Last Thursday, the 1st of November, I officially launched Start with Tinni! But how to announce to the wider Brisbane entrepreneurial ecosystem? Fortunately, River City Labs Friday Open House was on the next day! So naturally, I registered to pitch. I didn’t hear anything back. But I attended anyway and had a mild shock when my name was called to pitch. Good thing I love public speaking (you heard that right, folks). So got up and pitched away!

The reception was good, and there were many requests for my business card. But we’ll see how many of the leads from the event pans out. As for the other pitches, there were a couple of no-shows. But those who did pitch had some great ideas!

First there was Flight Suit and Monarc Global, who I heard pitch before during Startcon. Both of them are looking to change how we travel. Indeed, I hope they get together and collaborate because I think there is a lot of synergy between them. Flight Suit wants to make booking business travel easier, Monarc wants us all to fly like monarchs. I cannot think of anything more boss then flying private charter for business!

On the night, I was not the only one pitching a startup to startup business. The night’s drink sponsors were Innofy, who present themselves as intellectual property for innovators, by innovators. They are someone I will keep in mind when I have to deal with IP.

The last pitch I remember properly is Flood Mapp, who is building a predictive flood map with smart alerts support. I think its a great idea given the realities of climate change. This brings me to the pitch that was a practice pitch for an idea. I don’t remember the name of the gentleman who pitched. But he proposed an interesting idea involving giving away solar panels to densely populated cities such as Mumbai. The monetary model would involve selling excess electricity made from the panels, and by importing and incinerating garbage. But the garbage incineration, which would be used to make electricity when the solar panels aren’t producing enough, will be done in a clean manner. So there will be minimum pollution. I don’t know how possible it is but the idea is good.

The final pitch of the night was from someone looking to build a startup around the idea of local specials. I think the business is called "Local Specials” or something like. I don’t know. I didn’t catch the name and my conversation with the founder ended prematurely and so I wasn’t able to get more information about the business. Still, I think the idea has legs in regional cities and may be combined with a few other ideas around local marketing that I have encountered, he may be able to make something viable out of it.

Overall, it was a fun afternoon and I am very grateful that I got to launch Start with Tinni to a room full of applause! I will be taking out a casual membership of River City Labs in the coming year. So, this won’t be the last monthly pitch event I attend!