PITCH PIT AND SHOWCASE

Showcase Presentation

3R Pallets is revolutionizing the shipping industry with sustainable bamboo fiber composite pallets, offering durability, reduced CO2 emissions, and a greener alternative to traditional wooden and plastic pallets. This innovative solution addresses the environmental impact of pallet manufacturing, reduces waste in landfills, and meets the growing demand for eco-friendly logistics solutions. 

Raju Patil, entrepreneur, innovator, and engineer, channels his diverse skills and passion for sustainability, rooted in his upbringing as the son of rice farmers in rural India. Inspired by this background, he has focused his career on sustainable materials manufacturing companies with the mission of revolutionizing the plastics industry by creating eco-friendly biomaterials and products that leverage agricultural and industrial waste to reduce reliance on conventional plastics.

Pitch Pit Competition

Selected entrepreneurs will each give a four-minute pitch of their business plan to a panel of investor judges in a “Shark Tank” format.  PowerPoint slides are not permitted. Think of it as the proverbial “elevator speech.”

After all of the pitches are completed, the judges will give detailed feedback. At the end of the evening, the person with the highest score will receive the opportunity to receive a Business Readiness Assessment coaching session with New Enterprise Forum coaches. Interested in pitching your own idea? Apply here!

Participants

Eric Andrechek with WaveRF. WaveRF has developed and sells a dongle that fits on your key chain and connects your phone via Bluetooth to the WaveRF mobile app, allowing you to message other WaveRF users over distances as far away as five miles, all without any reliance on cellular networks or the Internet.

Vanessa Lane with BetterPlay Studios. BetterPlay Studios was built on the idea that video games are a crucial, but underutilized resource to address today’s mental health crises. They craft world-class gaming experiences alongside mental health partners that help our community have a deeper and healthier relationship with gaming.

Steven Sherman with Superior Energy. Superior Energy has created a product that addresses the non-hardware costs of installing and integrating solar power, energy storage and other distributed energy resources with residences. This simplifies and standardizes the process for homeowners..

Judges

William Grenawitzke, Managing Director at Bellows Capital Partners. William has spent 20 years as a life sciences investment banking and corporate merger and acquisitions professional in New York, Boston, and Silicon Valley, representing $10+ billion in diverse transactions. William is a graduate of the University of Michigan (BSE, Mechanical Engineering; MSE, Biomedical Engineering) and of Yale University (MBA; MSc, Cellular and Molecular Physiology). 

Shobhit Gupta is a Senior Associate at GM Ventures where he has been instrumental in structuring and analyzing investments in Clean-tech, B2B Software and Energy Infrastructure segments. Prior to that, Shobhit led internal debt and equity investments in GM’s global entities and clean-tech automotive segments, supported Private Equity investments in the light manufacturing sector, and worked as a structural engineer on mid- and high-rise buildings on the U.S. East Coast.

Katie Hall, Founder and CEO of Claira. Katie spent eight years in global workforce development building competency models and helping organizations prepare for the future of work. She regularly speaks and writes on diversity hiring, AI ethics, and automation impact on the workforce. She holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, an MPA from the University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and a BA in Political Science from Hope College.

Networking

Come join us in person to enjoy food and drink and conversation with members of the local startup community.

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