ACE'14 Expects Standing-Room-Only for Entrepreneur Exhibits, Seeks Entries For Elevator Pitch Competition
ANN ARBOR (WWJ) -- The Annual Collaboration for Entrepreneurs event is Michigan's premier business showcase for launching entrepreneurs and unveiling Michigan business startups and exhibitors to the growing Michigan entrepreneurial community.
ACE'14 will be held Thursday, Jan. 30 at Burton Manor in Livonia, and anticipates more entrepreneurs and exhibits than ever before, and more new companies introduced via the popular ACE Elevator Pitch Competition.
ACE'14 is an afternoon and evening event and is expected to be the best-attended ACE event in the organization's 14-year history.
Diane Durance, executive director at Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest and chair of the ACE'14 Planning Committee called the ACE event "a high profile forum where entrepreneurs and Michigan's business elite meet face-to-face. In the start-up world, speed is vital, and at ACE'14 important connections will get made fast."
Six applicants will be chosen to participate in the final ACE'14 Elevator Pitch Competition. The winner will receive media exposure, their name on the coveted ACE Pitch Cup, and will be awarded with a video of their three-minute pitch to be promoted on the ACE website at www.ACE-event.org.
Chris Holman, owner of the Greater Lansing Business Monthly and a veteran observer of Michigan's startup climate, called the ACE Pitch Competition "the Stanley Cup of regional entrepreneurship" and said ACE'14 promises to top them all with more and better business ideas, exhibits and a competitive line-up of innovative entrepreneurs.
New programming this year at ACE includes the New Enterprise Forum introducing a new format, the Pitch Pit, for entrepreneurs to find out if their pitching is up to snuff. Four lucky entrepreneurs will have an opportunity to stand in front of an investor panel and get their feedback on what was great and, more importantly, what wasn't so interesting. The four entrepreneurs get only four minutes to convince the panel and audience that they should win the cash pot on the spot.
Registration to attend is $25, and exhibit and partnership opportunities remain available. More at www.ACE-event.org.
