OI! Spring Forward Plan and Pitch Contest

Live Pitch Contest November 18th

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The Spring Forward Plan and Pitch program is for people who have launched a small to mid-sized business within the last 5 years. The business should demonstrate a serious commitment by the Founder to establish a full time enterprise that will financially support the initial team or individual, is likely to employ persons in addition to the initial team or Founder as the business grows, is committed to becoming a “force for good” in the community which it serves.

Who should apply:

Founders of businesses that have launched at least 1 year ago, but not more than 5 years ago, who acknowledge their business is underperforming their expectations and are disappointed by:

(1)     the rate of revenue growth, and/or

(2)     rate of customer acquisition, and/or

(3)     customer retention rate and recurring customer transactions/revenues, and/or

(4)     rate of introduction of new products/ services (serving existing or additional markets)

Your initial business performance has given you confidence that there is a market for your product or service, but you are surprised or disappointed, that your customer base and transactions volume and individual size, have either stalled or are growing too slowly. You are committed to “fix” this and have an idea of what should be done but are not confident enough, or believe you lack the resources, to move forward with your solution.

Ideas for growth could involve a new go-to-market strategy, a new product or service idea, or a revamp of the business team and operations.

Program Description: A six-week Program that offers

(1)     3 classes/workshops on root causes of stagnation, the strategy behind go-to-market decisions, organizational / team structure, and the insider’s guide to pitching

(2)     3 individual coaching sessions to assess and strengthen business ideas and assumptions, including a focus on crafting a persuasive, crisp, customer centric, value proposition statement, which aligns the solution with the identification of the problem (the cause of revenue plateau)

(3)     2 practice pitch sessions (see below: virtual and in person sessions) Selection of 5 final pitch participants from initial cohort of 10

(4)     1 in-person pitch contest for up to a $10,000 prize to help you move your business forward

Timeline:

Application Opens: September 10, 2025

Application Closes: September 30, 2025

Virtual Cohort Meetings: October 14, 21, 28 (Tuesdays in October + Open Office hours Thursday evenings)

Individual coaching sessions will be scheduled after October 1.

Practice Pitches: November 2 – 17, two individually scheduled virtual pitches

Final Pitch Contest: November 18, evening in-person session starting at 5pm

Application Process

*Each section should be no more than 250 words. If accepted, you will refine, revise and tighten your plan, associated resources needed execute and industry / market knowledge with the help of coaches / mentors.

**If you have a pitch presentation, we encourage you to submit the presentation with your application. Please email: OssiningInnovates@gmail.com

All eligible applicants will receive a 30-min interview. Interviews will be conducted virtually and scheduled on a rolling basis.