The Pitch by Gimlet Media - Real entrepreneurs pitch to real investors—for real money

Thank you @abadesi 🙌🎉🍾 The Pitch started its journey by launching on Product Hunt in July of 2015. And I credit this community for being that initial germ of audience that helped us learn as we tried desperately to figure out this whole podcast thing. So thank you 🙏 And I just want to say that it is SO DAMN COOL that 3 years later we get to come back here where it all started! So what's new?? The big change is that we now have live investments happening on the show. Which is crazy! It took us forever to find investors who would actually make commitments on the spot. But we did, and since then we've had over $2 million invested in startups on our show. Thanks to people like @sheel_mohnot, @NadelPhil, @ManusJillian, @HowieDelicious, @runvc, @DanielGulati, @nicoleverkindt, @mhyattspeaker, and @chudson for making it a reality. Why do this?? Because people need a place where they can go to learn about how VC deals actually go down. A place where startup veterans and kids in entrepreneurship class alike can come to learn from some of the smartest minds in the business. And here's the thesis behind it all: Everyone can talk till they’re blue in the face about the latest trends and what they're looking for in a startup, but something special happens when you put an actual startup founder in front of an investor. All of a sudden all the theoretical stuff goes out the window, and you get to see how decisions actually get made. It’s riveting stuff really. Anyway, perhaps I'm getting too passionate in the opener :) Oh, and I forgot ... the other big news is that in 2017 Alex Blumberg called to say that Gimlet Media wanted to pick up The Pitch! Which was a dream come true. Now we're a team of five working full time on the show, and we're on pace to crank out 36 episodes this year! 🚀 PS: I'd love to hear any feedback you have for the show. And if you have questions, please ask! I'll be around all day 😻

Josh--your vision and passion for the show have made it a reality. On behalf of The Pitch Nation, thank you! It has been a great experience for me to be one of the investor panelists on the show. I have met so many fantastic founders and have invested in several including Boundless, Shift and Lunar Wireless. I love being involved with The Pitch because I think we give listeners a true sense of what the fundraising process is like and how challenging it is to start and build a company. Each episode celebrates and honors the innovative entrepreneurs who are disrupting their lives to pursue their dreams. And I am honored to be able to advise and invest in them. Thank you, Josh, for pursuing your dream to give founders a platform to showcase the pursuit of theirs.

Congrats @joshmuccio on the amazing franchise you are building. To think The Pitch is at $2M+ in capital commits AND is still at Day 1 is truly awesome. As an early stage VC, my best investments have been in founders who come from modest means, who have never been entrepreneurs before (nor have a PhD from MIT), and who address complex problems with unique solutions. For startups that apply to be on the Pitch, expect Josh and his team to pay particular attention to you and your idea, to ignore the optics (and look beyond the Silicon Valley rut), and to give the best talent an opportunity to achieve their full potential. THAT'S what I love about being a judge on the show. Congrats again to Josh and The Pitch team for creating a valuable platform for the brightest entrepreneurs out there.

Hey Josh, what has been your favorite pitch on the show so far?

I’ve loved seeing Josh (and team) grow The Pitch from the days of The Daily Hunt to what The Pitch has become today. On top of the super inspiring journey, I love how The Pitch is bringing transparency into fundraising, which has knock on effects to lowering the bar and helping make VC money more accessible for all. Great job folks, and congrats on 3 years!

@joshmuccio I found out about @thepitchshow via listening to startup on @Gimletmedia. I loved that you were found out by Gimlet through a random email pitch to them. I tell my wife my cofounder that I live by the words that "the worst thing someone can say is no, so why not at least try." Anyways Love the show. I have 2 questions: Are the investors or founders at all compensated from Gimlet for their appearance on the show? The investors are like regular cast members. Or is it just a mutual agreement that both parties are there to hopefully close a deal and that in itself is worth their time? 2.) At what stage does a founder need to be at in order to get on the pitch? I see a lot of them are already raising money or have raised prior to coming on.

WTG @joshmuccio Your passion and desire to support founders is obvious in every single episode. You have truly created something special that has such a positive impact to the startup ecosystem. I always look forward to my Wednesday mornings to hear what is next.

I picked up The Pitch pre-gimlet and have enjoyed it from day one. It only keeps improving. This is one of my top goto podcasts when stuck in traffic. Entertaining and I tend to learn something in each episode on how either investors or entrepreneurs think and react.

Pros:

Real pitches to real investors with behind the scenes (anxiety!) and follow ups. Short form. Very polished.

Cons:

Investors can sometimes get on a tangent and miss the mark - but hey - that's the real pitch!

Can honestly say that @runvc intro to @joshmuccio changed my life. Happy to chat about Shift’s experience with any founders considering going on the show 😌🙏

Would love to hear it on google podcast too. Great job by the way, will try to listen some today.