The Hannah Grimes Center’s PitchFork program coaches entrepreneurs to pitch their business to a panel of investors and community members. At the PitchFork Spring Pitch on March 14th, three small businesses pitched their ideas to better their businesses and the community. Participants in the Spring Pitch were Eddie Gomez of Drum, Brenna Morris of Luna’s Herbal, and Todd Kilanski of Winchester Metal Works.
Eddie Gomez and his business partner Rory Hurley of Drum believe in strengthening communities and local economies by helping businesses and nonprofits share their story through high-quality, affordable video. Based in Peterborough, Drum is a full-service production company specializing in short web-based videos to feature on your site, email, and social media.
Brenna Morris of Luna’s Herbal won the PitchFork Challenge Idea Track at the inaugural event in September, 2018. Returning for the Spring Pitch, Morris offers hands-on herbalism workshops that empower people to make their own natural remedies. Through her work, she’s seen a demand for local medicine and wants to expand her business to provide locally-made natural remedies to the Monadnock Region.
Todd Kilanski of Winchester Metal Works – and winner of the Spring Pitch – created the Vehicle Undercarriage Rinser (VUR) to address the extremely high cost of repairing the corroding undercarriage of heavy equipment as a result of driving on salt-covered roads. Kilanski also works for the Winchester Fire Department where he saw the issue of undercarriage corrosion and found a solution. With 18 years of experience as a welder and certified machinist, he created the Vehicle Undercarriage Rinser to not only save the Fire Department money, but to proceed with the scalability potential of the product and help many others save money as well.
As the winner of the Spring Pitch, Kilanski will automatically move on to the semi-final round of the PitchFork Challenge in September. The PitchFork Challenge offers a $10,000 prize for the winning rural startup business, and a $1,000 prize for the winning rural startup idea.
Applications are being accepted for this year’s PitchFork Challenge now! Learn more about this opportunity and apply on the Hannah Grimes Center website.