You may remember us reporting on EDAWN's Elevate Reno event earlier this year. It's similar to the popular show Shark Tank, allowing local businesses to pitch ideas to the community.
They wrapped up their second round on Wednesday, but with new companies and new pitches.
This event is an opportunity for companies to share their pitches with fellow entrepreneurs, local investors, and other business leaders that can help improve their presentations.
"So it's companies of any stage and of any size," said Juston Berge, Vice President of Entrepreneurial Development. "What we do is try to keep an open door for an entrepreneur that just wants to share what they're working on, and we don't really have any limits to the stage that the company is at or the type of business that they're operating."
This event is not a competition, meaning there are no winners or prizes. Much like the show Shark Tank, once the founders have finished their pitch after seven minutes, there will be follow-up questions from the panel of experts who will then provide feedback to the presenters.
"And really refine how they talk about their businesses, how they talk about their companies," added Berge.
Berge says this event is also a great opportunity for networking with other local businesses.
He tells us he has seen companies who participated go on and gain success in actual competitions.
"We've seen entrepreneurs go on to pitch at larger events which have some type of reward or prize," he said.
He says his favorite part of the whole thing is hearing how passionate the entrepreneurs are about their companies.
"And then really just seeing how they think on their feet to answer the questions that our expert panel asks and lugs over to them so that's always a great experience," he said.
