Do you love pitch competitions?
So do we, but we're tired of the same old, awesome ideas ruling the day. We want to change the way pitch competitions happen...well, at least the part where the good ideas always win.
Sign up to pitch your worst idea, and join us to see some hilariously bad attempts. Pitch a product, an app, or pure vaporware-just make it awful.
Competitors and will be judged on both how bad their idea is AND how poorly it is presented.
The winner will win 1000$ for their favorite North Carolina based charity!!!!!! ----plus bragging rights, and their name written in sharpie on some kind of trophy which they may present in their home or place of business.
ALSO FREE BEER AND PIZZA.
Please tell everyone and bring all your friends. We are expecting the event to hit capacity, so please register early.
Come Prepared
Have a few terrible ideas on hand to start work-shopping when you arrive. Rome wasn't destroyed in a day, we've got work to do.
30 Minute Social Hour
While the liquid courage and the creative juices begin to flow, share your terrible ideas, get feedback and recruit attendees to your cause as you hone your pitch for the for speed round.
15 minute Speed Round
Every person/group with a bad idea will be heard for 30 seconds. Your esteemed judges and organizers will pick the worst 8 to continue to the next round.
The magic hour (45 minutes)
EVERYONE WILL BE ASSIGNED TO ONE OF THE 8 WORST STARTUP IDEAS TO PREPARE A PITCH AS A TEAM.
Work with your team to build a crappy deck, diorama, interpretive dance, whatever gets your point across in a way that could never possibly get anyone to write you a check. The more fundable the idea is, the worse you'll do.
S'up Pitches!
Each of the 8 remaining teams will have 5 minutes to pitch and 2 minutes for judges questions. Teams will be judged on their terrible ideas and how poorly they present them.
ALL TEAM MEMBERS MUST PARTICIPATE.
WINNER ANNOUNCED
Second place isn't always the first loser, and anyway there is no second place here. We will announce the "winner" and present them with a a trophy of some sort.
Edgard is currently serving the community as an Innovation Advisor focused on sustainability at RTI Innovation Advisors. Prior to RTI, Edgard spent six years at Duke WASH-AID developing technologies for global partnerships to help save the world, all while running his own startup on the side. He speaks seven languages and has founded companies in three different countries. He is grossly overqualified for this judge position.
John is the Co-Founder and CEO of Chive Media Group and Co-Founder and President of Atmosphere TV, recently named by Forbes as one of the next Billion Dollar Startups in the US. As a guy who literally built a billion dollar company on a foundation of cat memes and Bill Murray t-shirts, this guy knows a thing or two about bad ideas. Ever heard of Tapiture? KCCO Brewery? Neither has anybody else.
Dr. Mina is a certified Sex Therapist and Forensic Psychologist. When she's not in court she is generally thinking about how to say dirty words and sound professional at the same time. You may recognize Mina as the only judge who is a member at AU, and you are starting to remember the time you overshared about your Tinder date at happy hour and you asked her if she was analyzing you. She probably reassured you and said "Of course not!" But she definitely will be judging the best of your worst ideas.
Shawn currently serves as the Head of New Business and Business Development at a little startup called Indeed.com. Prior to working at Indeed, Shawn was a 3X founder with 2 exits (you do the math). He serves on the board of multiple non-profit and for-profit companies, and as a partner at ATX Ventures, he's heard hundreds of terrible pitches over the past ten years. You best bring your F game.
