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V O L . X X V N O. V I I A P R I L 1 , 2 0 1 9 14 B A N K I N G / F I N A N C E F O C U S North Spore Mushroom Co. won $150,000 in pitch contests last year — capital that was injected into the business to use for growth. Pictured is one of the company's mushroom growing labs at the Westbrook headquarters. P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY grow YOUR BUSINESS How pitch programs prepare start-ups for traditional funding B y L a u r i e S c h r e i B e r L ast year North Spore Mushroom Co., a Westbrook startup, won top prizes in back-to-back com- petitions — $100,000 in Greenlight Maine's entrepreneurial pitch contest and $50,000 in Gorham Savings Bank's small business competition LaunchPad. e cash was great, says co-owner Eliah anhauser. It paid for additional equipment, new hires and needed infra- structure. It positioned the company, which produces mushroom-growing kits that are sold on Amazon and elsewhere for $25, for the expected launch of a new value-added food product. "e competitions were incredibly helpful," says anhauser. "ey gave us capital we wouldn't have otherwise been able to access all at once, which we injected into the business to use for growth." Even more valuable was learning how to prepare for the pitch contests. "It's a good way to think about your business," he says. "I saw it as an opportunity to refine how we present our business to the world for future pitches, whether that's to a bank or investors or anyone else." Competition organizers and spon- sors find the same value. "While the prize money is the car- rot we dangle, by the end of the first day folks are pretty convinced they'll get more than they could possibly hope for, before the pitch competition, in the form of skill-building," says Alex Birdsall, organizer of Mount Desert 365's Business Boot Camp & Pitch Competition, which started in 2018 and offers a judges' award of $7,500 and audience award of $2,500. "is pro- gram elevates the level of hard business skills you need." A leg up Competitions, along with mentoring and training programs, are designed to provide a leg up to startups and early businesses as they travel the path from bootstrapping and sweat equity to becoming bankable and investable.