If you couldn’t make it to the PitchSlam at Naturally Boulder Days, fear not! I furiously tried to write down as much as I could, and below is my summary. It all happened so quickly, an it is entirely possible that I misspelled names of people and companies. Let me know if any corrections are needed. Also, please note that for most products, I wasn’t able to jot down “organic” “local” “gluten free” “chemical free” etc…but for the most part it’s safe to assume that these products are all made responsibly.
Each presenter got 60 seconds to describe their company to the panel of four judges. After the pitch, the judges gave their thoughts and advice for about a minute, and then gave either a thumbs up, neutral, or thumbs down rating. Pitches listed in order of appearance. Enjoy!
Product: Cookie dough
Catch phrase: “When you buy 3, we plant a tree”
Moderators comments: “Looking at his package, what would you tell him?” (crowd cannot control our laughter)
Judges advice: package needs to be able to identify the brand from 15 feet away
Final Score: 2 up, 2 neutral
Will’s Organic - Tom Kellogg
Product: herb garlic dressing mix. Dry mix, just add olive oil, vinegar, water.
Judges advice: it’s hard to get your product into supermarkets with only 1 product…develop a few more dressings, and you’ll get a better response
Final Score: 3 down, 1 neutral
Product: sunscreen soap “sunscreen simplified”, nothing else like it, spf 10 - $7.99
Judges advice: potential perception issue…people think soap takes things off, but this leaves sunscreen on (pitcher reminds us that most soaps actually leave a residue)
Final Score: 2 up, 2 neutral
Oogave - Stephen Anson
Product: soda, no HFCS, sweetened with agave nectar
Notes: Natural soda market frowing, 35% in 2008. (Side note: Stephen could have a good career as that guy who does the promo voiceovers for all hollywood movies)
His quotes: 5280 magazine said he could be the “the next Izze”, ”I’ve made every rookie mistake in the book”
Judges advice: “you’ll fit in perfectly, you’re pushy”. Issue with using agave as a sweetener, people aren’t used to that in a soda. It is unique, distribution is tough. Brand has legs, and could go other places.
Final Score: 4 up
Goodebar - Chuck & Tori Roosevelt
Product: “power twinkie” or “snack cake”, organic, gluten free, egg free, wheat free,
moist, unlike other bars
Judges Advice: 95% organic….go all the way? You get built in marketing with a gluten free product, new packaging needed. Be worried about competition down the road. Bars are REALLY competitive. Maybe package like a twinkie to differentiate yourself from being just another bar?
Final Score: 1 up, 2 down, 1 neutral
Overseas Connection - Steven Karowe
Judges advice: love it, make sure product you are selling is what people want (I’m not going shopping with that bag…not right size). Love product, love story - think about channels of distribution…grocery stores might not have space, and it’s $29.99…more than people often spend there
Final Score: 2 up, 2 neutral
Boulder Soupworks - Joseph Carroll
Product: Organic, fresh, gluten free soup sold in clear, see-through reusable containers to be sold in supermarkets.
Quote: “Bring back the truth in soup”
Judges advice: Like the idea and look, and you’ll have to put in in the prepared food case or dairy case (which is most expensive), be in the food service area instead - airports, bagel shops. Product is “on trend” but huge distribution challenges.
Final Score: 3 up, 1 neutral
Anilla - Hank Lourie
Product: over 100 natural, personal care products, anti aging, acne, etc
Quote: “merging health care & beauty care”
Judges advice: how do you get your message out? Sounds like you are selling a category, not a brand
Final Score: 1 down, 3 neutrals
Product: cocoa with lots of fancy ingredients, even mushrooms! $10.99 for 12 oz.
Quote: “we put the mojo back in the cocoa”
Notes: 2 million hits per month on their website?!?
Judges advice: narrow down the message, love the packaging (it’s rice paper)
Final Score: 3 up, 1 neutral
Product: the “un-tv dinner”, just grab it and a few items from produce (I think?), take it home, and encourage your children to help and be educated in the process.
Judges advice: Love it, significant need for this, can’t quite envision the product. Loved the story, what is product? It will work if you’re willing to stick with it.
Final Score: 4 up
Hope Foods - Kristen Carmen
Product: gluten free pizza and pasta in the frozen foods section made by celiac chefs.
Judges advice: Name might not be right…I want delicious, not “hope” (name represents giving hope to celiacs). I need more information, what are products (she almost ran out of time before getting to the product descriptions).
Final Score: 2 up, 2 neutral
Nusa Yogurt
Product: local, all natural, hand crafted, gourmet australian yogurt in clear packaging
Judges Advice: concept is great if it can emulate rise of greek style yogurt, if you can make people buy it, it can work.
Final Score: 3 up, 1 down
The Wholesome Gourmet - Lulu
Product: delivery service of prepared organic foods, “heat, eat and enjoy”. She does a 15 minute consultation with you in the beginning, and from that point on she makes the meals for you, without having to choose or make specific orders. Serving boulder & metro denver
Judges advice: It’s great, assuming the price point works. Healthy convenience, logistically it’s daunting to scale this service, to make this work will be really hard, but what you’re doing is right
Final Score: 1 up, 1 down, 2 neutral
Simply Boulder culinary sauces - Seth Mandelsohn
Product: agave sweetened cooking sauces
My notes: he sells these at the Boulder Farmers Market, and they are awesome.
Judges advice: healthy convenience. Great “tweener” category.
Final Score: 2 up, 2 neutral
Crystal River Organics - Doug
Product: nude food bars, mostly raw, gluten, soy free, nutrient dense, twice size of larabar or clif bar. They have been used for meal replacement in a weight loss program
Judges advice: bar category is tough, have you done trademark work? “I don’t understand product”. Moderator questions his claim that there aren’t already existing savory nutrition bars?
Final Score: 2 up, 2 neutral
100 Mile Burger - Ira Leavetag
Product: fast food restaurants (burgers, hot dogs, fries, etc) will all local ingredients
Judges advice: love the local idea, but it is a retail concept, but it will fail or succeed on location and execution. Love the idea, it’s all about execution, price point, taste and service. Work on the name! (100 mile burger)
Final score: 3 up, 1 neutral
Laisha - Sharon
Product: some sort of lotion, cream to support good breast health.
Quote: for “moist perkier breasts”??!? (no, I did not make that up)
Judges Advice: very interesting, good target for the internet? (discrete purchases)
Final score: 2 up, 2 neutral
Adava Foods - Julia
Product: gluten free snacks and baking mixes
Judges advice: growing sector, lots of demand, about whether you have a good product, brand building. Don’t sell the category, sell the brand.
tyle="font-weight:bold;">Final Score: 2 up, 2 neutral
NA Plus Ultra Foods - Nelson
Product: heirloom, artisan salts
My notes: Nelson never even said what his product was till after the pitch was over!
Judges advice: gap in that people don’t understand nuances between regional salts, consumer education problem
Final Score: 1 up, 2 down, 1 neutral
Lila Films Inc - Deborah Fryer
Product: A documentary on Parkinsons, that it is often caused by environmental pollutants.
Judges advice: Great idea, connect products, information and education, get financing through partnerships of likeminded people
Final Score: 4 up
Product: none technically, it’s an online shop that sells natural products to a national and international audience. Pet care, household, baby care, nutrition, etc… “just in time” inventory
Judges advice: buy stuff over the internet is a proven market, but can you target the whole world as your market?
Final Score: 1 down, 3 neutral
Gourmet PB&J - Steve
Product: the name says it all, a gourmet peanut butter and jelly sandwich shop with total ingredient transparency
Judges advice: “so wacky I kinda like it, doesn’t make sense, but somehow it does, I like it but I’m not sure why”
Final Score: 4 up
Spice - Justin
Product: organic roasted nuts, selling directly to coffee shops as a point of purchase snack
Judges advice: taste great, like the name, design…you need a good package and a good price point, you need it in airports and Starbucks, etc
Final Score: 4 up
Product: necklace prayer beads hand made in Bali
Slogan: “wear peace”
Note: nametags for the conference were attached to these necklaces, so most attendees wore them for the entire day
Judges advice: like product, story & vibe
Final Score: 4 up
Dog Popcorn
Product: natural popcorn in malls and high traffic areas like stadiums & arenas. Product produced locally everywhere.
Judges advice: like the product, people want simplicity…
Final Score: 3 up, 1 neutral
And the winner is:
Stay tuned for more in depth analysis.
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Great recap - We missed the first half of it so it was interesting to see what we missed. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for the recap! I wanted to make it the event and couldn’t. Your summary was the next best thing to being there.