What really happens at The Pitch

Hi friends,

A few weeks ago, I was in California filming Season 14 of The Pitch. Now that I'm back in New York and have had time to process it all, I wanted to share what it's actually like being in that room.

The Napa Experiment

This season, instead of the traditional conference room setup, we're on couches. It's more like a conversation than a formal pitch. The property was incredible, great views of Napa.

Out of 2,000+ applications, it was narrowed down to 18 companies. That's a lot of pitches over three days. Each founder gets about 30-40 minutes, and you're going from one to the next with barely a break. By the end of day three, your brain is completely fried, but it’s well worth it.

The Robot In The Room

The exhaustion actually helps in a weird way. When you're that tired, you stop overthinking everything and just react. Your pattern recognition kicks in harder. You know pretty quickly if someone has that mix of being completely obsessed with their problem but also able to zoom out and see the bigger picture.

I wasn't there for the robot pitch everyone's been talking about, but I did get to see AR glasses for cycling and some truly amazing bagels 😛.

$13.8M And Counting

The show has helped founders raise about $13.8 million over the last five seasons. Half from the VCs on the show and The Pitch Fund, half from listeners writing checks or joining SPVs. But honestly, the connections might be even more valuable. The show has 100,000+ listeners, and they're not passive. They reach out to founders with introductions, advice, and potential partnerships.

Applications Open Soon

We're already planning the next filming for January. If you're building something and want to be on the show, applications will open soon. We're also looking for emerging fund managers who want to join as guest VCs. If you’re interested, hmu.

Hot Links

🎵 Splice's Kakul Srivastava Makes TIME100 AI List - Proud of Kakul for this recognition. She's been building tools with musicians, for musicians, keeping creators in control of their work.

📸 Camera Intelligence Closes $2M Seed - Congrats to Vishal Kumar and team (backed by Betaworks and Next Wave NYC). They're putting an LLM directly into a mirrorless camera lens. Voice-controlled content creation without the fragmentation of current tools.

🎙️ Applications Opening Soon for The Pitch - If you're a founder looking to raise, keep an eye out. January filming will be here before we know it.

If you're building something in New York and want to chat, hit reply or let's grab coffee.

Until next time,

Jesse