his job as a software developer to start Sandbox Commerce, he knew he had the skills to build great mobile apps. But in a world where it seems everybody has an app, can he convince investors there’s really an opportunity here? Tod...

  • #18 ROWViGOR

    Co-founders Kevin Allen and Moses McCall think rowing is the next big trend in fitness. To cash in on their hunch, they need to convince investors they can make waves in a space already crowded with competitors. Today's investors are Phil Nadel, Jillian M...

  • #17 Investor Spotlight: Jillian Manus

    You’re probably familiar with Jillian Manus the investor — but in this episode, we dig in a little deeper to understand how she became the VC force she is today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • #16 Qleek

    After Ismail Salhi discovered his father’s old record collection gathering dust in the attic, he teamed up with Johanna Hartzheim to create Qleek. Together they hope to marry the nostalgia of vinyl with the convenience of digital music. But first they nee...

  • #15 A Veteran Starts a Startup: Shift

    When Mike Slagh left the military, he wanted to find a job in tech, but he couldn’t get his foot in the door. And then he found out that he was one of approximately 300,000 service members who every year struggle to make the transition back into the workf...

  • #14 The Ghost of Startups Past: Tushy

    Miki Agrawal made headlines with the success of her first company Thinx—until she became the headline. Now she's ready for a comeback with Tushy, her new business built on making bidets mainstream in America. But first she has to convince investors she's...

  • #13 Meet the Investors

    The entrepreneurs usually own the spotlight on our show. But venture capital is a two-way street. On today’s episode, we hear from the people who make deals happen: our investors. Who are they and how did they become the ones calling the shots? Today's in...

  • #12 "I Don't Need Your Money" Teamable

    Entrepreneur Laura Bilazarian has an innovative solution for helping companies find great talent. But to convince investors, she’ll need to walk a razor’s edge between confidence and cockiness. Today's investors are Phil Nadel, Jillian Manus, Jake Chapman...

  • #11 Tesloop

    Haydn Sonnad pitches his plan to revolutionize regional transit on the back of Tesla’s electric charging network. But there’s a catch: this entrepreneur has to run his company between English class and Algebra. Today's investors are Phil Nadel, Jillian Ma...

  • #10 Sudden Coffee

    Two entrepreneurs believe they have the secret to making premium instant coffee. Will their startup hold up to a taste test with investors?  Today's investors are Phil Nadel, Jillian Manus, Jake Chapman and Howie Diamond. Learn more about your ad choices....

  • #9 Tuckrbox

    Co-founders Meghan Carreau and Alex Payne are pitching their food delivery service built on noble ideals of making kids healthier and reducing headaches for parents. Can the founders convince investors that their startup will actually deliver on those pro...

  • #8 Hykso

    Could a little sensor designed to measure punches be the next big hit in a long line of fitness fads? The founders of Hykso think so. Now they just need to last a few rounds in the ring with our investors.  Today's investors are Phil Nadel, Jillian Manus,...

  • #7 Shimmur

    The social media landscape is a veritable graveyard of failed startups, but Matthew Peltier believes his company, Shimmur, is different. With a growing user base and a solid plan for revenue, he’s almost ready to go... all he needs now is a few hundred th...

  • #6 Guru Games

    Between classes, part-time jobs, and social lives, college students Evan Thomas and Troy Pettie have been moonlighting to build a business they hope will bring millennials back into casinos. Will our investors be willing to take a gamble on Guru Games? To...

  • #5 FITGuard

    Concussions have cast a major shadow over contact sports, from youth leagues to the pros. But entrepreneur Anthony Gonzales thinks he can fix it by putting a gadget in the mouths of athletes. Now he just has to convince investors to put their dollars behi...

  • #4 Skylights

    David Dicko is bringing virtual reality to the skies. It’s an ambitious plan, and he’s going to need $1.8 million to take off in a punishing market. Will the investors trust his team to succeed where so many others have failed? Today's investors are Phil...

  • #3 Industrial Organic

    Most of us stop thinking about our food scraps once we take the trash to the curb. Not so for Amanda Weeks, who started a food waste company designed to reduce harmful greenhouse gases. Now she just needs investors to get behind her plan to save the plane...

  • #2 iMirror

    The hotel room hasn’t seen disruption since the addition of the television in the 1950s. Pieter Boekhoff wants to change that—by transforming what happens when we look in the mirror. But first, he has to convince investors that there's money to be made in...

  • #1 Babyscripts

    Juan-Pablo Segura has built an app that he’s sure will revolutionize the way expectant mothers receive medical care. But first he needs to convince a panel of investors to bankroll his plan—to the tune of a million dollars. Today's investors are Phil Nade...

  • Welcome to The Pitch!

    Introducing The Pitch, where real entrepreneurs pitch to real investors—for real money. New episodes come out on Wednesdays. See you in The Pitch room! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices