It's a neat concept that is literally bringing the elevator pitch to a new level. Last Thursday, 100 start-ups gave their best pitch to a panel of judges while taking the 58-second elevator ride to the top of the CN Tower.
The event is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to practice and perfect their elevator pitches, and is the first in a series of pitch events taking place in the world's most famous and tallest skyscrapers. The Elevator World Tour will commence in New York's Empire State Building, Chicago's Sears Tower, the Seattle Space Needle, Taipeo 101 in Taiwan, Paris's Eiffel Tower, Dubai's Burj Khalifa, and the Hammetschwand Life in Switzerland.
"The main goal of the event wasn’t to have a start-up do a million-dollar deal based solely on their trip up the tower, but to give entrepreneurs a chance to polish their pitches and make key connections, said Mark Relph, an executive with event sponsor Microsoft Corp."
Toronto's
Mejuri, a platform that allows jewelry designers to upload original designs that are then manufactured, marketed and sold by Mejuri based on crowdsourced votes, won the contest. They took home free passes and paid travel to the International Startup Festival in Montreal in July where they'll compete against the winners from the other participating elevator cities. The Startup Festival are the organizers of the Elevator World Tour.
The entire experience is being filmed as part of a documentary called A Total Disruption by award-winning American filmmaker Ondi Timoner.
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Original source: IT Business