Season 5
July 17, 2019
I’ve Looked Death in the Eye
When he came on the show two years ago, Amado Guloy said his startup would change the business of animal agriculture. And the investors bought it! But since then, Amado has found himself at a crossroads between his own healt…
June 26, 2019
Fighting the 24/7 Startup Grind
Back in 2018, Margot Schmorak pitched our investors on Hostfully. It’s a startup that ushers old-style vacation-rental companies into the digital age. Margot ginned up a lot of excitement in the room that day. But then, she …
June 19, 2019
#67 Call-in Pitch Competition
Back in May, we invited listeners to call in and pitch us their startups. And you really delivered, giving us over 200 pitches! In this episode, we’ll play some of our favorite submissions — and then choose one lucky winner …
June 5, 2019
#66 Does Anyone Really Want Your Product?
Dennis Meng’s first company was a major flop. So he started another one that could’ve saved the first. It’s called User Interviews, and he needs $4 million to get it into the hands of big companies. Will investors buy into w…
May 15, 2019
#65 Wait, Your App Does What Exactly?
Spencer Shulem wants people to learn from their mistakes. Also, he wants to help them organize their time. Oh, and he wants to gather data on everything they do. All this is packed into a single pitch for his startup, WeDo. …
May 8, 2019
#64 Startup Sale! 80% Off
Ramya Possett and Rachel Lee founded BlueFoot to make tracking the competition easy for massive companies. And they think that what they’ve created is so powerful, it demands a premium price tag. One that takes the investors…
April 17, 2019
FightCamp: A Name Change, A Game Change
When Khalil Zahar and Tommy Duquette first pitched their boxing workout startup, Hykso, the investors saw a big opportunity. They wanted to know: Could Hykso be more like Peloton, an at-home cycling system that was starting …
April 10, 2019
#63 Can A Startup Solve Homelessness?
Jonathan Kumar pitches his startup, Samaritan, which aims to help people who’ve lost their homes. But can he convince the investors it’s OK to earn a profit off of homelessness? Today’s investors are Charles Hudson, Michael …
April 3, 2019
#62 Pivot or Die
Ben Walters came on the show to sell the investors on Feedback, an app that lets restaurants change their prices on the fly. But when Ben shows up in the pitch room, he’s already decided that it’s time to make some changes t…
March 20, 2019
From Startup Novice to Veteran
After a stellar pitch on our show back in 2017 — one that got $100K in the first five minutes — founder Mike Slagh hit the ground running with his startup, Shift. In this episode, we catch up with him to find out if Shift, a…
March 13, 2019
#61 Can a Zebra Survive in a Unicorn World?
Jennifer Brandel of Hearken is pitching a new kind of business. She calls it a zebra: a company that’s driven by a mission — but still wants to make money. And Jennifer’s mission with Hearken is to help journalists do their …
March 6, 2019
#60 Is This the Amazon Prime of Airline Tickets?
Rama Poola is here pitching his airline ticket business, SkyHi, where customers pay a monthly fee to access tickets on the cheap. But the investors are worried that it sounds a lot like MoviePass, a company that offered a su…
Feb. 27, 2019
#59 Disrupting Work Happy Hour
Ryan Husk wants to take your workplace culture up a notch. His startup, Culture Force, matches companies to “experiences” designed to improve community at work. He says it can be a huge business, but the investors want to kn…
Feb. 20, 2019
#58 Park Your Pooch Here
Chelsea Brownridge wants to help dog owners keep their pooches safe when they’re out running errands together. Her startup, DogSpot, makes internet-connected dog houses, with features like webcams and A/C, and puts them in f…
Feb. 13, 2019
#57 Where Losers Go To Win
After losing his shirt on sports betting sites DraftKings and FanDuel, Adam Weinstein decided to flip the script on daily fantasy sports and give everyone a better shot at winning. He’s changing things up using prop bets ins…
Feb. 6, 2019
‘It Was a Disaster’
After a failed pitch on our show back in 2017, Industrial Organic founder Amanda Weeks was ready for redemption. And she found it, to the tune of $4.2 million. Now she’s back — with a lot to say about how much she and her bu…
Jan. 30, 2019
#56 Shark Tank vs. The Pitch
Zahra Kassam has been on the road in a major way, pitching her startup, Monti Kids. A few months before our show, she pitched on ABC’s “Shark Tank.” Today we find out: Did she win over any investors in her two very public pi…
Jan. 23, 2019
#55 A New Spin on VR
Tom Impallomeni is here to pitch Tribe XR, a VR app that teaches people to DJ. He’s got a vision for using virtual reality to teach creative skills — but the investors are skeptical. Can Tom convince them he’s putting the ri…
Jan. 16, 2019
#54 Is Selling in Walmart a Good Thing?
Debbie Wei Mullin is pitching her pour-over Vietnamese coffee startup, Copper Cow Coffee. The company is already doing well on Walmart’s shelves. But does she have what it takes to take the brand online?
Jan. 9, 2019
Is the ICO Gold Rush Over?
After a frustrating round of fundraising for her company PopCom , Dawn Dickson decided that VC was broken. She opted to take a different route: an initial coin offering, or ICO. But then her best-laid plans got all mucked up…