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V O L . X X I X N O. X X V I I B A N K I N G / F I N A N C E / I N S U R A N C E M aine hosts a growing number of pitch competitions that offer cash prizes ranging from $5,000 to $50,000. e competitions are the culmination of programs available to help entrepreneurs at various stages of the startup journey. e prizes are just one piece of a much larger fund- ing ecosystem — but can play a vital, just-in-time role for small companies looking to buy that next piece of equipment, provide competitive wages or create mes- saging for a variety of audiences. How far the prize money goes to advance the busi- ness can vary. A common theme is that, while entre- preneurs are prepared to find funding through other avenues to advance their companies, the prizes are vital for getting them where they want to be more quickly. Strategic deployment as part of a carefully considered business plan is key. Another common theme is that, whether they win the cash or not, startups are never losers, thanks to the mentoring, consulting, growth strategies and connections that are often the most enduring ben- efit of the pitch competitions. Data security and messaging Helen Cohen, Jeff Borland and Aidan Blum of Portland startup ReachMyTeach LLC won the 2023 prize of $25,000 from Top Gun, a program of the Maine Center for Entrepreneurs. Founded in 2021, ReachMyTeach is a communi- cation platform making it easier for school person- nel to communicate with families in their preferred language. It also offers on-demand interpreters. ReachMyTeach has expanded significantly, pro- gressing from four school districts in two states in early 2022 to 32 school districts in seven states by September 2023. ReachMyTeach is now part of the founder resi- dency at the Roux Institute. Top Gun was its first segue into the organized entrepreneurial community. e founders allocated the winnings toward finishing projects that would other- wise would be done in-house or not at all, says Cohen. Some money was leveraged as a match for funds provided by Maine Technology Institute's Maine Entrepreneurial Resource Corps which ReachMyTeach used to hire a Maine-based mar- keting vendor. e prize allowed ReachMyTeach to fast-track development of its branding. "I realized we needed more clear and simpler messaging," says Cohen. For conference presentations, working with Fisher Creative in Portland, the result was user-friendly one- page flyers and revised banners segmented by sector — one for technology conferences and another for education conferences, for example. F O C U S The money allowed us to finish and optimize things that were already in motion but that were probably not going to be completed, either in the depth that they were or at all. — Helen Cohen ReachMyTeach Jeff Borland and Helen Cohen of ReachMyTeach LLC, which used a 2023 Top Gun prize of $25,000 to finish projects that would otherwise would be done more slowly or not at all. P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Cash awards from pitch competitions play a vital role in advancing startup journeys N OV E M B E R 2 7 , 2 0 2 3 28 EYE — on the — PRIZE B y L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r

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