Boost Mid-Michigan is a pre-pitch competition that gives early-stage entrepreneurs an informal opportunity to talk about their businesses in front of a friendly audience of consultants, coaches and entrepreneurial support professionals. The goal: to identify area entrepreneurs and match them with the services they need to put their best foot forward when meeting and presenting to investors.
The competition was developed by the Jumpstart team, part of the Prima Civitas Foundation's Moving Ideas to Market (MI2M) initiative, to prepare Mid-Michigan entrepreneurs to pitch their business opportunities to investors at Blue Water Angels' Pitch Nights occurring throughout the year.
The two top-ranked ventures are rewarded with impromptu advisory board meetings and dinner with the panelists. At the Boost Mid-Michigan event on Jan. 14, Sam Hogg of GiftZip.com took home first place, and Jimmy Tomczak of Creative Opportunity Gear and Robert Fulk and Susanna Tellschow of Inventure Enterprises tied for second place. All the winners were from the greater Lansing area.
“It's these types of connections and networks that help guide businesses through the start-up process to create robust, sustainable businesses for the Greater Lansing region and around the state,” says Holly Hetzner, special projects administrator and legal affairs specialist for Prima Civitas, which invested in Jumpstart.
Source: Holly Hetzner, Prima Civitas
Writer: Suban Nur Cooley
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