Two women who managed to each pitch a great business idea in two minutes have taken out the top prize at our first Rexona Clinical Women’s Agenda Pitch Off in Sydney last night.
They were Sarah Liu’s job-share matching business The Dream Job and Marnie Shanahan’s internship platform The New Kid.
Liu and Shanahan both addressed different challenges in the jobs market while pitching their businesses in front of a live audience, with the judges identifying synergies between the two and deciding to award a joint prize.
Our event partners will also support the two businesses, with both women offered 12 months office space in Sydney’s Darlinghurst from Viacom International Media Networks, a mentorship from Rare Birds, software package from Saasu and access to potential investors.
Their business development journeys will also be supported and followed by Women’s Agenda.
During her two minute pitch, followed by a further two minutes of questioning from the judges, Liu explained how that The Dream Job will offer a job share platform for individuals to access job share opportunities, and search for and be connected to job share partners based on their area of expertise and desired working arrangements.
Meanwhile, Shanahan explained how her business will provide a platform for young creatives to freely access credible and legal internship opportunities across Australia
Our judges including Pottinger CEO Cassandra Kelly, seriel entrepreneur and Rare Birds founder Jo Burston, and Nickelodeon VP Jihee Nam joined Women’s Agenda editor Georgie Dent to assesses and question each of the nine finalists.
All finalists were asked difficult questions on just how they planned to grow their businesses, how they would make money, why they were the right fit and how much capital they’d actually need to get started.
Guest speaker Shoes of Prey co-founder Jodie Fox encouraged all the finalists to keep pursuing their business ideas and passion, regardless of what rejection and adversity they encountered along the way. She explained that upon visiting suppliers five years ago with an idea to create a business in which women could design their own shoes, she was told she’d be “out of business in three months.”
About the nine finalists:
Marnie Shanahan’s The New Kid: JOINT WINNER
The New Kid is a platform for young creatives to freely access credible and legal internship opportunities across Australia.
Sarah Liu’s The Dream Job: JOINT WINNER
The Dream Job will be Australia’s first and largest job share platform through which individuals can seek job share opportunities, and search for and be connected to job share partners based on their area of expertise and desired working arrangements.
Georgia Christakos’s Resispecifier
ResiSpecifier is a building specifying tool assisting all of those in property development (from architects to home owners) in the specification and budgeting of fixtures, fittings, materials and colours for new buildings and renovations.
Sonali Hedditch’s Mudpie
Mudpie is a destination where parents and carers know they can always go to provide their child with imaginative and sensory play that stimulates brain development, while also nurturing parents and carers to build their confidence and comfort in parenting.
Amanda Westphal’s Prize Pig
Prize Pig is a contra promotions company that specialises in securing media promotions – without the media spend.
Emily Pearson’s Your Virtual Team
Your Virtual Team is an online portal connecting Australian small to medium size businesses (SME) to staff on demand.
Simone Perkins’s The Perch Project
The Perch Project provides a platform for purchasing advertising space via auctions along with a unique mobile app for consumers. It aims to fix the daily deals industry for hospitality venues.
Tahlia Mandie’s Congoe
Congoe is a professional networking app enabling people to make better connections and opportunities at the events they attend. It gives all event goers the sense of belonging to a professional community around a common event and interest.
Samantha Wong’s CapacityHQ
CapacityHQ is an online marketplace for freelance lawyers. It matches thousands of highly skilled home-bound lawyers with the need for law firms to reduce fixed costs from full-time staff, while still being able to flex up to meet increases in demand.
Check out the finalist videos.