Spring has sprung: Entrepreneurs pitch their ideas at two DC events this past weekend

During this past weekend Nate Yohannes, my Senior Advisor, and I did the startup pitching rounds in our nation's capital.

On Friday night Nate was a judge at Mark Cuban's Recess, the college version of ABC's Shark Tank ("from dorm room to board room"). Recess is a music tour/music festival (like SXSW), entrepreneur speaker series and pitch competition with the winning prize of $10k towards your student loan (thanks to USA Network) and a flight to Hollywood, California to pitch to Cuban and his venture capital fund. Chip Conley, cofounder/ Head of Global Hospitality & Strategy at Airbnb was on hand too and provided advice to startup players in the room.  Cool stuff.

On Saturday, ABC's Shark Tank made a stop in Anascotia's Hive 2.0 as they seek to cast a diverse set of startups and entrepreneurs to pitch their famous judges live on TV.  The show's casting directors are traveling the country seeking to hear from folks across all walks of life looking to inject their small businesses with the capital they need to grow with the added bonus of some tube time. 

I closed the event with remarks about how important and critical their work is and the programs our agency offers to them #smartboldaccessible. Folks from the Minority Business Development Administration at our sister, the Department of Commerce also did the rounds earlier in the day. In Anascotia about 50 companies made speed pitches to the show's producers.

All good and a great complement to DC's Tidal Basin peak Cherry Blossoms in full amazing bloom as I write this, similar to the entrepreneurs' ideas and opportunities we heard.

By the way, Hive 2.0, we look forward to your and many other ecosystem applications to the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition which launched Friday.  Click here for details.