LOS ANGELES, Sept. 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — SCORE, the nation’s largest network of volunteer, expert business mentors, announced the three winning small business owners of its 60th Anniversary Pitch Competition held on Sept. 26 at The Kimpton Everly Hotel in Los Angeles, one of the host cities of the nationwide event. The competition is an avenue for small business owners to showcase their presentation and selling skills to industry experts, win funding and gain valuable knowledge and mentorship, all at no cost. More than 2,200 small business owners applied to participate.
The three winning businesses in the Los Angeles pitch event are:
First Place:
Diana Jarrar – Magic Dates (Los Angeles, CA)
Magic Dates, LLC offers innovative snack bites made from dates and other nutritious ingredients, such as walnuts and cacao. Inspired by Diana’s Syrian heritage, the products are designed to be healthy alternatives to traditional snacks, being plant-based, paleo, gluten-free and grain-free, with no added sugars. Popular flavors include Triple Choco Crunch and Salted Walnut Brownie. Diana earned the top prize of $20,000 for her pitch. She plans to use her prize to enhance inventory and production, establish affiliate influencer partnerships, fund pay-per-click campaigns on Amazon, and refresh the website with new imagery.
Second Place:
Jon Mowl – Play With ASL (Riverside, CA)
Play With ASL is an innovative mobile application designed to make learning American Sign Language (ASL) engaging and accessible through gamification. Founded by a Deaf entrepreneur, the platform addresses gaps in existing ASL education by combining fun gaming elements with structured language learning, catering to diverse learning needs. Jon earned $10,000 for his pitch, which he plans to use to enhance the app’s capabilities by developing additional educational games, integrating Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) standards for use in educational institutions, and improving user experience. Funds will also support marketing efforts and expand the app’s availability to Android devices, broadening its user base.
Third Place:
Brice Sokolowski – Vaucluse Gear LLC (Scottsdale, AZ)
Vaucluse Gear LLC specializes in innovative backpack ventilation solutions, including attachable ventilation frames, mesh sleeves and ultralight framed backpacks. The company aims to enhance comfort for backpackers by reducing sweating and increasing airflow, all while ensuring quality through American-made products. Brice received $5,000 for his pitch. He will use the prize to support the company’s research and development to advance the next version of their ventilation frames, helping accelerate the design process by six months. The funding will also aid in building brand awareness.
“Congratulations to the winners of our 60th Anniversary Pitch Competition event in Los Angeles,” said SCORE CEO Bridget Weston. “It takes ingenuity, passion and dedication for small business owners to succeed. SCORE is honored to provide mentorship and resources to our pitch contestants, just as we have for more than 17 million entrepreneurs over the past 60 years.”
As part of the pitch competition, contestants were matched with one of SCORE’s free, expert business mentors to guide them to prepare and deliver a compelling pitch.
Judging criteria included the effectiveness of the presentation, brand identification, uniqueness and viability of the product or service, the thoroughness of the business plan, scalability and any sustainability or social impact. Financials were also assessed on overall potential.
Shellie Peters, Head of Benefits and Charitable Giving at Global Atlantic, said “Global Atlantic is thrilled to support SCORE’s pitch competition and is committed to fostering the growth of small businesses that contribute to the economic landscape of this dynamic city. We applaud all participants for their creativity and determination and look forward to seeing their positive impact on the Los Angeles community.”
The 10 finalists from the Los Angeles event also included:
Donna Lee – R-YOLO (Harvard, MA)Max Goldberg – Shuki (Los Angeles, CA)Alejandra Garcia – Moon & Milk (Los Angeles, CA)Melody Brown – L&M Hair Company (Portland, OR)Chris Sward – LA Cleaning LLC (Lawndale, CA)Danika Frandsen – Baby Steps Concierge Nursing (Camarillo, CA)Anastasia Miles – The City Loo (Kirkland, WA)
In addition to Los Angeles, regional contests were held in Philadelphia on Aug. 28 and in Des Moines on Sept. 12. A nationwide virtual competition took place Sept. 17-19. The final event in the series will be held on Oct. 3 in Houston. In total, SCORE’s 60th Anniversary Pitch Competition will award $175,000 to 15 winning small businesses.
For more information or to download photos of the Los Angeles event, click here for the press kit.
To schedule interviews with winners of SCORE’s 60th Anniversary Pitch Competition, finalists, mentors, or representatives from SCORE, please contact teamscore@redbanyan.com.
To learn more about SCORE, request a mentor or volunteer to be one, visit score.org.
About SCORE
Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 17 million entrepreneurs start, grow or successfully exit a business. SCORE’s 10,000 volunteers provide free, expert mentoring, resources and education in all 50 U.S. states and territories. Visit SCORE at score.org.
Funded [in part] through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Media Contact
Maria Coder, SCORE, 954-379-2115, teamscore@redbanyan.com
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