EXPERIENCE
The Carolinas' Premier Gathering of
Entrepreneurs & Venture Capitalists
INVEST IN YOUR FUTURE, ENGAGE IN VENTURE PITCH
VENTURE PITCH 2020 IS A WRAP!
When COVID-19 hit, the decision to postpone NEXT was a tough one. Ultimately, it was the right call and we’re incredibly thankful to live in an age where we can connect virtually. We are so glad that we could continue to push business forward, continue connecting entrepreneurs, and provide innovative solutions for everyone involved.
Because of you, startup culture and entrepreneurship continues to thrive in the southeast. No matter what obstacles arise, we will continue to help each other grow bigger, better, and stronger through collaboration, education, and healthy competition. We look forward to seeing NEXT year!
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Countdown to Your Success
SEPTEMBER 15TH-17TH 2020
NEXT Venture Pitch is the best place to get your company’s lucrative ideas in front of the largest group of VCs from the state of South Carolina.
In its 5th running year, NEXT Venture Pitch will bring out top principal VCs, angel investors, and community leaders to hear pitches from entrepreneurs and innovators just like you. Look forward to fireside chats, CEO workshops, keynote speakers, and more.
Registration is open, so secure your ticket today!
THIS EVENT MADE POSSIBLE BY OUR SPONSORS:
APPLY TO PITCH
Investors are actively looking for companies in the Southeast that can use capital to accelerate their growth.
If your company has traction and is poised to grow, this event has all the connections you need to make that happen.
The deadline to apply to pitch is now closed. See which companies made the cut:
CONFERENCE AGENDA
NEXT VENTURE PITCH 2020
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15TH
*Half-day event from 9 AM - 1 PM
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9:00AM: Fireside Keynote with Jeff Hoffman
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9:30AM: Education Track Workshops:
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Leading Through Change
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10 Key Steps for Raising Venture Capital
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11:00AM: Pitch Hour
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Announce Day 1 Pitch Winner
concurrent, Ask-Me-Anything-style sessions (*Requires VIP Access to attend)
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*1:00PM: Meet the VC's Session with Bull City Venture Partners & Knoll Ventures
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*1:00PM: Meet the Speakers Session with Mohamed Massaquoi and Tim Whitmire from CXN
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16TH
*Half-day event from 9 AM - 1 PM
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9:00AM: Keynote Panel- Building World-Class Products
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9:30AM: Education Track Workshop:
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Perfecting your Pitch
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10:00AM: Pitch Hour
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11:00AM: Closing Keynote Panel- Grow Your Startup
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Announce Day 2 Pitch Winner
concurrent, Ask-Me-Anything-style sessions (*Requires VIP Access to attend)
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*1:00PM: Meet the VC's Session with Edison Partners, Techstars and Construct Capital
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*1:00PM: Meet the Speakers Session with Javier Buzzalino, Michael Morrissey, and Butler Raines from our Building World Class Products Panel
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17TH
*Half-day event from 9 AM - 1 PM
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9:00AM: Fireside Keynote with Jay Simons
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9:30AM: Live Pitch Finals Round 1 with VC Judges
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10:30AM: Panel- Building World Class Teams
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11:30AM: Live Pitch Finals Round 2 with VC Judges
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1:00PM: Closing Keynote Remarks and Pitch Winner Announcement
2020 Speakers
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Jeff Hoffman
Jeff Hoffman is a successful entrepreneur, proven CEO, worldwide motivational speaker, bestselling author, Hollywood film producer, a producer of a Grammy winning jazz album, and executive producer of an Emmy Award winning television show.
EDUCATION TRACK SPEAKER
Leading Through Change
Mohamed Massaquoi
Mohamed is a former UGA and NFL football player who now consults on change management through his Atlanta-based company, Vessol. After surviving a life-threatening ATV accident in 2017, he was inspired to shift his career from wealth advisory to starting his own company.
Mohamed's practice at Vessol encompasses inspirational and motivational presentations, change- and action-focused workshops, and executive coaching. Vessol’s offerings are directed toward improving mindset, team culture, and the cultivation of lifelong learning that spurs desired change outcomes.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Jay Simons
In 2008, Jay Simons joined Atlassian (Nasdaq: TEAM) an Australian-based global software company and helped grow the business from virtually nothing to over $1.7B in annualized revenues represented by over 170,000 customers from across the world.
During his tenure as President, Jay helped pioneer the “Product Led Growth” software category whereby software businesses grow largely through product innovation, “land-and- expand” virality and online self-service. Atlassian is famously known for leading collaboration tools which include JIRA Software, Confluence, Bitbucket, Trello and JIRA Service Desk.
PANEL- BUILDING WORLD CLASS PRODUCTS
featuring:
Marty Osborn
Moderator, Founder & President of Advoco
Butler Raines
Chief Product Officer, SalesLoft
Michael Morrissey
CTO, FullStory
Javier Buzzalino
SVP R&D, Infor
Mark Essex
CEO of Netalytics
This panel will feature themes around building world-class products, such as:
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How to optimize for product/market fit in the product planning & building lifecycle
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How to best manage that "balance" between feature breadth versus time-to-market
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How to best incorporate competitive differentiation into product planning
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How to decide between what the market "wants" versus what it "needs"
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How to best manage legacy products and product debt
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How to measure product team and individual productivity
PANEL- GROW YOUR STARTUP
featuring:
Dru Armstrong
Moderator, CEO of Grace Hill
Sue Marks
Founder & CEO, Cielo
Jon-Michial Carter
Founder & CEO, Chartspan
Bob Youakim
Founder & CEO, Passport
Marty Osborn
Moderator, Founder & President of Advoco
This panel will feature lessons from a group of experienced founders who have grown their startup, including:
How they built, grew and evolved their winning teams
How they overcame obstacles and challenges to get to "the next level"
How they eventually arrived at the right "product/market fit", and what they did when things changed
How they *actually* built world-class products and services
How they've learned to turn upset customers into customer advocates
How they balanced being strategically focused with being flexible for a changing market
PANEL- BUILDING WORLD CLASS TEAMS
featuring:
Joe Schmidt
Moderator, Notre Dame football captain and MVP
Tajh Boyd
All-American QB, Clemson University
Jess McDonald
US Women's Soccer World Cup Champion
Bobby Cremins
former head coach, Georgia Tech
Back by popular demand is our second-ever World Class Teams panel! This year's all-star line-up:
Jess McDonald, UNC women's soccer national champion, Women's World Cup Champion in Paris 2019
Tajh Boyd, ACC Player of the Year, All-American, and all-time Clemson leader for passing yards and passing TDs
Bobby Cremins, legendary basketball coach, Naismith College Coach of the Year
The panel will be moderated by Joe Schmidt, walk-on to Notre Dame football and their eventual captain and MVP. Joe, a previously an investor at Silicon Valley's Accel and is now a top executive at Ethos Life, a Forbes top 50 fintech company he originally invested in.
EDUCATION TRACK SPEAKER
10 Key Steps to Raising Venture Capital
John Yates
Attorney at Morris, Manning, & Martin, LLP
John is an experienced and highly decorated attorney in the field of technology law. Practicing law for over 30 years, John has the opportunity to speak on hundreds of occasions and is also a top lawyer in the venture capital sphere. He's been quoted in publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and the Atlanta Business Chronicle and has been cited by the United States Supreme Court in Kodak v. Image Technical Services.
EDUCATION TRACK SPEAKER
Perfecting Your Pitch
Matt Dunbar
Managing Director, VentureSouth
As the co-founder and Managing Director of VentureSouth, Matt Dunbar has over 12 years of experience working with Angel investor networks. VentureSouth is an early-stage venture firm that provides early-stage capital to high-growth companies. As one of the largest firms in the U.S., its network comprises more than 300 investors and has funneled more than $45 million to over 70 companies.
