Remember when pitching was fun? No battles or competitions, no celebrity VCs, no make-or-break stress.

We're bringing back low-pressure pitch events for early-stage startups that just need to get their ideas out into the world and hear constructive feedback from fellow founders in the trenches. So join us for an afternoon of innovation, networking, and camaraderie with Pitches and Pints. 🍻

Hosted in collaboration with The Yard coworking community, this event offers a platform for startups to share ideas, gather feedback, and connect with fellow founders.

• 📅 Date: Thursday, Jan 18
• 🕓 Time: 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
• 📍 Venue: The Yard: Herald Square
• 📑 Register: Sign up here to pitch

Begin with happy hour bites and drinks while mingling with fellow founders and members of The Yard. As the sun sets, the spotlight shifts to five emerging startups who will take the stage to pitch their visions. 

This is not a competition -- it's an opportunity for founders to showcase their projects, exchange insights, and receive constructive feedback from founder peers.

Whether you're a startup enthusiast, an industry professional, or a curious mind, Pitches and Pints will be an engaging and inspiring afternoon to celebrate entrepreneurship, foster connections, and toast the spirit of innovation.

Our hosts at The Yard are offering a free day pass for attendees who arrive early and want to cowork before the event. Just tell the front desk you're there for Pitches and Pints happening later.

• Pitch - 7 minutes
• Audience Q&A - 5 minutes
• Pitch deck is required

Our longtime friend Mike Wilner, previously from the Startup Team at AWS, shares advice below on the art of pitching and the deck:

• Keep your narrative crisp
• Be opinionated and non-obvious
• Make sure there's an "oh shit" moment, and convey that it will be a venture-scale business
• Frame progress in terms of what you've actually figured out -- don't jump to arbitrary KPIs

Additionally, he advises that your fundraising narrative should be a concise, memorable explanation of what you're building, why you're fundraising, and why someone should invest. It should answer 5 questions:

1. What are you building?
2. Why will you win?
3. How have you de-risked your business so far?
4. How will you de-risk your business in the near future?
5. What will the future look like if you're successful?

For examples of previously successful pitch decks referenced by Mike Wilner, click here and here.

MEET THE STARTUPS

My Home Pathway

• My Home Pathway, a fintech startup, is creating a novel pathway for traditionally high-risk US consumers to achieve homeownership. The platform enables lenders to build a strategic pipeline for individuals who may not meet standard underwriting criteria.

ColourBox Collective

• ColourBox is the world’s first collective loyalty Platform based on Fine Arts. It provides a way for lifestyle focused businesses to offer a reward system with fully controlled value interoperability, without diluting the perceived value of their product, while paving a way for Artists and Fine Art Curators, to create a sustainable income source.

Teampulse

• Teampulse is a cost-efficient corporate platform with team activities that measure team pulse and brings a balance between engagement and efficiency.

Bottled

• Bottled: "Message in a Bottle" is the Social App for the world's 3 billion introverts. Our highly gamified experience helps them feel SAFE making NEW friends. Our mission is to alleviate the loneliness pandemic for GenZ & Millennials.

Troom

• Troom is an app that allows you to book your own private driver who drives you in the comfort of your own car. The company is established in Belgium and has been growing for 2 years. We operate now with 300 drivers in Belgium. We opened Spain and The Netherlands and it is our aim to enter  the US market.