Can you Flip the Pitch?!

Can you imagine coming up with a product and then having to pitch it in front of a group of total strangers? This is what we ask our BUILD students to do every day, yet it is not often that we put ourselves in their shoes.

That’s where BUILD Boston’s annual Flip the Pitch event comes in! On November 16th, we hosted a group of BUILD supporters including corporate sponsors, individual donors, passionate advocates, and even a couple of people completely new to BUILD.

At the event, we gave these individuals a picture of a former student product and asked them to come up with the product description, price, expansion plan, and everything else they’d need to gain an investor. All in 15 minutes!

After the teams devised their pitch, they presented it to our two alumni student judges, Joshua Ramgeet and Franciliana Barbosa. Franciliana is a junior at Providence College, and Joshua is a Sophmore at Northeastern University. Both are enjoying their college experience and were thrilled to donate their time to continue to advocate for the BUILD Boston program.

During the pitch time, the audience was introduced to a terrific variety of products including hot sauce, a hairbrush, a travel pack, and a gift tag. All the presentations were fantastic and exuded the true enthusiasm and passion we emphasize here at BUILD. But there could only be one winner…Our alumni judges decided the best pitch was the holiday tags! Perfect item for the time of year!

We all had fun flipping the pitch and allowing different groups of individuals to come together and experience the courage that our young students show as they go through our curriculum.

Each year BUILD recruits hundreds of volunteers and mentors to support our high school entrepreneurs. These volunteers are the backbone of our program and provide valuable feedback and coaching as Shark Tank-style judges, secret shoppers, venture advisors, and more. We are happy to continue to allow our members of the BUILD Boston community to participate in Flip the Pitch events and develop a deeper understanding of our student works! I hope you can join us for our next session!