Detroit's entrepreneurial tech community tends to get a bit excited when the Motor City-version of national events/competitions turn up. Daylong or weekend events centered on entrepreneurship like
TEDxDetroit and
Startup Weekend Detroit have strong followings even though they were started in Silicon Valley and Seattle, respectively.
One local entrepreneur is, Alok Sharma of
Studycache, is looking to create a signature entrepreneurial tech event with roots in Detroit,
Pain Pitch.
"I would love this to be a Startup Weekend thing," Sharma says. "I would love to see a Pain Pitch in every city."
The premise behind the event is to bring a couple of companies with tech challenges to the daylong event. There, they would be paired with local tech entrepreneurs who would come up with solutions for these companies' pain points. The idea is to play matchmaker with local tech entrepreneurs and companies that could become the first customer for a startup's new technology.
What separates
Pain Pitch from the rest of similar events is that it focuses on creating technologies and startups that tackle problems in urgent need of solving. That way, tech entrepreneurs would have more direction on what to make and wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel without having a customer waiting.
"There are too many hackathon-type events that don't yield anything that solves a real-world problem," Sharma says. "They are cool, but they don't do anything."
The first iteration of Pain Pitch is set to take place in mid-March in downtown Detroit. Sharma has a specific date and location in mind but is refraining from naming them until the venue is secured. For more information, click
here.
Source: Alok Sharma, founder of Pain Pitch
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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