We are pleased to advise that The Pitchies competition is being extended. We will be announcing some exciting news over the next week or so. In our rounds, we determined that pitch competitions of all sorts (live, taped, screencasts, mock and live again) were being held at many events. So rather than just holding another distinct competition, we will be integrating The Pitchies with another event to make it bigger and better.

The wind-up date had originally been scheduled for early November but the new date will be announced soon. Don’t miss your chance to enter for over $20k in great start-up prizes today!

Great networking event tonite at Crush for the young, and like yours truly, young at heart entrepreneur. Shout out to Small Business BC’s Jaeger Mah for putting it together and Dean Barbour for his entertaining take on Perfecting your Pitch. Dean made very relevant points on the fact that you are always pitching so have your message ready. Ask questions, don’t just sell.

Another nugget was the importance of listening and information gathering - not to sell the audience something but to try and connect them to someone within your network. Pay it forward as it were! Us old guys know the true value in that. Ok, Dean’s still young but you can take in his well worth it presentation at Small Business BC’s seminar series. And here’s 10 tips on perfecting your pitch from Dean captured earlier on fundfindr.tv.

And, insert shameless plug, if you want to learn more on funding your small business, attend the Funding your Small Business Seminar next week, as well! I know, I will be.

The attendees were placed in groups for a networking game built around coming up with a team pitch for a “product” provided in a secret box. The talents of the students and entrepreneurs was put to full use creating “grey lamps” for eliminating the grey areas of networking events, a happy face bucket for turning housework into a joy and our team’s amazing transformation of an elastic, staple puller, ink stamp and tape into a pair of Jaeger Mah designer blue jeans! And don’t forget you can still enter to win over $20k in prizes for your real business by entering your video pitch in The Pitchies competition!

The event also marked the launch of Enterprize 2009, Canada’s largest student led business plan competition by Boris Remes and the Enterprize team. Look for much more on Enterprize upcoming on fundfindr.tv and for coverage of last year click here. This year’s event includes a very cool pre-event Imagine It as part of Canada Entrepreneurship Week and Global Entrepreneurship Week with shades of the networking game - check out this well done video well worth the watch.

Boot strapping your business or thinking you need some direction in accounting, marketing, IT, web design, or any other day to day task of running your business? Well fundfindr’s The Pitchies competition is coming into its second month with over $20,000 to offer our finalists. We’ve teamed up with some cool local sponsors to give you the goods:

A SaaS-based platform that streamlines the lifecycle of websites - empowering users to: 1. Build websites simply 2. Manage content seamlessly 3. Optimize results effectively

A Vancouver-based consulting firm that helps companies build strong and capable leaders, retain and develop top talent, create viable long-term strategies, and build energetic, driven, aligned teams.

Jouta Performance Group provides services to both companies and individuals, including all levels of HR support to help businesses create infrastructure to attract and retain quality employees, and personal coaching to help individuals excel in their personal and professional lives.

QCDocs Systems Inc. delivers a comprehensive process and accounting document management solution designed specifically for small to mid-sized companies. Our team comes from a wide range of backgrounds, including professional accounting, IT, software and web development. We combine our different areas of expertise to build the best solution for automating and streamlining business and accounting processes.

A privately owned company with operations across Canada. We are focused on delivering comprehensive computers solutions to small and mid-sized businesses for an affordable flat monthly rate. Being a small business ourselves allows us to be far more flexible to meet the unique needs of our customers. No two businesses are alike, and we recognize this. All products and services are tailored for your business.

Analytics Marketing provides sales, marketing and other business development coaching for early stage businesses. We take responsibility for not only creating the marketing roadmap, but for making sure it is implemented. We focus on insuring the most important first sales are completed, best practices are implemented, and the best permanent sales and marketing hires are made.

Tandem is part of a new breed of accounting practice that takes a hands-on role with its clients to address accoutning and administrative requirements when and where you have them. Tandem’s services are tailored to each client’s needs whether that entails bookkeeping or contract controller and CFO services.

A west coast law firm providing legal services to local, regional, national and international clients from offices in downtown Vancouver and Langley. We represent a broad spectrum of business enterprises, institutional clients, insurance companies and individuals.

Webnames.ca is Canada’s original domain registrar and a one-stop convenience for the online needs of individuals, small businesses, nonprofit organizations and corporations. Pitchies competitors can save $25.00 at Webnames.ca by simply entering the code word ‘Pitchies’!

Techvibes.com provides an easy-to-use platform for technology professionals to share ideas, recruit key employees, and build stronger industry alliances.

Have you submitted your pitch to The Pitchies competition yet for your chance to win over $20k in prizes? Our experts want to see the finest new innovations so get your webcam or videocamera in action. We are just coming up to the announcement of our first semi-finalists so simply enter your pitch in our Compete section after you have uploaded it.

We also wanted to share some more background on the stellar judges we have lined up for the big November event where the Expert Pick winners will be announced. Plus, don’t forget to get your network voting for you for the People’s Choice Awards!

2008 Pitchies Judges - Bios

Basil Peters , Angel Investor, Entrepreneurial CEO, Fund Manager

While still in grad school, Basil co-founded Nexus Engineering. Nexus grew to seven companies with over 300 employees with operations in Hong Kong, Jakarta, London and five Canadian cities.  Basil is currently the manager of the Angel Fund Fundamental Technologies II.  Full bio

Greg Wolfe, Executive Vice President, Operations of SAP-Business Objects

Greg Wolfe is responsible for managing SAP-Business Objects operations and ensuring customer success in the Americas and EMEA. Wolfe has a strong track record of success in creating and managing high-growth and customer-obsessed organizations. Full bio

Mike Desjardins , Driver, Virtus

Mike is the Driver of Virtus and Past President of the Vancouver chapter of EO - the Entrepreneurs Organization. A graduate of UBC’s Commerce Faculty with a specialization in Marketing. Mike also spent three and a half years as the President of Purity Water Treatment Products. Full bio .

Robin Chakrabarti, Vice President, Corporate Development of T & M Group of Companies

The T&M Group have over 30 years of experience investing in, acquiring, building and growing profitable businesses, including Boston Pizza, Mr. Lube and Global Entertainment. In 2005, Robin was named one of BC’s top 40 businesspeople under 40. See Robin’s profile on Linked In

Ron Bertram, General Manager, Nintendo of Canada Ltd.

Ron Bertram is the Vice-President, General Manager for Nintendo of Canada Ltd . He is responsible for all of Nintendo’s business activities in Canada. Under Ron’s stewardship, Nintendo of Canada’s business has quadrupled in size to over ½ billion dollars. More bio here.

Ron Moravek, Chief Executive Officer, Sitemasher

Ron Moravek’s extraordinary ability to identify business opportunities and execute business plans made his joining Phil Calvin a natural next step in Sitemasher’s development path. The results-oriented, creative, high-energy leader comes packaged with an inspirational, fun and empowering management style. Full bio

Thomas Hellmann, B.I. Ghert Family Foundation Professor in Finance and Policy, Sauder School of Business University of British Columbia

Dr. Thomas Hellmann is a Professor at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia. He holds a BA from the London School of Economics and a PhD from Stanford and teaches executive, MBA and undergraduate courses in the areas of entrepreneurship and strategic management. Full bio

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Sitemasher was one of 14 exclusive companies selected for the Innovation Showcase at Software 2008 in Las Vegas April 29th and 30th. According to Software 2008, “The Innovation Showcase is the stage on which the most exciting companies can present their solutions to a top tier audience of industry leaders.” With a PR blitz of videos, podcasts and press releases, this year’s Innovation Showcase companies will be in an outstanding position to garner attention from key CIOs, software and SI partners and venture capitalists. In addition, 20,000 Interop attendees will have access to the Showcase presentations!’ (Full story)

Coming off an enthusiastic run at The Innovation Showcase, Sitemasher has teamed up with fundfindr by sponsoring The Pitchies competition: 6 months worth of free Sitemasher subscriptions — a great prize for entrepreneurs out there looking to build a website or rebuild a better one! Sitemasher’s CEO, Ron Moravek, has also jumped on board as one of The Expert’s Pick judges. Judges joining Ron include the GM of Nintendo, Ron Bertram and Thomas Hellmann, Entrepreneurship Professor at UBC. Check out Ron’s own Sitemasher pitch.