Will This Fly? Pitch Competition

Huntsville is the scene of some pretty geeky events.

From beer-loving geeks to space-exploring geeks, every subset of nerd is represented and appreciated. Great ideas often come from these communities, which is why local startup organization Rocket Hatch is hosting their first ever pitch competition.

The aptly named Will This Fly? event will take place Thursday, November 20, 2014, and will pit entrepreneur against entrepreneur in this business pitch showdown.

Interactive & Collaborative

In addition to entertainment, Will This Fly? is designed to be an interactive and collaborative event between the budding start-up community of Huntsville and the greater network of entrepreneurs in the Southeast.

Over 20 applicants from around Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee have flocked to this event, each of them eager for a chance to be chosen as best start-up pitch.

Awarding this coveted prize is a Shark Tank-style panel of judges, each of them rockstar start-up community leaders and investors in the Southeast. At the end of the evening pitch competition, the judges will award a prize to the best start-up group, and the audience favorite will also be chosen to receive an award.

Switch Things Up

After the winning participants have been chosen and the prizes have been passed out, things start to get really interesting. In true thinking-outside-the-box fashion, Rocket Hatch has decided to switch things up during the event by having the audience members judge the judges. Judges with business accelerators will have a chance to present their programs for 2015 to attendees, who can then ask questions.

By adding this important aspect to the event’s itinerary, Rocket Hatch hopes that great local entrepreneurs will be inspired to submit proposals of their own to these accelerators – because of past Rocket Hatch events, two Huntsville entrepreneurs have been accepted into accelerator programs.

Pitch It

The Will This Fly? pitch event starts at 5:30 pm at the new Design Lab in Lincoln Mill November 20, but for VIP ticket holders the festivities kick off earlier that morning. These extra-geeky guests will participate in a tour of the city, lunch in the AL.com building and VIP Speed Dating, all starting at 10:00 am.

Doors open for the competition part of the event at 4:30 pm, and the pitches run from 5:30-7:15 pm. After the winners are announced, Rocket Hatch keeps the ball rolling with a celebration and networking until 9:00 pm.

To see the Sharks and the competitors participating in this event, visit the #WTFhsv website. Learn more about Rocket Hatch at www.rockethatch.org.