Win $70,000+ in startup-friendly prizes to kick-start your business!
The SeedCon video contest is live!
Help us select the teams that will get to pitch at SeedCon by voting for your favorite video entry.
Check out the videos and vote here!
The SeedCon fast-pitch contest, organized in partnership with Built in Chicago, will give 8 idea-stage start-ups an opportunity to pitch in front of some truly great names in entrepreneurship and venture capital. Seven will be chosen by our judges, and one will be the entry with the most "likes" on their video.
Each team will take part in a mid-November workshop on the secrets of developing a strong pitch, hosted by Chicago Booth. Then, at the SeedCon Fast-Pitch Semifinals on November 17th, each team will have 10 minutes of stage time in front of the judges: four minutes to pitch and six minutes of Q&A. Presentation slides are allowed.
Four teams will be selected to proceed to the SeedCon Fast-Pitch Finals Competition on November 18th, where they will redeliver their fast-pitch. SeedCon judges will select the winners, who will receive $70,000+ in start-up-friendly prizes.
Who Are the Judges?
We have an impressive line-up of judges. Win or lose, each team will get great feedback from our judges during their Q&A session, not to mention a chance to network with them and all the other great SeedCon participants after their pitch.
Here's the line-up so far:
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Jason Heltzer, General Partner, OCA Ventures Jason has been working at OCA since 2001 and currently has board responsibilities for Red Foundry, Future Simple, PinPoint MD, Alert Logic, and TradeKing. |
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Matt Moog, Founder, Built in Chicago Matt a major supporter of Chicago entrepreneurship. He is the CEO of Viewpoints and the founder of Built in Chicago, a social networking site for the Chicago entrepreneurship community. |
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Desiree Vargas Wrigley, CEO & Co-Founder, GiveForward Desiree is the CEO and co-founder of GiveForward, a start-up that enables individuals and families in need to crowdsource funding for medical expenses. |
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Seth Kravitz, Co-Founder, Technori & SPARK Chicago Seth is a co-founder of Technori and SPARK Chicago, a week-long start-up conference and incubator launched in March 2011. Previously, he co-founded InsuranceAgents.com. |
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Troy Henikoff, CEO & Co-Founder, Excelerate Labs Troy Henikoff is a co-founder of Excelerate, a seed stage accelerator in Chicago. He teaches entrepreneurship at Northwestern University, serves on the board of the CEC, and acts as an advisor to Hyde Park Angels. |
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Adam C. Koopersmith, Partner, New World Ventures Adam is a partner at New World Venutres, focused primarily on SaaS applications, and interactive marketing and health solutions. He serves on several boards, including HyperQuest, Kontiki and Sittercity. |
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Rob Schultz, Senior Director, Illinois Ventures Rob is a senior director of IllinoisVENTURES and a partner of the Illinois Emerging Technologies Fund. He oversees the information technologies practice area and has collaborated on several other investments. |
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Greg Kaufman, Owner & CEO, SmartBox Greg is the owner and CEO of SmartBox, a Chicago-based start-up providing portable moving pods. |
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Stella Fayman, Co-Founder, Entrepreneurs Unpluggd Stella is a director at Ignite Chicago and a co-founder of Entrepreneurs Unplugged. She is a founding member of FeeFighters. |
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Tasha Seitz, Partner, JK&B Capital Tasha has been at JK&B Capital since 1997 focusing on the software sector. She serves on the board of directors of Baynote, Vormetric and Chumby. |
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Phil Tadros, Founder & CEO, Doejo Phil is a serial entrepreneur who started off in the coffee shop business. His web developement and creative agency, Doejo, has contributed to the success of dozens of start-ups in Chicago and beyond. |
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Mark Achler, Senior VP of Strategy, redbox As senior vice president of new business, strategy and innovation at redbox, Mark Achler manages the Company’s long-term planning and expansion into new business opportunities. |
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Jonathan Pasky, President, Techweek Jonathan Pasky is an IP lawyer, co-founder of MidventuresLAUNCH. He is the president of the Techweek Conference & Expo, the Midwest's largest technology and innovation conference. |
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Bryce Emo, Senior VP, Centro Bryce leads Centro’s sales efforts as Senior VVP of National Sales. Previously, he worked at Fox Interactive Media at both Photobucket and MySpace. |
Who Can Enter?
Anyone! Well, as long as you have not accepted institutional funding for your business idea and have not accepted any non-institutional (personal, friends and family) funding in excess of $10,000. We're here to kick-start new businesses, which is why we're focusing on new, idea-stage start-ups.
How Do I Enter?
- STEP 1 (required): Fill out the online application form. Make sure to submit it by the October 27th deadline.
- STEP 2 (required):Sign up for Built in Chicago (if you haven't already) and write a blog post on the site describing your business idea.
- STEP 3 (optional): Create a two-minute video about your idea, as if you were marketing it to your end user. Upload the video on YouTube and include the link in your online application. On November 1st, we will launch a voting platform featuring all video submissions. Teams will have until midnight on Friday, November 11th to get as many "likes" on YouTube as possible. The team with the most "likes" (that has not already been selected as a semifinalist) will be granted an automatic spot in the SeedCon Fast-Pitch Semifinals on November 17th.
No cheating here! This is about validating a business idea and learning to market your venture - both very important skills to have.
