By tour’s end, between 60 and 100 Maryland entrepreneurs will have met the StartUp Maryland Pitch Tour bus now traversing the state to offer an exciting opportunity— to have their ideas heard and possibly realized.
The incandescent yellow and black bus, swathed with the Maryland flag started its tour in Ocean City, Maryland on its way to Baltimore’s Merriweather Pavilion on September 28th, with 20 stops which have already included Salisbury, Cambridge, Easton, Chestertown, Wye Mills and Annapolis among others.
Visiting business incubators, economic development agencies and universities, StartUp Maryland and its “Pitch Across Maryland” team, a volunteer group of successful entrepreneurs, is a pioneering effort to celebrate and encourage new businesses in Maryland by connecting entrepreneurs to investment resources and each other.
“We’ve far exceeded our expectations with this project. The Eastern Shore has some amazingly innovative people coming to us with their ideas. We’re looking at the Pitch Tour as a kind of connective tissue for entrepreneurs,” says Mike Binko, a StartUp Maryland volunteer coordinator.
For entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs, the Pitch Tour is designed to give start-up business people an audience of peers and investors. A professionally crafted video of each entrepreneur’s “pitch,” created in the tour bus’ mobile studio, will be posted online at https://startupmd.org/pitch-across-maryland. Viewers will vote for their favorites and the top eight will be invited to a panel of business experts at November’s Maryland Entrepreneur Expo.
“The great thing about the mobile studio is that it lets people be themselves,” Binko say. “They can shine a light on themselves without the pressure of an ‘interview.’”
Mike Thielke, one of the coordinators of the Eastern Shore leg of the Pitch Tour, and Executive Director of Easton based Eastern Shore Entrepreneurship Center sees StartUp Maryland as “serving to highlight entrepreneurs throughout the State of Maryland, but more importantly offers the opportunity to let the public know that the Eastern Shore has its share of successful and innovative entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial ecosystem on Maryland’s Eastern Shore has significantly expanded over the past couple of years thanks to the efforts of economic development service providers throughout the region. Entrepreneurs and small business owners are a valued part of the Shore’s business growth and job creation.”
For a complete schedule of the Pitch Tour bus (go here).
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