Where real entrepreneurs pitch to real investors—for real money. The Pitch takes you behind closed doors and into the world of startups: how people sell their ideas, what makes investors tick, and how these initial conversations can bloom into business deals—or die on the vine. Hosted by Josh Muccio. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. New season begins February 2023.

Ismail Salhi and Johanna Hartzheim, co-founders of Qleek, have been through the wringer. They first pitched their company on our show in 2017, when an investment from a listener helped bring them back from the brink. Today we hear the rest of the story. Ismail shares the not-so-happy ending of Qleek and what it's like to pick up the pieces and try again.
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The Pitch

Qleek Pt. III: A Postmortem and a Comeback

This tale starts with a problem Kehan Zhou found when trying to buy a hobby farm. Zillow didn’t have good search options for land and LandWatch.com was even worse, so Kehan ventured off to combine computer vision technology and satellite imagery to create a new rural property search platform, Terrascope. But the investors wonder if this innovative technology is wasted on the wrong customer.
Today’s investors are Jillian Manus, Charles Hudson, Elizabeth Yin, Mac Conwell, and Neal Sáles-Griffin.
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Terrascope: A Computer Vision Tale

There are tons of companies popping up in the scheduling space now that Calendly is valued at 6 billion dollars. Everyone wants to build the next billion dollar calendar app, including David Matthews, founder of Dotcal. He thinks he’s created a scheduling platform that will take over the space. But will the investors place their bets in Dotcal or is the scheduling race already overbooked? 
Today’s investors are Jillian Manus, Charles Hudson, Elizabeth Yin, Phil Nadel, and Neal Sáles-Griffin.
If you would like to invest in Dotcal, go to pitch.show/dotcal
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Dotcal: The Calendar Wars

A few years ago, Claire Smith moved back to her family farm, where they practice sustainable farming, and created Teffola. It’s granola made with an ancient Ethiopian grain called teff, which is filled with lots of protein, fiber, iron, and calcium. The only problem is… no one’s heard of it. Is it too risky to invest in a business that needs to educate consumers on a rare ancient grain and on sustainable farming practices?
Today’s investors are Jillian Manus, Charles Hudson, Elizabeth Yin, Phil Nadel, and Neal Sáles-Griffin.
To try the 'Granola Guy Approved' snack yourself, visit pitch.show/granola
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Josh Muccio

The Pitch by Josh Muccio

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