In a new twist for our flagship event later this week, attendees at the Pioneers Challenge Top 50 pitching sessions on Thursday will be able to vote for which startup should get our ‘Community Choice’ spot in the Top 8 pitching on Friday. With this eighth and final spot being thrown open to a wider vote, it’s the first time our guests will get to play a role in the jury process.
Last year the Top 50 startups have pitched in eight separate tracks, with the winner of each – decided by jury – advancing to the final pitching competition. For Pioneers’18 we’ve shaken it up a little, with seven tracks for the initial pitching and one ‘Community Choice’ slot for a wild card startup voted for by the innovation community joining us in the Hofburg.
At the end of each of the seven pitching track sessions on Thursday, the audience at the Amplify Stage will be able to log on to sli.do and vote for the startup they think should advance to the final stage. The precise link they can visit in order to vote will be revealed to those in the room on the day.
The startup with the most audience votes across all pitching tracks, after the jury choices have been confirmed, will get the final slot in the Top 8. And it’s a big responsibility, considering just how high the stakes are for those eight startups who make it to the Arena Stage on Friday afternoon.
Once again the winning founders will earn themselves a networking trip to Silicon Valley, just like Pioneers’17 winners Stromkind last year. The one week program is customized for the winning startup, so that they can get the most valuable introductions and access to our Pioneers network.
In 2017 Stromkind had a workshop with Nancy Duarte of Duarte Designs, met Y Combinator partner Michael Seibel and had a meeting with legendary investor Tim Draper. They also had a meetup with Andrew Chen, Silicon Valley’s number one growth hacker.
In an additional incentive for the winning startup at Pioneers’18, our winner will get an automatic pitching slot at next month’s Techsauce Global Summit, with travel to Bangkok included.
Want to play your part in Pioneers’18 voting? Then grab one of the last tickets for the event here.
