Howie Diamond // Pure Ventures
Investor on The Pitch Seasons 1, 4 & 10
Howie Diamond is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Pure Ventures, and early stage investment firm that also invests in the development of its founders. Also a musician, Howie founded and sold a music management/licensing company in Los Angeles called Lo-Fi Music. After that, he moved to San Francisco and began working closely with dozens of start-ups running business development for a Bay-Area tech agency called Sparkart.
Nov. 15, 2023
#125 Locker: The Future of Online Shopping
Online shopping was supposed to make things easier. But with so many options, it’s also made our shopping experience more fragmented than ever. Kristine Locker set out to fix that with her social shopping app Locker. However,...
Nov. 1, 2023
#123 Outlines: A Venture-backed Shower Curtain?
Luke Barkley Young was tired of two things: companies that don’t take responsibility for products they put in the world and moldy shower liners. So he created Outlines, a circular subscription for all your home essentials. Th...
Oct. 18, 2023
#121 Ride iQ: Peloton for Horses
Cofounding sisters Kinsey and Jessa Lux think they’ve found the next big opportunity in sports tech, audio lessons for horseback riders. But the equestrian market is way smaller than say, running or cycling. Is a passionate m...
Sept. 20, 2023
#119 Amateur Golf Society: Venture Capital vs. Private Equity
Dan Hershberg loves golf. So much so that he founded the Amateur Golf Society – a PGA-style tour that any golfer can participate in. The investors think his flexible tournament model is a hole in one. But things get complicat...
Aug. 9, 2023
Season 10: Deals, Dollars, Drama & YouTube!
We’re back for Season 10 with double the digits, double the deals, and double the drama. Your favorite investors return along with some new voices ready to shake up The Pitch Room. And for the first time ever, we’re posting n...
Dec. 9, 2020
#100 When Investors Take the Hot Seat
This week, we've got a show like no other. Instead of startup founders asking for money to grow their business, we hear investors Jake Chapman and Howie Diamond pitch their new venture capital fund. And they learn right away ...
April 17, 2019
FightCamp: A Name Change, A Game Change
When Khalil Zahar and Tommy Duquette first pitched their boxing workout startup, Hykso, the investors saw a big opportunity. They wanted to know: Could Hykso be more like Peloton, an at-home cycling system that was starting t...
Feb. 6, 2019
‘It Was a Disaster’
After a failed pitch on our show back in 2017, Industrial Organic founder Amanda Weeks was ready for redemption. And she found it, to the tune of $4.2 million. Now she’s back — with a lot to say about how much she and her bus...
Dec. 5, 2018
After the Pitch: Sudden Coffee
Back in 2016, Sudden Coffee founders Joshua Zloof and Kalle Freese tried to sell the investors on their premium instant coffee. Two years later, we checked back in with Joshua and found that Sudden Coffee is still working out...
Oct. 24, 2018
#51 This Bot Can Fight Your ATM Fees
Founder Paul Kesserwani says we’re all losing way too much money to fees — credit card fees, bank fees, ATM fees. And he thinks his company, Cushion , has the answer: A friendly bot that will battle those fees for you. Can he...
Oct. 17, 2018
#50 Ticket Scalpers, Beware! Blockchain Is Coming for You.
Why should you care about blockchain if you’re not a huge cryptocurrency nerd? Bandwagon founder Harold Hughes says it can help you score better seats to see your favorite team — and avoid the risk of walking up to the gate w...
Oct. 3, 2018
#48 Will This Space Startup Make It off the Ground?
Atomos co-founders Vanessa Clark and William Kowalski want to build a nuclear-powered spacecraft for moving satellites around in orbit. Can they capitalize on all the new money flowing into the final frontier — or will their ...
Sept. 12, 2018
#45 Whatever Happened to Virtual Reality?
Sophia Dominguez is on the show pitching SVRF, an augmented reality/virtual reality startup. But it can be tough to get investors excited about VR, which has attracted tons of hype—without much payoff. Can Sophia convince inv...
Sept. 5, 2018
#44 Is This Sports App the Next OpenTable?
Finnish entrepreneur Topias Soininen says his startup, Playven, will revolutionize the way people book tennis courts. But first, the investors have to figure out exactly what it is he’s pitching. Today's investors are Howie D...
Aug. 30, 2017
#12 "I Don't Need Your Money" Teamable
Entrepreneur Laura Bilazarian has an innovative solution for helping companies find great talent. But to convince investors, she’ll need to walk a razor’s edge between confidence and cockiness. Today's investors are Phil Nade...
Aug. 23, 2017
#11 Tesloop
Haydn Sonnad pitches his plan to revolutionize regional transit on the back of Tesla’s electric charging network. But there’s a catch: this entrepreneur has to run his company between English class and Algebra. Today's invest...
Aug. 16, 2017
#10 Sudden Coffee
Two entrepreneurs believe they have the secret to making premium instant coffee. Will their startup hold up to a taste test with investors? Today's investors are Phil Nadel, Jillian Manus, Jake Chapman and Howie Diamond.
Aug. 9, 2017
#9 Tuckrbox
Co-founders Meghan Carreau and Alex Payne are pitching their food delivery service built on noble ideals of making kids healthier and reducing headaches for parents. Can the founders convince investors that their startup will...
Aug. 2, 2017
#8 Hykso
Could a little sensor designed to measure punches be the next big hit in a long line of fitness fads? The founders of Hykso think so. Now they just need to last a few rounds in the ring with our investors. Today’s investors a...
July 26, 2017
#7 Shimmur
The social media landscape is a veritable graveyard of failed startups, but Matthew Peltier believes his company, Shimmur, is different. With a growing user base and a solid plan for revenue, he’s almost ready to go... all he...
July 19, 2017
#6 Guru Games
Between classes, part-time jobs, and social lives, college students Evan Thomas and Troy Pettie have been moonlighting to build a business they hope will bring millennials back into casinos. Will our investors be willing to t...
July 12, 2017
#5 FITGuard
Concussions have cast a major shadow over contact sports, from youth leagues to the pros. But entrepreneur Anthony Gonzales thinks he can fix it by putting a gadget in the mouths of athletes. Now he just has to convince inves...
July 5, 2017
#4 Skylights
David Dicko is bringing virtual reality to the skies. It’s an ambitious plan, and he’s going to need $1.8 million to take off in a punishing market. Will the investors trust his team to succeed where so many others have faile...
June 28, 2017
#3 Industrial Organic
Most of us stop thinking about our food scraps once we take the trash to the curb. Not so for Amanda Weeks, who started a food waste company designed to reduce harmful greenhouse gases. Now she just needs investors to get beh...
June 21, 2017
#2 iMirror
The hotel room hasn’t seen disruption since the addition of the television in the 1950s. Pieter Boekhoff wants to change that—by transforming what happens when we look in the mirror. But first, he has to convince investors th...
June 14, 2017
#1 Babyscripts
Juan-Pablo Segura has built an app that he’s sure will revolutionize the way expectant mothers receive medical care. But first he needs to convince a panel of investors to bankroll his plan—to the tune of a million dollars. T...