Flyer Pitch

The Flyer Pitch Competition is an annual competition sponsored by UD’s L. William Crotty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and the Greater West Dayton Incubator in partnership with PNC Bank and The Entrepreneur's Center. Now in its 16th year, Flyer Pitch awards more than $100,000 in cash prizes and more than $50,000 in in-kind prizes during the competition. Its legacy includes more than 70 new ventures that have been launched as a result of the competition with over $24 million in follow-on capital raised by those businesses. Over the course of the Competition, participants will have the opportunity to enhance their own skills as well as strengthen their venture through training, mentorship, and feedback from expert judges leading up until the live pitch presentation. This is not only intended to help finalists prepare for the pitch, but to ultimately provide entrepreneurs with the hands-on support to successfully launch their new venture. The Flyer Pitch Competition is open to all Dayton Students and Dayton Community members.

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Our Two Venture Track Offers

Open to the Public Community!

The Start-up Venture track offers an opportunity for participants to put entrepreneurship principles into practice by expanding or starting a business venture and getting the support needed to make it successful.

The Greater West Dayton Social Venture track offers an opportunity for participants to advance social justice and equity in Greater West Dayton by starting or scaling a nonprofit, social enterprise, and/or community initiative.  

Competition Stages

Stage 1: Ideate (October)

Submit an application, and video, of the team's idea or business concept. Team’s application must clearly identify the problem, frame the problem, and identify the opportunity. A panel of qualified judges will review applications and select 10 teams for each track.

Submission deadline - October 15, 2021 @ 11:59pm 

Stage 2: Inspire (November-January)

Teams will be expected to gain new insights by conducting market research (start-up venture track) or engaging with the community (social venture track) for feedback on conceptual design. Based on the team's ability to gain new insights and/or engage the community for input, a panel of judges will advance 5 teams for each track. 

Stage 3: Iterate (January-March) and Implement (April)

The 5 teams from each track will be paired with industry specific mentors. Redesign/further define concepts using new insights from the previous round and market research to prepare a business plan. Teams will deliver a live 20-minute pitch presentation to a panel of judges. Teams must demonstrate growth, include the amount of funds being requested to implement the concept, how the knowledge gained from the competition process will influence how the funds will be used to implement the concept successfully, and returns on investment. 

AWARDS

Instead of traditional finalist placements, finalists will be awarded funding based on amounts determined by competition judges' consideration of the needs and relevance of each team. There will also be a branded award for each track (along with cash prizes and EIR support from TEC).

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In addition to the prize money outlined below, all finalist teams will have the option of receiving a co-working membership at The Hub and/or GWDI. Finalists from the start-up venture track will receive $25,000 in support services from The Entrepreneur’s Center. 

Start-Up Venture

Social Venture

Total

Our Partners:

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TIMELINE

The 2021-2022 pitch competition will take place over 5 months from October - April in three phases. Each round, teams will be asked to submit deliverables that will be assessed by judges to determine which teams are invited to the next round of the competition.