The Pitch

Michelle Kwok, an early-stage investor at Draper Associates exploring religion technology, follows Church AI from pitch to unexpected investment pursuit. The conversation explores AI-powered church operations, specialized faith-community data, pastor burnout, sales strategy, venture-scale potential, and the challenge of building software for a fragmented market. It culminates in a surprise $1 million offer and a $1.3 million raise.

Elizabeth Yin, venture capitalist and Hustle Fund co-founder, joins Cam Richardson, the New Zealand fintech entrepreneur behind Paysquad. Cam pitches a checkout tool for group payments across gifts, travel, baby goods, and sports tickets. They debate payment economics, merchant acquisition, viral growth, competitive defenses, enterprise distribution, and whether Paysquad can reach venture scale.

Dacia Leon, a biologist with a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, co-founded climate-tech company Super Cool Earth. She pitches natural-protein cloud seeding designed to make rain and snow, starting with ski resorts before expanding to agriculture, hydropower, and water districts. Investors probe the economics, ethical limits, scaling strategy, and whether weather technology can become a major business.

Tiya Gordon, a climate-tech entrepreneur and co-founder of It’s Electric, takes on the urban EV charging problem with curbside stations powered by nearby buildings. She recounts beating Tesla to Boston’s contract, navigating city infrastructure and exclusivity, and betting on dense-city charging for apartment dwellers, rideshare drivers, and autonomous fleets. Investors debate delayed revenue, municipal sales cycles, valuation, and the bold path from hardware deployment to scale.

Elizabeth Yin, a venture investor at Hustle Fund who backs early-stage startups, evaluates Ventrix’s fridge-sized CO2 plant. The conversation covers modular on-site CO2 units, target markets like breweries and e‑fuels, pivot from direct air capture, leasing economics and payback, manufacturing and IP risks, and investor term negotiations.

Natalia Salcedo, founder and CEO of PITS and serial founder who scaled marketplaces in Latin America, pitches a voice-AI that helps mechanics diagnose, quote, and source parts for 24-hour repairs. She discusses product tech, marketplace economics, distributor-led growth, rapid onboarding, international expansion, traction metrics, and fundraising momentum.

A season kickoff teasing a move from software to tangible startups. Discussions include hardware that helps blind people see and deep tech that aims to control weather. A look at ultra-bright lighting and surprising product categories like milk. Behind-the-scenes energy from live pitch-room investing and a new fund beginning to write checks.

Kavita Guy, co-founder and CEO building an AI classroom assistant for neurodivergent students. She chases a statewide California Community Colleges contract, bets the company on a verbal commitment, and navigates massive scaling, investor pressure, and a high-stakes Series A while turning a pilot into explosive revenue growth.

Jesse Middleton, seasoned VC with deep fund experience. Jamie Gin Lewis, founder of Wiggle Room building childcare management tools. Celine King, CEO of Greener creating fleet-level carbon accounting. Amaka Uchegbu, founder of Uche AI using barcode scans to inform textured-hair brands. They pitch fast on product, go-to-market, data integrations, revenue models, channel partnerships and scaling plans in rapid-fire conversations.

Marco Benitez, founder of Rook, built an API that integrates and cleans wearable data for insurers and hospitals. Elizabeth Yin, venture investor at Hustle Fund, asks sharp questions and evaluates founder-investor fit. They discuss Rook’s integrations, go-to-market, fundraising dynamics, runway concerns, and the importance of vibe and partner alignment in raising capital.