Applications for the Space Coast Pitch Challenge are now closed. We will be announcing finalists the week of February 7th, 2022.
We will be opening a limited number of tickets to attend the Pitch Challenge on March 10th, 2022. Please check our social pages for opportunities to attend.
THURSDAY, MARCH 10TH 2022
Deadline to Apply by Thursday, January 20th, 2022
ENTER TO WIN GROUNDSWELL’S $20,000 CASH PRIZE!
Groundswell Startups in Partnership with the Space Coast Economic Development Commission, Cypress Bank & Trust and TSS Solutions Present The:
Space Coast Pitch Challenge
Since 2016, Groundswell Startups has helped over 35 companies gain access to over 60 million dollars in outside capital investment. Ranging from early-stage seed rounds to Series A, our ecosystem is well-equipped to help startups scale, gain access to capital, and make connections to the resources, mentors, and markets they need to take another step forward in their journey.
In addition to the cash prize, companies will receive in-kind support from Groundswell Mentors and Partners including legal support, accounting and finance, strategic guidance, and more. Finalists will have the opportunity to pitch in front of angel investors and venture capital firms from across the Southeast.
We are looking for dedicated founders who want to disrupt industries, challenge the status quo, and bring innovative solutions to the market – and do it all from the Space Coast.
Application Requirements:
- Based or have a substantial presence Brevard County
- Pre-revenue companies are encouraged to apply
- Have a capable, and coachable team (or are looking to build out that team) and are seeking mentoring/coaching and in-kind tools, investments, and advisors to scale
- Submit a pitch deck or a presentation
- 2022-2024 Revenue Goals
We are seeking startups who are:
- Looking to create disruption in a large and fast growing market
- Are using innovative technology/and/or tech enabled services solutions
- Have a large addressable market opportunity
- Traction with potential customers and partners
- Working to create business and financial plan
JUDGES:
First Round
Lilian Myers
Lilian is a Central Florida regional resource and advisor in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Today, she serves as the executive director at StarterStudio, Central Florida’s leading non-profit tech accelerator. She is also an advisor at the Guidewell Innovation Center in Lake Nona and serves on advisory boards for both the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Center for Entrepreneurship and the UK’s National Innovation Centre on Ageing. A serial entrepreneur herself, Lilian has more than twenty years as a founder, co-founder, or senior executive in early-stage ventures where she’s helped raise capital, bring products to market, win customers, sign partners, and exit through acquisition to companies such as Siemens, Aetna, and Google. Her work in multiple sectors has taken her to more than a dozen countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East – a tech industry journey that began at Microsoft. She continues to apply her experience as a leader in strategy, storytelling, product innovation, go to market, and human-centered design to her most energizing work, that of mentoring startup founders!
Mamoon Rashid
TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY & GLOBAL OPERATIONS
Mamoon Rashid is an accomplished global executive with over 30 years’ experience creating enterprise value within the semiconductor industry. He is known for leading business turnarounds, growth strategies and M&A initiatives worldwide.
Some of his accomplishments include transforming several underperforming technology businesses into highly successful growth engines. He led a Japanese technology company to profitability. His success can be attributed to consistently building collaborative relationships with internal & external partners.
He is comfortable in diverse national cultures having lived and worked in Japan and Europe, as well as conducting business in China and SE Asia for more than 30 years.
Don DiFrisco
CEO OF TSS SOLUTIONS
As the CEO of TSS Solutions, Don DiFrisco is responsible for developing and implementing the strategy to achieve the goals of the Board, running all facets of the business, and providing overall leadership to TSS' technology development programs.
Don has a proven executive leadership track record with over 25 years of experience delivering exceptional financial and operational performance in high technology, manufacturing, big data, and other industries.
Before joining TSS, Don was the CEO of International Surveillance Technology, Inc., a 2009 South Florida Business Journal Fast-Tech, rapid-growth company. IST was a high-tech engineering and manufacturing company designing and manufacturing high-tech products for countless investigative and intelligence agencies in the US and worldwide. Previously, he served as the CFO & COO of Cross Match Technologies, Inc., where he led the operational, engineering, manufacturing, and financial strategies, leading growth to #5 on the 2003 INC 500 list. CMT is a leading engineering, design, and manufacturing company specializing in digital fingerprint and retinal scan systems. Don also served as the Vice President of Finance/Controller of Preferred Payment Systems, Inc. (PPS), leading the company's financial aspect of the growth that led to a #155 on the 1996 INC 500 list.
Marcin Kubiak
SeedFundersOrlando
Marcin was born and raised in Poland. He arrived to the United States in the late summer of 2001 as a high school exchange student. Thanks to the support and friendship of wonderful people, he was able to attend both college and graduate school in the US. While completing his MBA, Marcin co-founded Elite Medical Scribes. Following a successful exit in 2017, he moved to Florida. When not traveling or enjoying water sports, Marcin supports entrepreneurs as an investor and mentor. He also actively engages in volunteering work through the Cocoa Beach Rotary Club and its flagship water safety project that he manages.
Marcin invests in Seed to Series B tech enabled businesses. Locally, he is a Founding Partner and Board Member of SeedFundersOrlando and is representing the group’s investments in two Central Florida startups (ViewStub and Groundswell’s own Kalogon).
Final Round
Christy Brown
LAUNCHPAD2X
As a serial entrepreneur who has founded and exited 3 companies, Christy has spent 20 years focusing on human capital services, financial services & technology. As an executive leader, investor and founder, Christy has navigated headwinds in many industries but is highly focused and engaged around growth companies and companies in transition.
In 2018 following her exit as a senior executive in a global human capital technology company, Christy rapidly returned to entrepreneurship primarily steering her interests towards venture capital investing in technology enabled companies focused on HRTech, FinTech and FemTech with a keen eye towards underserved founders.
As a General Partner, Christy lead a private venture capital firm headquartered in NY, New York to its launch and formation in Atlanta, Georgia where she established capital with undeserved startups. The investment thesis she developed combined a shared services plus capital model. This platform launched early-stage companies scale to their next level. In mid 2020, Christy’s passion expanded into supporting underserved founders more specifically and she stepped into the day-to-day oversight of a non-profit she served, Launchpad2X where she assumed the operational oversight as President & CEO. Christy’s relentless focus is economic mobility of women. Christy supports, mentors, guides and finances female founders and founders of color through her residency at Launchpad2X. Christy is also engaged across multiple Board of Director roles and also serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence for Emory University’s Gozuieta School of Business. She also speaks across the country on various topics including her own story of resilience, failures and successes.
Marc Sokol
FLORIDA FUNDERS
Marc Sokol has over 40 years’ experience building, managing, and investing in technology companies. His career began as a software engineer building applications and systems software used by thousands of enterprises world wide. He co-founded the application development tools company Realia, Inc. and ran it until is was acquired by Computer Associates (CA) a multi-billion dollar business software company, where he held a number of executive positions. He then joined JK&B Capital as a general partner responsible for investing in early stage software and Internet companies. In the role of VC, Marc invested in and sat on the board of directors for over 50 startup technology companies. Marc is a managing partner with Florida Funders and member of the Investment Committee. Marc is also the co-founder of the gov-tech startup Commack Solutions and the Chairman of VirtualZ Computing. Marc is also active in charitable activities as the Board President for the Center for Advocacy, Support and Transformation (CAST) and human-services non-profit based in Southold NY.
Ben Patz
DEEPWORK CAPITAL
Mr. Patz is a Founding Partner and Managing Director at DeepWork Capital, an early-stage investment firm focused on finding and supporting technology and life science startups. The firm has been in operation since October 2015. Prior to starting DeepWork Capital, Mr. Patz was Chief Operating Officer for Presidio Networked Solutions, a multi-billion-dollar Information Technology solutions provider. He joined Presidio through the acquisition of Coleman Technologies, Inc. in 2009, the firm he co-founded and ran as CEO. At CTI, he grew sales to $250 MM while staying active in technical pursuits such as leading the UCF/CTI team to the finals of the DARPA Urban Challenge, an autonomous vehicle competition. Mr. Patz has also been principal investigator on several SBIR grants relating to the application of Fuzzy Logic and Neural Networks to control systems. He has a BSEE from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and MSEE degree from the University of Central Florida. He was Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award for Florida in 2002 and received UCF’s Professional Achievement Award in 2006 and 2016.
Ron Tarro
NEW WORLD ANGELS
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