The Pitch

Jack Walters, engineer and HapWare co-founder and CEO, presents a wristband that turns smiles, waves, and eye rolls into touch-based signals. Venture investor Elizabeth Galbut, co-founder of SoGal Ventures, weighs the company’s accessibility mission, early customers, hardware economics, and $1.5 million funding plan. They explore smart glasses, AI-driven social cues, and haptics as a future interface.

Serial entrepreneurs and game developers Jen and Luke Ritchie, creators of products for Pokémon GO, Meta, and Barbie, pitch Haiven, an AI safety layer for young gamers. They tackle predators, bullying, mental-health crises, and toxic in-game chat. Investors Ellie Bahrmasel and Mike Ma challenge the founders on indie-game reach, untested loot-based revenue, customer validation, and an $8.5 million valuation.

Ashley pitches Jubilees, a vegetable-enhanced chocolate milk designed to win over both picky kids and nutrition-minded parents. Investors dig into repeat purchases, retail momentum, margins, supply-chain plans, and the challenge of scaling from 2,000 stores to a national launch. Then they question whether a $100 million ambition is far too small, pushing Ashley to rethink the company’s ultimate potential.

Matt Cauble, the beverage entrepreneur behind Soylent and Kin, takes on his toughest audience yet: kids. He pitches Wonderade, a low-sugar, protein-packed juice designed to win over both children and skeptical parents. They explore clear pea protein, character-driven branding, retail economics, solo-founded startups, and the challenge of deciding whether Wonderade is really juice, protein, or an entirely new category.

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.