Darkness falls across the land, the Pitch Slam hour is close at hand, creatures crawling in search of fame, to terrorise Friedrichshain. And those who find great success, shall be hallowed as Berlin’s best, in a crowded place, with judges from hell, once having delivered their eerie hard sell.
It’s a sign of how quickly the festive scene approaches that the next Pitch Slam will be Halloween themed, and that such crap poetry becomes slightly more acceptable. The gloomy Theater Kapelle in Friedrichshain – complete with graveyard – will serve as the venue, and fancy dress is, of course, mandatory. Elsewhere KeyRocket are also holding an event, appropriately enough to celebrate Felix Baumgartner’s exploits, and NASA’s endeavor landing, with the launch of a Halloween balloon into the sky.
Despite the fake fang and face paint fun which will be in abundance at Pitch Slam, the event also promises an opportunity to improve your pitch to a panel of startup experts – Christoph Räthke, founder of Berlin Startup Academy, Holger Weiss, founder of Aupeo, and a third judge yet to be confirmed.
Following the usual Pitch Slam format, the quick fire competition will consist of three rounds each one minute in length, in which competitors must answer a specific questions: What do you do and why should we care? How would you execute growth? And, how will this impact society?
Sounds easy, yet they will have to defend their answers to the suitably terrifying judges. With this in mind, there’s a rehearsal running prior to the event on October 23, complete with professional actors and startup mentors, to sharpen up pitches.
Pitch Slam also promise the presence of vampire-like investors in the crowd. Applications for presenting are still being taken, and tickets for the main event on October 31 are available.
KeyRocket, the software company that aims to improve office efficiency, will be launching their balloon on October 30 at 6pm. Inside will be a toy mouse – banished to the skies for its negative effects on productivity.
The person that finds the balloon, once it returns to Earth, will find contact details to claim a €50 Amazon voucher. Hopefully this descent to the surface will be a little less dramatic than that of Felix Baumgartner.
There are sure to be plenty of other people g-hosting Halloween events – so have fun!