The Pitch

The Pitch

#94 The Breaking Point

Aug 5 • 33 min

When gyms closed at the start of the pandemic, Kevin Allen’s at-home fitness app, Row Vigor, went gangbusters. But there was a problem — a few lines of code were preventing Kevin from cashing in.

#93 David vs. Godzilla

Jul 15 • 31 min

When Alon Shwartz started his parental control app, UnGlue, he thought Apple would be an ally. But then Apple decided to make their own competing product and Alon was forced to go toe-to-toe with the biggest tech company in the world.

#92 Who Did the PPP Actually Save?

Jul 1 • 24 min

We talk to three startup founders who got money from the Paycheck Protection Program and try to find out, what did the PPP money actually do? To find out why one of our investors convinced a founder to send $2 million in PPP money back, listen to our…

#91 “If We Don’t Get the Money by Friday …”

Jun 10 • 27 min

In 2018, founder Cody Candee raised $150,000 on our show. He went on to raise over a million dollars in funding that led to extraordinary growth for his startup, Bounce. But then Cody found out the hard way that to keep growing fast you have to become the…

#90 How Startups Can Succeed in a Pandemic 2

May 13 • 31 min

COVID-19 has pushed many founders to attempt risky pivots with their business. Other founders are hoarding cash. And many of them are seeing VC money dry up. On today’s show, investors Sarah Downey and Phil Nadel advise four worried founders on how to…

#89 A Big Bet on an Ex-Trucker: Fleeting

May 6 • 30 min

For years, Pierre Laguerre worked as a truck driver. During those years he saw one of the biggest inefficiencies in the industry up-close: getting available drivers matched with trucks ready to get on the road. Barely a year after launch, his business,…

How I Saved My Startup: Copper Cow Coffee

Apr 22 • 39 min

Investors are giving founders everywhere an ultimatum: just find a way to survive the next few months. This had us concerned about the entrepreneurs who’ve been on this show. Debbie Wei Mullen pitched Copper Cow Coffee to our investors a few years ago,…

#88 How Startups Can Succeed in a Pandemic

Apr 15 • 31 min

In the last few weeks, COVID-19 has changed just about every business in the country. Investors everywhere are scrambling to help their startups survive the pandemic. On today’s show, investors Elizabeth Yin and Charles Hudson take calls from listeners.…

The Investors Are Standing By

Apr 8 • 1 min

We’re opening up the phone lines this week to take your calls. This time the investors will be on the line, ready to give advice on how your business can survive this crisis. So if you’re a business owner, struggling because of the pandemic, go to…

#87 Uber for Pets: SpotOn

Apr 1 • 34 min

Last year, investors woke up to the fact that the biggest ridesharing companies still struggle to make money. But today’s founder, Aparna Srinivasan, thinks she can buck that trend by introducing pets into the equation. But our investors wonder if just…

#86 If the Suit Fits, Invest. Sene

Mar 25 • 31 min

Founder Ray Li says he can make you a custom suit, out of a quiz. And his company, Sene, is already making a profit. Ray wants to pursue the technology AND build up a cool brand but the investors wonder if Ray would be better off choosing one or the…

#85 Will Coronavirus Kill This Deal? WYL

Mar 11 • 36 min

There’s a tried and true playbook in tech: get a ton of users, then figure out how to monetize them. Today’s founder, Ofo Ezeugwu, has plenty of users on his site, but the investors press Ofo about his plans to monetize. And then, complications arise when…

#84 The Napkin Pitch: Metapyxl

Mar 4 • 32 min

Tiffany Walling McGarity called in to the show and you, our listeners, voted her on to pitch the investors. But from the moment she stepped in the room, it was clear that this pitch would play out differently from the rest. On this episode, what a pitch…

#83 Can Small Bras Be a Big Market? Pepper

Feb 19 • 30 min

In VC, investors want to win big — that’s why they love highly scalable tech companies so much. But today’s founder, Jaclyn Fu, is selling actual things. Her startup, Pepper, makes real bras in a very real factory. There’s no tech except that you can buy…

#82 A Deal Too Perfect to Pass Up: Virtual Gurus

Feb 12 • 32 min

This is how much of a go-getter Bobbie Racette is: when she got laid off, she started a business to help thousands of other people who were out of work. Now, she has so many customers, she can’t keep up. And Michael Hyatt, our most ruthless investor, was…

#81 Jillian to the Rescue: SnapShyft

Jan 29 • 28 min

During our last call-in show, Thor Wood wowed us with his 30-second elevator pitch for SnapShyft, a company that matches workers with open shifts at restaurants. Now Thor will have to convince a much tougher crowd, the investors. Today’s investors are…

#80 Can This App Silence The Trolls? Goodtalk

Jan 22 • 28 min

Ben Trenda thinks he can stop the trolls on Twitter and other social spaces. He’s building Goodtalk, where famous people can have public one-on-one conversations without interruption. But if you strip away the bad, will you also lose the things that…

#79 The Anti-JUUL: Hava

Jan 8 • 29 min

“Move fast and break things” is a mantra for a lot of startup founders — but what if the federal government is slowing you down? That’s the situation that Josh Israel is in with his startup, Hava Health. Josh needs to wait for FDA approval before he can…

#78 Got Goals? Grab a Cru: The Cru

Nov 13, 2019 • 31 min

Tiffany Dufu has spent her career uplifting women and girls. Now, she’s turning a lifetime’s worth of expertise into a venture-backed business. Her startup, The Cru, is dedicated to helping women achieve their goals by connecting them to a network of…

#77 Sell Online or Go Door to Door: Sun & Swell

Nov 6, 2019 • 29 min

Kate Flynn has a plan to make her healthy snack bites stand out: skip the grocery stores, and find potential customers when and where they need a snack. It’s a strategy that’s outside of the investors’ wheelhouse, but if she can get them to try something…

#76 Pitchline Bonanza

Oct 30, 2019 • 38 min

Back in September, we invited listeners to call in and give us their best elevator pitch for their startup. And the response was off the hook! In this episode we play our favorite calls — and choose one lucky winner to come pitch our investors. But…

#75 “I Want Bro Money Too” Lab141

Oct 9, 2019 • 34 min

The 2.4 trillion dollar fashion industry is due for a makeover, according to Andrea Madho. She says her company, Lab141, will be the biggest change to the way clothes are made in over a century. But it’s a moonshot and she knows it, now the investors know…

#74 Stop Killing Your Plants: Rooted

Oct 2, 2019 • 31 min

Ryan Lee says he has a better way to buy plants, on his website, Rooted. To conquer the market, Ryan has a big, audacious plan, and this is his very first time pitching it to VCs. Find out if he can convince the investors that money really does grow on…

#73 Enough Sales Calls Already! Vetd

Sep 25, 2019 • 27 min

For businesses, the process of buying software is brutal. Founder Andrew Hoagland launched his company to make it a breeze. In fact, he says that his startup Vetd has made it so easy that he can’t keep up with the demand he’s created … without the $2m…

#72 How Niche Is Too Niche? Black Travel Box

Sep 18, 2019 • 28 min

Orion Brown is very early in her journey as an entrepreneur. In fact, this is her first pitch to venture capitalists! At this early stage, the investors are listening for something a bit different. They just want to know, is this a good idea in a large,…

#71 Raising Kids Is Hard. So Is Raising a Startup. Tot Squad

Sep 11, 2019 • 30 min

When founder Jen Saxton landed a partnership with a big name retailer in the baby industry, she thought her startup, Tot Squad, was on the way to startup stardom. But five years into the deal, things just weren’t working out. In fact, they were a…

#70 What Is Michael Phelps Jamming to Right Now? EarBuds

Sep 4, 2019 • 30 min

What if you could listen to the exact same music as your favorite celebrities, at exactly the same time? That’s the question that drove NFL lineman Jason Fox to build an app for that. An app called Earbuds. Now if Jason can just cash in enough star power…

When You Grow Too Fast: Boundless

Aug 21, 2019 • 33 min

A little over a year ago, Xiao Wang came on the show to pitch his startup, Boundless. He told investors that his company was going to help immigrants cut through all the bureaucracy and paperwork required to get legal status. Today, the stakes around…

#69 When Less Is Not More: Hyde Closet

Aug 14, 2019 • 31 min

Founder Rahul Jindal might be the king of bootstrapping. And when investors see similarities between his startup, Hyde Closet, and a billion dollar business known as Rent the Runway, they start dreaming of unicorns. Until a wrinkle in the plan, snaps them…

#68 Dogs & Dating: A Match Made in Heaven? Dig

Aug 7, 2019 • 34 min

Back in May we asked entrepreneurs to call in and give us their best pitches. The winner was Leigh Isaacson and her startup Dig — a dating app for people who love dogs. In this episode, Leigh enters the pitch room and asks for $1.5 million to help get…

I’ve Looked Death in the Eye: Rex

Jul 17, 2019 • 37 min

When he came on the show two years ago, Amado Guloy said his startup would change the business of animal agriculture. And the investors bought it! But since then, Amado has found himself at a crossroads between his own health and the health of Rex.…

Fighting the 24/7 Startup Grind: Hostfully

Jun 26, 2019 • 31 min

Back in 2018, Margot Schmorak pitched our investors on Hostfully. It’s a startup that ushers old-style vacation-rental companies into the digital age. Margot ginned up a lot of excitement in the room that day. But then, she had to put her fundraising on…

#67 Call-in Pitch Competition

Jun 19, 2019 • 38 min

Back in May, we invited listeners to call in and pitch us their startups. And you really delivered, giving us over 200 pitches! In this episode, we’ll play some of our favorite submissions — and then choose one lucky winner to come pitch our investors.

#66 Does Anyone Really Want Your Product? User Interviews

Jun 5, 2019 • 36 min

Dennis Meng’s first company was a major flop. So he started another one that could’ve saved the first. It’s called User Interviews, and he needs $4 million to get it into the hands of big companies. Will investors buy into what he’s selling now? Today’s…

#65 Wait, Your App Does What Exactly? WeDo

May 15, 2019 • 38 min

Spencer Shulem wants people to learn from their mistakes. Also, he wants to help them organize their time. Oh, and he wants to gather data on everything they do. All this is packed into a single pitch for his startup, WeDo. Can the investors dig through…

#64 Startup Sale! 80% Off: BlueFoot

May 8, 2019 • 37 min

Ramya Possett and Rachel Lee founded BlueFoot to make tracking the competition easy for massive companies. And they think that what they’ve created is so powerful, it demands a premium price tag. One that takes the investors completely by surprise.…

A Name Change, A Game Change: Hykso

Apr 17, 2019 • 49 min

When Khalil Zahar and Tommy Duquette first pitched their boxing workout startup, Hykso, the investors saw a big opportunity. They wanted to know: Could Hykso be more like Peloton, an at-home cycling system that was starting to take off? Three years later,…

#63 Can A Startup Solve Homelessness? Samaritan

Apr 10, 2019 • 33 min

Jonathan Kumar pitches his startup, Samaritan, which aims to help people who’ve lost their homes. But can he convince the investors it’s OK to earn a profit off of homelessness? Today’s investors are Charles Hudson, Michael Hyatt, Jillian Manus and Phil…

#62 Pivot or Die: Feedback App

Apr 3, 2019 • 39 min

Ben Walters came on the show to sell the investors on Feedback, an app that lets restaurants change their prices on the fly. But when Ben shows up in the pitch room, he’s already decided that it’s time to make some changes to the business. Can he get the…

From Startup Novice to Veteran: Shift

Mar 20, 2019 • 35 min

After a stellar pitch on our show back in 2017 — one that got $100K in the first five minutes — founder Mike Slagh hit the ground running with his startup, Shift. In this episode, we catch up with him to find out if Shift, a job-placement service for…

#61 Can a Zebra Survive in a Unicorn World? Hearken

Mar 13, 2019 • 38 min

Jennifer Brandel of Hearken is pitching a new kind of business. She calls it a zebra: a company that’s driven by a mission — but still wants to make money. And Jennifer’s mission with Hearken is to help journalists do their jobs better. But can she and…

#60 Is This the Amazon Prime of Airline Tickets? SkyHi

Mar 6, 2019 • 33 min

Rama Poola is here pitching his airline ticket business, SkyHi, where customers pay a monthly fee to access tickets on the cheap. But the investors are worried that it sounds a lot like MoviePass, a company that offered a subscription for unlimited movie…

#59 Disrupting Work Happy Hour: CultureForce

Feb 27, 2019 • 32 min

Ryan Husk wants to take your workplace culture up a notch. His startup, Culture Force, matches companies to “experiences” designed to improve community at work. He says it can be a huge business, but the investors want to know why it’s more than just a…

#58 Park Your Pooch Here: DogSpot

Feb 20, 2019 • 37 min

Chelsea Brownridge wants to help dog owners keep their pooches safe when they’re out running errands together. Her startup, DogSpot, makes internet-connected dog houses, with features like webcams and A/C, and puts them in front of retail stores that…

#57 Where Losers Go To Win: Thrive Fantasy

Feb 13, 2019 • 32 min

After losing his shirt on sports betting sites DraftKings and FanDuel, Adam Weinstein decided to flip the script on daily fantasy sports and give everyone a better shot at winning. He’s changing things up using prop bets instead of traditional fantasy…

‘It Was a Disaster’ Industrial Organic

Feb 6, 2019 • 41 min

After a failed pitch on our show back in 2017, Industrial Organic founder Amanda Weeks was ready for redemption. And she found it, to the tune of $4.2 million. Now she’s back — with a lot to say about how much she and her business have grown. Today’s…

#56 Shark Tank vs. The Pitch: Monti Kids

Jan 30, 2019 • 45 min

Zahra Kassam has been on the road in a major way, pitching her startup, Monti Kids. A few months before our show, she pitched on ABC’s “Shark Tank.” Today we find out: Did she win over any investors in her two very public pitches? And how do our investors…

#55 A New Spin on VR: Tribe XR

Jan 23, 2019 • 39 min

Tom Impallomeni is here to pitch Tribe XR, a VR app that teaches people to DJ. He’s got a vision for using virtual reality to teach creative skills — but the investors are skeptical. Can Tom convince them he’s putting the right spin on VR? Today’s…

#54 Is Selling in Walmart a Good Thing? Copper Cow Coffee

Jan 16, 2019 • 38 min

Debbie Wei Mullin is pitching her pour-over Vietnamese coffee startup, Copper Cow Coffee. The company is already doing well on Walmart’s shelves. But does she have what it takes to take the brand online? Today’s investors are Alexandra Stanton, Sheel…

Welcome to The Pitch!

Jan 9, 2019 • 1 min

Introducing The Pitch from Gimlet. Where real entrepreneurs pitch to real investors—for real money. All episodes are available for free on Spotify. New episodes come out on Wednesdays. See you in The Pitch room!