A Shark Tank-style entrepreneurial competition called BizPitch will take place at Georgia Southern University on Nov. 17th at 4pm. The competition is put on by a business consulting firm called SCORE. Three winners will be awarded $10,000 each to make their business dreams a reality.

The participants must be starting their business or have started it within the past 18 months. SCORE received 48 applications this year, and there was a diverse array of business proposals. Amy Shippy, who works for SCORE and is helping put on the event, said applications ranged from restaurants to theaters. 

“I love one of the businesses pitching called Colorized Music,” Shippy said. “She has taken classical music and colorized the sheet music so it can be played by color without knowing how to read sheet music. She is a finalist for us this year.”

Shippy isn’t one of the judges, though. There will be five judges who will choose the winners, and the participants will have to pitch their idea to those judges just like they do in Shark Tank. If you’re not familiar with the show, it involves entrepreneurs pitching a business idea to a panel of judges, and the judges can decide if they want to invest in that business. However, there will also be a large audience watching with this competition, so that ramps up the pressure a bit.

“What makes a good pitch is someone that is passionate about their business and understands how that business can fit into the fabric of our community,” Shippy said. “The winners always have a clearly defined vision and an understanding of their numbers.”

This is the sixth year BizPitch has been awarding local business owners these $10,000 prizes, and many businesses have been able to get off the ground because of it. Lisa Bettio, owner of Bettio Physical Therapy and Sport Rehabilitation, was one of last year’s winners. She said SCORE has been instrumental in not only helping get her business off the ground but keeping things going.

“We had sponsors that we could go see to help with different aspects of starting a business, whether it was PR work, website stuff, there was a lawyer service, accounting,” Bettio said. “All kinds of things that you need to take advantage of to start your practice and have people that have done it for a long time.”

Essentially, Bettio didn’t just get the money. People associated with the BizPitch contest helped her with different aspects of starting her business for free. Since starting her business, Bettio said she’s kept in contact with many of them and can reach out with questions when needed. Business is good, Bettio said. As for the competition itself, she shared it was definitely anxiety-inducing, but she enjoyed it. 

“It’s a good thing to go through. It’s a great learning experience. You get to meet a lot of people in the community that have been in my position,” said Bettio. “It’s created a new network to work with, and I can reach out to people.”

When Bettio ran into issues with her website or needed some assistance with public relations, she knew who to reach out to for help because of the BizPitch competition. Though the participants have already been chosen for this year, the competition will return next fall.

For more information about the competition and the upcoming event visit: https://www.score.org/savannah/local-programs/bizpitch-savannah

This article appears in Connect Savannah | November, 2023.