Outdoor cafe tables beside an office building in downtown Evanston. Photo: Eric Fredericks from Rancho Cordova, CA, United States / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Five early-stage companies from Evanston will pitch their businesses at a startup showcase on Thursday, March 26, 2015, at 5:30 p.m. at Rotary International’s headquarters, 1560 Sherman Ave., in downtown Evanston.
The format is brisk. Each of the five startups gets five minutes to present to a panel of local entrepreneurs and the audience, followed by questions from both. A networking reception with food and drinks follows. Founders who want a slot can apply online through Feb. 27, and attendees register through Eventbrite. Panelists and the selected companies had not yet been announced.
The showcases are meant to bring together entrepreneurs, students, funders, developers and designers around companies based in Evanston or led by Evanston residents.
The 2013 precedent
The evening follows a similar event in November 2013, when the city’s Economic Development Division and the nonprofit Evanston Inventure organized a Northwestern University Startup Showcase in a conference room at the Hilton Orrington Hotel. About 80 local business executives watched five ventures pitch, the Daily Northwestern reported. SwipeSense, a hand hygiene platform for health care workers, and Chisel had already launched products. MyChild, Fall Proof and Closet were still developing their plans, and the last two had begun just days earlier at Northwestern’s Startup Weekend.
Paul Zalmezak, the city’s senior economic development coordinator, said at the time that the aim was to highlight entrepreneurial activity on campus that many residents did not know about.
What the format offers founders
Five-minute pitches are a common test for young companies: a founder has to explain the product, the customer and the business model in less time than a typical coffee break. The question-and-answer round that follows is often where panelists press on pricing, competition and how the company plans to find its first paying customers.
The venue
The showcase takes place at the organization’s headquarters in downtown Evanston, on Sherman Avenue.
Rotary International, the service organization, keeps its world headquarters at 1560 Sherman Ave., and the building has hosted public events. For founders, the format offers quick exposure: a short pitch, immediate questions from people who have started companies themselves, and a reception afterward for follow-up conversations with potential funders, mentors and collaborators.
Daniel Okafor covers business, startups and the Innovators section for The Evanston Edge.
