Ten selected to compete in final round of Business Pitch Competition

Ten Business Pitch Competition finalists have been selected to pitch their company’s product or service to a panel of judges at the 4^th Annual Governor’s Conference on Business in Reno on August 25.  After the judges’ scorecards are tallied, the first and second place winners will be announced at the conference luncheon. The top two companies will take home cash and prizes totaling $16,000 thanks to the generosity of pitch competition sponsors AT&T and IQ Technology Solutions.  

The finalists selected to move to the live-pitch portion of the competition, where each business will have two minutes to make their “pitch” followed by a three minute Q&A session with the judges, are:

Reno/Northern Nevada

·         BootRoxx  (Reno)-  Cowboy boot covers

·         Coalition Snow  (Zephyr Cove)- Ski gear for women

·         Crowded Reality (Reno)- Crowdfunding platform for reality-based entertainment

·         Dragonfly Energy (Reno)- Deep cycle Lithium ion battery manufacturing

·         Dunce Labs (Reno)- Non-traditional college counseling service

·         IMBIB Custom Brews (Reno)- Custom beer brewing

·         Irrigo, LLC (Fernley)-Automated farm field irrigation

Las Vegas/Henderson

·         Corporate Performance, LLC  (Las Vegas)- Corporate health and wellness programs

·         Innovum Technologies, Inc. (Henderson) Gaming compliance software

·         Skyworks Aerial Systems (Henderson)- Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, education & development

Linda Gooley, management analyst with the Nevada Department of Business and Industry was instrumental in developing the contest that incorporates a unique twist on a traditional competition.  The competition was opened to established early stage ventures and encouraged businesses from all industry sectors to apply. “For our first event, I feel good about the diversity of the applications we received and the finalists that were selected by our esteemed panel of judges. I’m excited to see the pitches that these companies have prepared,” said Gooley.

The qualified applications were evaluated by an independent panel of five judges who narrowed the field to the top ten applications. The same judges’ panel will convene to evaluate the live pitches. Judges for the event include:  Lieutenant Governor Mark Hutchison; Steve Cerocke, President, IQ Technology Solutions; David Millar, Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Apex Performance Solutions; Ira Gostin, Vice President of Investor Relations, Tahoe Resources; and Kelly Northridge, Instructor of Entrepreneurship, University of Nevada Reno. Lauren Klein, CEO of Girlmade will moderate the session.

In addition to the Business Pitch Competition, the Governor’s Conference on Business features a Business Resource Expo, three morning breakout session with topics including Commerce Tax: Myths and Facts, IT Security: Protecting Your Business, and Workforce Development for the New Economy. The conference will conclude with a luncheon featuring special guest speaker Diarmuid O’Connel, Tesla’s Vice President of Business Development and a keynote address by Governor Brian Sandoval.

Tickets to attend the Governor’s Conference on Business 2015, Tuesday, August 25 at the Atlantics Casino from 7:30 am to 2:00 pm can be purchased online for $40.  For more information about the conference, or to register, visit http://govconference.nv.gov.   

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