Local entrepreneurs warmed up in the bullpen Friday before they get called into the big game in the next couple of weeks.
Some of the city's sharpest technology business ideas are in the running for development funding from the Innovation Central Society. One of the provincial initiatives administered through ICS is the B.C. Venture Acceleration Program, designed to accelerate tech concepts from the drawing board to the open market. Now that local vetting has been done, these startup ideas are in line for provincial evaluation, with investment money is on the line.
Each aspiring business had three minutes Friday to make their pitch to the panel of business development and marketing professionals.
"It doesn't matter what kind of business you are in, if you can't tell your story in three minutes, you have to go back to the drawing board," said ICS executive director Ernest Daddey. "You have to be ready to deliver your message to convince potential investors and potential clients to pick your product or service."
The entrepreneurs gave the professional panel their initial pitch on Friday morning, followed by a question and suggestion period. Each one then spent the day processing the experience. An evening session was then held to do the whole pitch over again, incorporating the points that emerged from the first session.
"An executive-in-residence will come here to hear the real pitches," said Daddey. "We want them to be as ready for that as possible. We want to have sure candidates for the program, because the more that are truly ready, the better the resources we can attract to Prince George to help get these concepts off the ground."
Daddey said he has been inspired and excited to see the tech innovations and the business talent that has come through his doors in the past eight months, the length of time the provincially-based office has been open in Prince George.
The names and sectors of the businesses taking part in the dry run were not disclosed, so as to protect early-stage proprietary information. Each business will become publicly identifiable based on their own developmental timeline.
ICS provides ongoing support for science-, technology- and data-based businesses, large or small, experienced or upstart. They are based in the Community Futures building downtown.
