Kansas City Startup Wins 20K in Grant Money for Awesome Business Pitch
Well Happy Tuesday everybody!
Today’s blog post is going to be a slightly different one. On last week, I had the pleasure of attending the Miller Lite Tap the Future event hosted here in Dallas Texas.
Courtesy of: Diversity Marketing Solutions
This event featured 5 startup companies that competed for $20,000 in small business grant money and a chance to advance to the National Finals round where someone will win a $250,000 grant! How exciting!!!
The event featured a panel of 4 judges – that included Shark Tank’s Daymond John. If you are not familiar with Shark Tank, you should definitely catch an episode when you have an opportunity. It’s a really good show. Below is a picture that lists the names of the panel of judges present at the event.
Courtesy: Diversity Marketing Solutions
So, back to the event. Overall I was pretty impressed with the marketing pitches made by some of the contestants. I have to admit however, that some of them totally flopped. I think their nerves got the best of them.
Out of all of the startups there, one of them totally stood out to me. They are a KC based startup by the name of Hoopla.IO. Hoopla.IO’s business pitch was truly awesome. It was clear, concise and to the point. Their product is a cloud based system that allows you to use one centralized place to add and promote your events using social media.
When it was time for the judges to make their decisions, I knew it would be between two companies: Hoopla.IO or Camintel.
Camintel is a Richardson Texas based company that created a product that uses “Mobile Engagement Marketing”. This technology is pretty cool. Using Camintel’s digital tablet, you can simply touch a product in a store, instantly get information about the product, then use social media to send out information about it.
Well, it finally came down to decision time. The winners were none other than………..Hooplia.IO.
Courtesy of: Diversity Marketing Solutions
Again, these guys did an Amazeballs job on their business pitch! I truly wish them all of the success in the world. After attending this event, my entrepreneurial spirit was re-charged. I guess it was just great to see young entrepreneurs creating world changing products. I am super stoked and ready for next years event!
