Launch KC Partner Hosts Demo Day, An Event to Help Start-Ups Get Funded

Think Big Partners, an early-stage business incubator, startup accelerator and mentorship-based collaborative network, hosted its very first Demo Day on Wednesday, August 28th at the Think Big Partners loft in the Crossroads Arts District.  Demo day is the opportunity for startups to get in front of angel investors and venture capitalists and pitch their ideas with the hopes of getting funded, or at the very minimum, making strong connections.  Think Big founders, Herb Sih and Tyler Procnow, have played a key role in LaunchKC, Kansas City’s strategic initiative designed to attract and develop IT entrepreneurs and professionals to the thriving information technology community in the Crossroads Arts District and throughout Kansas City.

We watched eight entrepreneurs stand solo on stage in front of 85+ investors, community leaders and startup enthusiasts and energetically “pitch” their idea – in only 8 minutes.  We later learned that many of these entrepreneurs practiced for weeks to deliver the perfect pitch.  For them, the journey toward Demo Day started long before working on a pitch.. it started when they decided to turn their idea into a business.

Four of the presenting startups went through the Think Big Accelerator program and others utilized the benefits of Think Big Coworking space. All received guidance and mentoring by Think Big Partners in order to be prepared for the Demo Day event.  It is worthy to note that these eight presenting entrepreneurs built, grew and launched their new startups right here in Kansas City.

Although the ultimate goal of Demo Day was to connect entrepreneurs with investors and funding, another goal rose from the gathering of so many passionate and energetic people: an increased number of collisions.  As mentioned by Herb Sih during opening remarks, the reason that companies get funded and that more jobs are created is because of increased collision density.  The term “collision density” is the level of collisions made between entrepreneurs, investors and connectors in a single area.  The higher an area’s collision density is, the more quickly and efficiently innovative development can occur.  Increased collision density was just another much anticipated outcome of Think Big Demo Day.