Skip to main content

Entrepreneurs pitch their product, service during White House 'Demo Day'

Demo Day is normally done in the presence of wealthy Venture Capitalists (VCs) where entrepreneurs pitch (or demonstrate) their product or service idea in hopes of receiving funding (and recognition) to take their business idea to the next level.  

On Tuesday, in the first ever Demo Day, entrepreneurs pitched their ideas to the president of the United States.

President Obama with Demo Day entrepreneurs.  Photos/CD Brown.
The event brought together minority and women-owned businesses, a demographic that often faces more barriers receiving funding.

A study revealed that fewer than 3 percent of venture capital-backed companies have a woman as their CEO, while yet another study revealed that fewer than 1 percent have an African American founder. 

"We’ve got to make sure that everybody is getting a fair shot", said President Obama, "not leave more than half the team on the bench."

The president has received commitments from nearly 50 businesses to help level the playing field for minority and women-owned business.  

The administration has also worked with the Small Business Administration in its Startup In A Day campaign to help entrepreneurs with registering and applying for business permits and licenses.

A few businesses on hand during Demo Day included PartPicSword and Plough, and Cocoon Cam.

www.blueoak.com

http://www.cocooncam.com/

www.partpic.com

www.jerrythebear.com

www.facebook.com/asthma.wing


Demo  Day fast facts:  

§  Announcing 116 winners of two Small Business Administration prizes that promise to unleash entrepreneurship in communities across the country: the Growth Accelerator Fund for startup accelerators, incubators, and other entrepreneurial ecosystems; and the President’s “Startup in a Day” initiative that will empower mayors to cut red tape for local entrepreneurs.
§  Scaling up the National Science Foundation I-Corps program with eight new and expanded Federal agency partnerships, introducing hundreds of entrepreneurial scientist teams across the country to a rigorous process for moving their discoveries out of the lab and into the marketplace.
The independent commitments being announced today include, among others:
§  Expanding the response to the President’s TechHire initiative with 10 new cities and states working with employer partners on new ways to recruit and place applicants based on their skills, create more accelerated tech training opportunities, and invest in innovative placement programs to connect trained workers with entrepreneurial opportunities and well-paying jobs.
§  Over 40 leading venture capital firms with over $100 billion under management, including Andreessen Horowitz, Intel Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, and Scale Venture Partners, committing to specific actions that advance opportunities for women and underrepresented minorities in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
§  Institutional investors committing over $11 billion to emerging managers, including CalPERS and the New York City Pension Funds.
§  Over 100 engineering deans committing to attract and retain a diverse student body, building the pipeline for the next generation of American engineers and entrepreneurs.
§  Over a dozen major technology companies announcing new actions to ensure diverse recruitment and hiring, including Amazon, Box, Microsoft, Xerox, and others committing to adopt variations on the “Rooney Rule” to consider diverse candidates for senior executive positions.
For more Demo Day info click here.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

President Biden's EV Agenda

  Electric Vehicles   President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda is Unleashing a Manufacturing and Clean Energy Boom and Accelerating the Production of Affordable Electric Vehicles   As part of President Biden’s goal of having 50 percent of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030, the White House is announcing the first set of public and private commitments to support America's historic transition to electric vehicles (EV) under the EV Acceleration Challenge.   These commitments are part of President Biden's  Investing in America  agenda to spur domestic manufacturing, strengthen supply chains, boost U.S. competitiveness and create good-paying jobs. Because of President Biden’s leadership and historic investments, electric vehicle sales have tripled and the number of publicly available charging ports has grown by over 40 percent since he took office. There are now more than three million EVs on the road and over 135,000 public EV chargers across the country.     President

President Biden discusses America's economy during July 4th address to military families.

"Our Economy is the strongest in the world."  " . ..  Our economy is growing, but not without pain.  Liberty is under assault -- assault both here and abroad.  In recent days, there's been reason to think that this country is moving backward, that  freedom  is being reduced, that rights we assumed were protected are no longer.  A reminder that we remain in an ongoing battle for the soul of America, as we have for over 200 years.  4th of July photo courtesy of - the Internet. I know it can be exhausting and unsettling.  But tonight, I want you to know we're going to get through all of this -- for all that we have faced, that we are going to get through this, and look how far we've come.    We're reclaiming our way of life in a pandemic.  Vaccines are nearly available to every American, restrictions lifted, the Fourth of July together again at the White House.    And for all the challenges, America has the strongest economy in the world.  More people are wo

(OTR): The White House on Hamas Terrorist Attack

 Tip: long read. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 10, 2023 VIRTUAL ON-THE-RECORD GAGGLE BY NSC COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS JOHN KIRBY ON HAMAS TERRORIST ATTACKS IN ISRAEL   Via Teleconference 5:54 P.M. EDT   MR. KIRBY:  Good evening, everybody.  As you know, the White House has been closely following the situation in Israel, and the President has been actively engaged, regularly receiving updates on the latest developments from the national security team.  In fact, this morning, he met with members of the senior team -- including the Secretary of State; National Security Advisor; the Principal Deputy National Security Advisor; the Homeland Security Advisor, Liz Sherwood-Randall; and, of course, the White House Chief of Staff, Jeff Zients -- all to receive the latest update from -- from the morning.     He has also spoken twice with Prime Minister Netanyahu this -- over the weekend, certainly to express our deep sympathy for all those missing, wounded, and killed and to pledge