From the idea to the action: 5×5 Night
What would happen if at a one-night event, you tell your idea of a business to a group of people, including a selected group of judges who they decide that they want to help you financially to make this a reality?
That’s what happens in the Start Garden’s 5×5 Night competition. This competition originally ran for one year in 2011, but it was stopped in 2012 “to make room for” Start Garden, which was making $5,000 investments every week into startup ideas.
We ran 5×5 Night for a year in 2011, then stopped in 2012 to make room for Start Garden, We believe there needs be a very accessible funding source (or funding sources) for people to take action with their ideas.
When Start Garden stopped making those $5,000 investments in 2015, 5×5 Night was brought back.
The premise of the 5×5 competition is very easy: interested individuals and future entrepreneurs submit an idea for a business, which is then reviewed by a committee, which eventually selects five to pitch at the monthly competition. The five individuals selected will have five minutes to pitch their idea, using five slides to support it, to the public and to a team of five judges selected by Start Garden. After all five ideas have been presented, the five judges vote on the one they feel has the best potential to succeed. The selected individual receives $5,000 to invest in their business idea.
The Start Garden team realizes that the entrepreneur community of Grand Rapids is not limited to one language or one ethnicity, and that there is an opportunity to engage Hispanic entrepreneurs from the community. Early in 2016 the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of West Michigan held a 5×5 Night competition completely in Spanish with simultaneous English translation. This immediately inspired Start Garden to do one; their thinking was that anyone in the hispanic community was interested in pitching an idea in Spanish – because they felt more comfortable doing so – because they felt would resonate deeply with a predominantly Hispanic audience and judges, the 5×5 Night competition should be made available to that entrepreneur. This set an important precedent and plans for 2017 include another 5×5 Night in Spanish.
In February 2017, the 5×5 Night competition will return to LINC (corner of Madison and Hall in Grand Rapids) and In April in the Downtown Market. The idea of intentionally moving the competition into different communities and venues brings out new entrepreneurs Start Garden has not met, and provides the opportunity to a larger, diverse group to participate.
Anyone interested in learning more and getting involved, and maybe pitching an idea, can visit www.5x5night.com for all the details, including requirements, submission deadlines and event dates.
Start Garden organizers aim to continue supporting entrepreneurship in the community as a way to build a better community. Do you have an interesting idea? 5×5 Night is waiting for you!.
Haz clic para leerlo en español:De la idea a la acción: 5×5 Night
