Deadline: ongoing
The $100k Women in Tech (WiT) Investment Prize is back! The Firehood is bringing together an incredible team of angel investors who will award one female-led startup with a $100k investment. That means one female founder attending Startupfest will walk away with an important investment and access to an amazing network of investors.
Any female-led startup in attendance can win this prize, and it’s in addition to the Startupfest $100k Best of the Fest Investment Prize. That means a female founder could walk away with $200k in investment if they win over the judges of both investment prizes!
Eligibility Criteria
The $100k WiT Investment Prize is open to any female-led startup in attendance. For the purposes of this prize, we define a female-led startup as a startup with the most senior member of the executive team identifying as female.
There’s no application process, no form to fill out, and no video to prepare. You just need to register, get onsite, and be ready to wow our Women in Tech investor judges with a superb pitch that makes the cut. Register for Startupfest if you haven’t already done so!
The Process
Startups have until the end of day on Thursday, July 14th—the second day of Startupfest—to deliver their pitch. They can do so in the language of their choice, but please be aware that since Startupfest attracts investors from across the country and around the world, many of them only speak English.
How do I pitch?
Your goal over the first two days is to get at least one of the judges to shortlist your Startup:
- We’ve set aside time on our stage on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons for open pitch rounds. You’ll have 1 minute to pitch and up to 2 minutes for follow-up questions if the judges have any.
- Judges will also be roaming the Tent Village, which is another way to get their attention! So get on stage, visit the Village, and bring your best hustle by connecting with as many judges as possible—after all, it just takes one judge for you to make the shortlist.
- Our judges are wearing an Investor Judge badge and a green lanyard to make them easy to identify and pitch everywhere onsite. You probably want to avoid bathroom pitches, but everywhere else is fair game!
What happens next?
On Friday, July 15th–the final day of Startupfest—the Judges will spend the day in the Tent Village listening to additional pitches, and calling back their shortlisted Startups for a Q&A meeting.
By 4 PM, the Investor Judges will have selected the winner, which we’ll announce during the closing ceremonies.
Prize Details
The WiT prize is an investment from up to 10 angel investors. Our default terms are based on an industry-standard convertible note (for reference, please see this convertible loan agreement). The winning startup will sign the convertible note with each of the investors individually. The investors are willing to create a voting trust, if and when the convertible note converts to equity.
Think these terms shouldn’t apply to you? Need a tweak? We can discuss that. While we adopt industry standard agreements for the sake of simplicity, the judges are willing to discuss alternate terms proposed by shortlisted Startups during their meeting on Friday, July 15.
