The Pitch

There are tons of companies popping up in the scheduling space now that Calendly is valued at 6 billion dollars. Everyone wants to build the next billion dollar calendar app, including David Matthews, founder of Dotcal. He thinks he’s created a scheduling platform that will take over the space. But will the investors place their bets in Dotcal or is the scheduling race already overbooked?  Today’s...

A few years ago, Claire Smith moved back to her family farm, where they practice sustainable farming, and created Teffola. It’s granola made with an ancient Ethiopian grain called teff, which is filled with lots of protein, fiber, iron, and calcium. The only problem is… no one’s heard of it. Is it too risky to invest in a business that needs to educate consumers on a rare ancient grain and on sust...

Clothing rental companies get a bad rap in the VC world. It seems like no matter how much money investors sink into them, they always just… fail? But today’s founder thinks she found a way to make it work. Capri Wheaton is going after a demographic that always has to be red carpet ready: sorority girls.  Today’s investors are Jillian Manus, Charles Hudson, Elizabeth Yin, Mac Conwell, and Neal Sále...

AWSM Sauce founders Carl and Paul have perfected a sustainable way of making sauce. But then, they had another idea – a futuristic way of getting sauce on our plates. Will the investors see this as a two-innovations-in-one deal, or will they get lost in the sauce?  Today’s investors are Jillian Manus, Charles Hudson, Elizabeth Yin, Phil Nadel, and Neal Sáles-Griffin. Carl and Paul were kind enough...

Founder Luis Medina Rivas travels across the world to pitch his big vision on how to solve one of the most important problems of our time - energy. His pitch is close to perfect. However, the VCs worry about the location of his company and come back to him with an easy solution, but it’s up to the founder to decide what’s right for his company. Today’s investors are Jillian Manus, Charles Hudson,...

The Pitch is back! And a whole lot has changed since buying the show from Gimlet, bringing host Josh Muccio and cofounder Lisa Muccio somewhere they never thought they’d be — pitching in front of the investors…on their own show. But is the host of The Pitch any good at pitching? Today’s investors are Jillian Manus, Phil Nadel, Mark Phillips, Victor Gutwein and Neal Sáles-Griffin. Learn more about...

Welcome back to The Pitch! This season, we head to Chicago to meet 14 founders with 12 business ideas big enough to change the world. Everything from a better ketchup to a potential solution to one of the biggest problems of our time - energy. The founders just need one thing... money. And on this season, investors commit over $900,000 to bring those ideas to life. Plus, for the first time, we’re...

Host Josh Muccio picks up the mic once again... with some personal news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, we've got a show like no other. Instead of startup founders asking for money to grow their business, we hear investors Jake Chapman and Howie Diamond pitch their new venture capital fund. And they learn right away that things on the other side of the table are a lot harder. Today's potential LPs are Jillian Manus, Daniel Gulati and Charles Hudson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

In VC, before you pitch investors, you’re expected to get some initial cash from friends and family. Getting this money is a critical first step for a new startup. But what if your friends and family aren’t wealthy? Two founders tell us what that experience is like, and how it’s shaped the way VC investors view their companies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're now in a business climate transformed by Covid. And founders need help figuring out how to impress investors, find new customers, and connect with potential cofounders in this uncertain time. We wanted to help out. So we got investors Elizabeth Yin from Hustle Fund and Hunter Walk from Homebrew to hop on The Pitch hotline to take your calls. The Callers: Rebecca Colett, Calyxeum Graham Hawle...

Today's founder had everything going for him: a huge market, loads of experience, and $70k in monthly revenue. But then, everything went wrong. Christopher Hussain's startup, RealKey, is supposed to make the complicated mortgage lending process simpler, but his pitch left our investors scratching their heads. Today's investors are Sarah Downey, Michael Hyatt, Jillian Manus, Phil Nadel and Charles...

It was three years ago, when Claire Coder went in front of our investors to pitch Aunt Flow. At the time, her startup was a very risky bet. But now, in 2020, Claire’s business has stood the test of time. We find out just how far a business can go in three years. Today's investors are Jillian Manus, Phil Nadel, James Altucher and Daniel Gulati. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices...

In the spring, founders desperate for ideas about how to keep their companies afloat called in to get advice from our investors. Several months later, the economy is still far from recovering, so we called the founders back to see if the investors’ advice was working. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. The investors present at Kevin's original pitch were Phil Nadel, Jillian Manus, Daniel Gulati and Charles Hudson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. The investors present at Alon's original pitch were Phil Nadel, Jillian Manus, Daniel Gulati and Charles Hudson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoic...

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? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 boss. The investors present at Cody's original pitch were Phil Nadel, Jillian Manus, Nicole Verkindt, Michael Hyatt and Charles Hudson. Learn mo...

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 keep their businesses afloat. The callers: Shannon Malkin Daniels, Encaptiv Krystin Hargrove, CoTripper Dan Brown, Up-Rite Storage Rack Chris Murphy...

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, Fleeting, is growing fast. But he’ll have to convince the investors he has the technical savvy to make the company grow even faster. And he’ll need...

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, and in this episode Debbie tells the sequence of events that led to a few early, strategic decisions made in 2020 that set up her business to outla...

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. They advise founders on how to pivot to a remote-friendly model, how to survive the losses in the hospitality industry, and how to navigate the ne...

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 being pet friendly is enough to bring in the big bones. And if it is, what’s to stop Uber from offering rides for pets too… putting SpotOn in a tig...

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 other. Today's investors are Maia Bittner, Elizabeth Yin, David Goldberg, Sheel Mohnot and Charles Hudson. If you'd like to support Sene’s efforts to...

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 coronavirus enters the scene.  Today's investors are Sarah Downey, Michael Hyatt, Jillian Manus, Phil Nadel and Charles Hudson. Learn more about...