National VC Fast Pitch Competition selects Nashville for newest stop
“Our VC Fast Pitch is a great opportunity to network with investors – and for investors to discover what is happening in Nashville,” said the founder, Scott Kelly.
For the first time in its 16-year history, the traveling VC Fast Pitch competition is coming to Nashville. Organizer Scott Kelly, Founder of Black Dog Venture Partners, said the decision was made after he paid a visit to Nashville in December.
“I went to Nashville for the first time and held a networking event. I was blown away by the people in the community, both in Nashville and around the state,” he said.
The event is set for March 17, in partnership with Vanderbilt University. Kelly expects between 120 and 150 attendees, including 20 to 30 investors from across the country. Kelly said he already has investors queued up to fly in from New York, California, and Texas.
VC Fast Pitch solves a frustration point in startup circles – so many pitch competitions and so few investors.
“I’ve gone to a lot of pitch events, and honestly, they weren’t very useful. I found that a lot of the entrepreneurs are presenting to people who didn’t have the ability to invest,” Kelly said. “At VC Fast Pitch, founders have assurance that they will be presenting to at least a couple of dozen investors.”
Each participating startup gets exactly five minutes to pitch, followed by live questions from the investor panel. Kelly expects six companies to be selected to present during the Nashville stop. A couple of the participating companies will be Black Dog Venture Partners’ portfolio companies, and the others will be local-area entrepreneurs.
Kelly started Black Dog Venture Partners in 2006 after he built and sold a couple of companies in San Francisco. After a successful exit, he moved into VC and never looked back.
Today, the firm helps early-stage tech companies secure seed to Series A funding, refine their go-to-market strategies, and ultimately prepare for an exit. Kelly said the team has supported companies that together have raised about $5 billion and have supported around 30 exits.
“Our VC Fast Pitch is a great opportunity to network with investors – and for investors to discover what is happening in Nashville,” Kelly said.
Read more information and register for the March 17 event.
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