It’s time for Indiana’s brightest rising startups to shine! Applications are now open for the fifth annual Crossroads Pitch Competition. And after the fierce competition in 2020, we’re ready to get our socks knocked off by the 2021 startups.
Crossroads is open to any Indiana-based startup with less than $250,000 in annual recurring revenue. A look through past competitors and judges is a who’s who of entrepreneurship in Indiana. Yes, the prizes are awesome, but the real win is connections with potentiaal investors, mentors, talent, and customers. At Crossroads, vision meets opportunity.
Andy Lehman, Head of Accelerator Programming for The Mill, noted that this year’s competition will have three stages. First, contestants will submit a 3-5 minute recorded pitch, along with their pitch deck and executive summary. Next, judges will evaluate those recorded pitches and select semi-finalists to pitch live over Zoom. The finalists will then advance to pitch live at The Mill on October 13 as part of The Mill’s Innovation Week activities. “We learned from our all-virtual competition in 2020 that there are some real logistical advantages to holding part of the event via Zoom,” Lehman said, “so we’ll do that again this year. And, health mandates permitting, we’re really looking forward to seeing our finalists pitch before a live audience again.”
The winner of this year’s competition will take home $10,000 in cash, thanks to our sponsor Velocities, and a sweet package of in-kind services and support. In addition, the highest-scoring seed and pre-seed contestants win priority consideration to pitch at Elevate Venture’s prestigious Nexus Pitch Competition for the chance to win $20,000 or $80,000 more.
Last year’s winner, Jennie Moser of Stagetime, said about her Crossroads experience, “I can’t overstate how positively Crossroads changed the trajectory of the end of the year (and the first full year of Stagetime!). The non-dilutive prize money allowed me to move to Stagetime full-time before I had originally planned, and even more importantly, it gave me the confidence and ability to seize the opportunity to bring one of my most valuable contractors onto Stagetime full-time. These two items have changed my day-to-day dramatically — professionally and personally.”
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