The Pitch
Where real startup founders pitch to real investors—for real money. Forget everything you think you know about the world of venture capital. Host Josh Muccio takes listeners behind closed-doors and into the room where deals are made. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Episodes
April 24, 2024 • 42 mins
After spending a decade as a franchise broker, Kenny Rose decided to break out on his own and start FranShares. An alternative investment platform where anyone can invest in franchises. Now you can own a piece of your local fast food joint, a medspa, even a car wash! But will the investors be able to see big tech returns for a company that sounds like small fries?
Featuring investors Jillian Manus, Beck Bamberger and Mac Conwell.
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April 17, 2024 • 42 mins
Monica Williams wants to revolutionize the period experience for tweens. With $5 million in sales in just two years, she’s on her way. Now she wants to raise venture to scale her bootstrapped company. Will Monica get to pitch the big vision for RedDrop or will investors write her off from the start?
Featuring investors Elizabeth Yin, Charles Hudson, Beck Bamberger, Pascal Unger and Mac Conwell.
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Watch the RedDrop pitch on YouTub...
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April 10, 2024 • 40 mins
Growing up as a pastor's kid, Emmanuel Brown saw what a financial burden church real estate can be. Churches sit empty 70% of the week even though they have commercial kitchens and professional sound systems and oh so much space for activities! So Emmanuel built ChurchSpace, a church rental marketplace. He has faith in his business – but can he convert investors if they believe congregations are shrinking?
Featuring investors Jilli...
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April 3, 2024 • 52 mins
Kavitta Ghai struggled in school due to autism and ADHD until a positive experience with a college professor transformed her academic journey. Convinced this was the future, she launched a startup to make classrooms more accessible. Now, she just needs a VC to lead her $3 million seed round. Will Kavitta pass the test with the investors in The Pitch Room?
Featuring investors Cyan Banister, Charles Hudson, Elizabeth Yin, Mac Conwell...
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March 20, 2024 • 3 mins
The Pitch is back for season 11! Recorded for the first time in front of a live studio audience, we invited the top startup founders and VCs from across the country to join us in Miami. Visionary founders will pitch everything from pants you can pee in, to Airbnb for churches. And it wouldn’t be 2024 if we didn’t throw in some AI and alternative investments!
Tune in to season 11 to hear the true story of how venture deals get done....
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November 22, 2023 • 59 mins
For our season 10 finale, we’re trying something crazy. We’re giving you a full pitch from start to finish with no editing whatsoever! Founder Chase Robbins presents his snack delivery business, Handle, to investors Paige Doherty, Neal Bloom, Elizabeth Yin, Mark Phillips and Charles Hudson. Will they back this college dropout who promises on-campus deliveries in 15-minutes or less? Or will they steer clear of a space that's seen bi...
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November 15, 2023 • 29 mins
Online shopping was supposed to make things easier. But with so many options, it’s also made our shopping experience more fragmented than ever. Kristine Locker set out to fix that with her social shopping app Locker. However, her target demographic is a couple generations behind most VCs. Can Kristine convince investors she has the solution to a problem they don’t experience or will they abandon this startup in the cart?
You can al...
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November 8, 2023 • 30 mins
Ever stood at the recycling bin wondering, “Is this cup really recyclable?'' Enter Nicole Toole, the founder of ECGO, an AI-powered app designed to tackle this confusion. With ECGO, you snap a photo of any item, and the app will tell you how to properly dispose of it. But as mind-blowingly awesome as this is, the investors wonder how much money can you really make from trash when you’re selling to universities.
You can also watch ...
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November 1, 2023 • 32 mins
Luke Barkley Young was tired of two things: companies that don’t take responsibility for products they put in the world and moldy shower liners. So he created Outlines, a circular subscription for all your home essentials. Their first product is a recyclable shower curtain. But it’s a rough environment out there for direct to consumer products. Will the VCs invest in Luke’s big vision for replenishables – or would that just be pour...
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October 25, 2023 • 40 mins
Venture investors have spent the last decade searching for the killer use case for VR. Today’s founder, Andrew McHugh, thinks he’s found it with his startup, Wist. But days before Andrew gave his pitch, Apple sent shockwaves through the industry by announcing their new headset, the Vision Pro. Will investors be skittish about the tech giant entering the space? Or is it a sign that VR’s big moment has finally arrived?
You can also w...
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October 18, 2023 • 40 mins
Cofounding sisters Kinsey and Jessa Lux think they’ve found the next big opportunity in sports tech, audio lessons for horseback riders. But the equestrian market is way smaller than say, running or cycling. Is a passionate market enough to excite investors, or is Ride iQ too niche to become a billion dollar business?
Today’s investors are Beck Bamberger, Al Bsharah, Jillian Manus, and Howie Diamond.
To learn more about Kinsey and ...
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September 27, 2023 • 29 mins
Jason Vego wants to disrupt an industry so old school he has to sell door to door. Yet somehow his SaaS platform for convenience stores boasts a 95% conversion rate from free trial. Another number comes up in The Pitch Room though, Jason’s ownership percentage in Bevz. Will this founder win over the investors or get the door slammed in his face?
Today’s investors are Paige Doherty, Neal Bloom, Elizabeth Yin, Mark Phillips and Charl...
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September 20, 2023 • 39 mins
Dan Hershberg loves golf. So much so that he founded the Amateur Golf Society – a PGA-style tour that any golfer can participate in. The investors think his flexible tournament model is a hole in one. But things get complicated when they discover a majority of the company is owned by a private equity firm, not the founder. Will the VCs and the PEs come together for the love of golf? Or will this deal land in the bunker.
Today’s inv...
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September 13, 2023 • 31 mins
If you're murdered in the US, there's only a 57% chance your killer will be found. Jim Brown aims to change this statistic by enabling the massive true crime community to solve cold cases on his website Uncovered.com. But mysterious circumstances in the studio lead us to a question. Can a media company produce venture scale returns by… solving murders?
Today’s investors are Elizabeth Yin, Erica Wenger, Jillian Manus, Martin Tobias ...
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September 6, 2023 • 33 mins
Despite a decade in engineering at Apple, Dhaval Patel didn’t have any smart technology in his home. So he designed a ring that converts every home into a smart home – using old technology found in your typical TV remote. But hardware startups are extremely difficult to get off the ground and many VC’s avoid investing in them altogether. Can Dhaval convince our investors that his 10 prototype rings will turn into a 10 billion dolla...
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August 30, 2023 • 35 mins
When Mariam Braimah led product design at Netflix she struggled to find participants in Africa to test new products. So she started Kimoyo Insights, a research analytics platform that helps companies like Microsoft & Flutterwave gather feedback from African consumers. But Kimoyo doesn’t quite fit the venture mold. Can Mariam convince investors to make a bet on user research in the data desert of Africa?
Today’s investors are Erica ...
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August 23, 2023 • 37 mins
When Madeline Fraser tried to design her engagement ring online, she was stunned to find it couldn’t be done. After bringing a cash deposit to a rando in LA, Madeline got her custom ring and, with it, a new business idea. She started Gemist – a vertical SaaS product for jewelers. It's the kind of business VCs love, but that means they'll expect the business to be flawless. Will Gemist pass inspection or will slight imperfections bl...
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August 9, 2023 • 3 mins
We’re back for Season 10 with double the digits, double the deals, and double the drama. Your favorite investors return along with some new voices ready to shake up The Pitch Room.
And for the first time ever, we’re posting new episodes on YouTube! Don’t miss our season premiere Wednesday, August 23rd at 7PM ET. Subscribe to The Pitch Show on YouTube.
If you want to invest alongside the VCs on The Pitch join us at thepitch.fund.
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May 17, 2023 • 32 mins
Co-founders Kelvin Johnson and Max Huc know first impressions are everything. That’s why they created Brevity, an AI powered software to help craft a persuasive first pitch. But pitching a pitch product to a room full of pitch experts proves to be a bit of a challenge. Which brings up a question: what's more important, the pitch itself or the Q&A?
Today’s investors are Jillian Manus, Charles Hudson, Elizabeth Yin, Mac Conwell, and ...
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May 10, 2023 • 30 mins
The fashion industry is one of the most wasteful and inefficient industries on the planet, and Elias Stahl wants to reinvent it. His company, HILOS, is creating an entirely new supply chain for shoes, made on demand with 3D printed components. But they don’t actually design, manufacture or fulfill any of the products. They’ve just built a platform that connects all the pieces. It sounds like a perfect business… almost too perfect.
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