A brief overview of PitchTexas including 2017 event milestones, photos from the event, and future goals!

1. S X S W E V E N T P R E S E N TAT I O N

2. ABOUT THE EVENT
• 2018 will be our 5th year for PitchTexas!
• PitchTexas is 100% student led and run
• In 2017, 16 teams traveled from 8 different states and from
some of the United States’ top MBA programs to compete in the
semifinal round at McCombs for a chance to advance to the finals
at SXSW
• Recruited 20 judges to participate, many coming from well known
startups and tech companies in Austin
• Prize money is awarded to the top three teams to help fund their
startups, and all selected teams gain valuable exposure at SXSW
• Semifinal round of 16 takes place at McCombs, the top 4 teams
then advance to the finals at SXSW

3. SwiftTag Systems answering the judges’
tough questions on how they will
revolutionize the agricultural industry
Spared pitching their solution to changing the way we
pay off student loans to a packed house at SXSW!
NewsCart describing
their method of
mapping neural
networks to produce
unmatched content for
enterprise customers

4. The 2017 PitchTexas winning team from the
Vanderbilt Owen School of Business, NewsCart,
with our final round judges and McCombs
Entrepreneur Society organizer
Introducing the PitchTexas event at SXSW
2017 – a collaboration between Texas
MBA, the McCombs Entrepreneurship
Society, the Herb Kelleher Center for
Entrepreneurship, and SXSW!!

5. 2017 EVENT MILESTONES
• PitchTexas 2017 was the first time we:
– Had a record number of team applications (30) for the 16
semifinal spots (35% increase from 2016)
– Hosted the final round IN Startup Village @ SXSW
– Because of our prime location we had an attendance of over 70
for the final round
– Had the opportunity to be marketed in the SXSW programming
and mobile app to drive awareness and attendance

6. 2018 AND BEYOND
• Our goal is to grow the event in both size and notoriety to
reach a level of success comparable to the Rice Business Plan
Competition (multiple sponsors, significant prize money, twice
the number of competitors)
• McCombs Entrepreneur Society is seeking significant financial
and non-financial aid to reach our goal over the next 5 years
• Following discussions with SXSW, we hope continue to drive
awareness, funding, and resources for PitchTexas

7. WHY PITCHTEXAS?
• Austin is a hotbed for technology and entrepreneurship,
especially during SXSW
• UT is caught in the middle with a significant strategic
advantage, yet other MBA programs have a larger footprint
during the event
• UT continuously ranks in the top 10 for MBA programs in the
entrepreneurship category
• We believe PitchTexas could be a cornerstone event for the
university and SXSW to continue to draw entrepreneurial
talent to Austin