Jillian Manus
Investor on The Pitch
Jillian Manus is Managing Partner of an early-stage Silicon Valley venture fund, Structure Capital. Branded “Architects of the Zero Waste Economy," they invest in underutilized assets and excess capacity. She was named one of the top 25 early-stage Female Investors by Business Insider in 2021. Jillian serves on numerous corporate and non-profit boards, these include: Stanford University School of Medicine Board of Fellows, NASDAQ Entrepreneurial Center Board of Directors, Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
#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…
#97 Secret Sauce or Snake Oil?
Today's founder had everything going for him: a huge market, loads of experience, and $70k in monthly revenue. But then, everythi…
#96 A Test of Time
It was three years ago, when Claire Coder went in front of our investors to pitch Aunt Flow. At the time, her startup was a very …
Give the Money Back
Should startups get money from the Paycheck Protection Program? Investor Jillian Manus says that for some startups, the answer sh…
#91 “If We Don’t Get the Money by Friday …”
In 2018, founder Cody Candee raised $150,000 on our show. He went on to raise over a million dollars in funding that led to extra…
#87 Uber for Pets
Last year, investors woke up to the fact that the biggest ridesharing companies still struggle to make money. But today’s founder…
#85 Will Coronavirus Kill This Deal?
There’s a tried and true playbook in tech: get a ton of users, then figure out how to monetize them. Today’s founder, Ofo Ezeugwu…
Jillian Manus on the Coronavirus and Startups
One of our most experienced investors gives advice for how a startup can survive in the time of the coronavirus. Jillian Manus sa…
#81 Jillian to the Rescue
During our last call-in show, Thor Wood wowed us with his 30-second elevator pitch for SnapShyft, a company that matches workers …
#73 Enough Sales Calls Already!
For businesses, the process of buying software is brutal. Founder Andrew Hoagland launched his company to make it a breeze. In fa…
#71 Raising Kids Is Hard. So Is Raising a Startup.
When founder Jen Saxton landed a partnership with a big name retailer in the baby industry, she thought her startup, Tot Squad, w…
#70 What Is Michael Phelps Jamming to Right Now?
What if you could listen to the exact same music as your favorite celebrities, at exactly the same time? That’s the question that…
When You Grow Too Fast
A little over a year ago, Xiao Wang came on the show to pitch his startup, Boundless. He told investors that his company was goin…
#69 When Less Is Not More
Founder Rahul Jindal might be the king of bootstrapping. And when investors see similarities between his startup, Hyde Closet, an…
I’ve Looked Death in the Eye
When he came on the show two years ago, Amado Guloy said his startup would change the business of animal agriculture. And the inv…
Fighting the 24/7 Startup Grind
Back in 2018, Margot Schmorak pitched our investors on Hostfully. It’s a startup that ushers old-style vacation-rental companies …
#66 Does Anyone Really Want Your Product?
Dennis Meng’s first company was a major flop. So he started another one that could’ve saved the first. It’s called User Interview…
#64 Startup Sale! 80% Off
Ramya Possett and Rachel Lee founded BlueFoot to make tracking the competition easy for massive companies. And they think that wh…
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…
#63 Can A Startup Solve Homelessness?
Jonathan Kumar pitches his startup, Samaritan, which aims to help people who’ve lost their homes. But can he convince the investo…
#62 Pivot or Die
Ben Walters came on the show to sell the investors on Feedback, an app that lets restaurants change their prices on the fly. But …
From Startup Novice to Veteran
After a stellar pitch on our show back in 2017 — one that got $100K in the first five minutes — founder Mike Slagh hit the ground…
#61 Can a Zebra Survive in a Unicorn World?
Jennifer Brandel of Hearken is pitching a new kind of business. She calls it a zebra: a company that’s driven by a mission — but …
#59 Disrupting Work Happy Hour
Ryan Husk wants to take your workplace culture up a notch. His startup, Culture Force, matches companies to “experiences” designe…
#58 Park Your Pooch Here
Chelsea Brownridge wants to help dog owners keep their pooches safe when they’re out running errands together. Her startup, DogSp…
‘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…
Is the ICO Gold Rush Over?
After a frustrating round of fundraising for her company PopCom , Dawn Dickson decided that VC was broken. She opted to take a di…
#53 Investors Get Feisty at Our Philly Pitch-off
This week, The Pitch is live from The Wharton School at the University of Philadelphia. Three of Philly’s most promising young st…
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. T…
#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 h…
#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 y…
#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 …
#47 Can This Tiny Gadget Keep Kids in College?
The college dropout rate is high, and schools are paying the price... to the tune of billions of dollars every year. Marquett Bur…
#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 investor…
#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, …
#43 Get This Party Startup in Here
Entrepreneur Julie Roth Novack says her party planning platform is exactly what event professionals have been missing. And it all…
#42 How Much Do You Trust Your Barista?
Cody Candee believes his company, Bounce, is the key to freeing us from the stuff we lug around all day. But can he convince inve…
#41 Can This Startup Help Retailers Take on Amazon?
Amazon is on track to grab nearly HALF of all online retail sales this year. But not if Chelsie Lee’s startup Shipsi has a say in…
#40 Three Startups Enter. Only One Will Leave.
At The Pitch’s first-ever live show, three startups face off: Honeyfi, a budgeting app for couples; CBlocks, a cryptocurrency sta…
#39 This Pitch is Damn Near Perfect
Stefan Loble wows the room with his near perfect pitch for Bluffworks, a company that makes travel-business attire. But is his co…
#38 A Beauty Industry Veteran Goes Rogue
Tina Hedges believes the future of beauty is all-natural, organic products. But the investors aren’t sure what to make of her foo…
#37 Can Tech Solve America’s Drug Crisis?
Founder David Sarabia’s experience with drug addiction inspired him to build an app, called inRecovery. It’s meant to help people…
#36 When Two Startups Love Each Other Very Much ...
Margot Schmorak says half of all vacation rentals aren’t listed online—and she sees that as a big opportunity for her startup. Bu…
#35 The Proof Is in the Pudding
Max Pouvreau has built gourmet pudding company Petit Pot with his Michelin star background and scrappy customer acquisition. Now …
#34 Can Storytime Become Big Business?
Max Tuchman is on a roll with Caribu, an app that lets parents and kids read together virtually. But can she convince investors t…
#33 What Is a Startup Actually Worth?
Jared Kugel needs a million dollars to get Tire Agent up and running. But things get tense in the pitch room when investors start…
#32 Is Immigration the Next Venture-Scale Business?
The U.S. immigration system is a bureaucratic nightmare. And it’s only getting worse. Founder Xiao Wang has a plan to solve that …
#31 Are Vending Machines the Future of Retail?
When you think of cutting edge technology, it’s unlikely vending machines pop to mind. But Dawn Dickson has a plan to change that…
#30 Can This Founder Reclaim Cocktail Hour?
Craft cocktails are all the rage—but they tend come with high price tags and long wait times. Swig + Swallow founder April Wachte…
#29 Could This Be the Next Airbnb?
When Tye and Courtney Caldwell were having trouble renting space in their salon, they thought: why isn't there an app for this? S…
#28 Is This Entrepreneur Ready to Take On Facebook?
Facebook is the undisputed king of social networks. But Cesar Kuriyama thinks his app, 1 Second Everyday, could topple the giant.…
#26 Dynofit
Maria Schneider wants to take physical therapy out of the clinic and into the home with the help of a small device. But is her te…
#25 Rex
When scientist Amado Guloy saw an opportunity to combine farm animals and big data, he traded the laboratory for the boardroom an…
#24 unGlue
The apps on our smartphones seem to be engineered for addiction. Alon Shwartz wants to fight this with an app of his own: unGlue.…
#23 Jiobit
After John Renaldi lost track of his kid on a trip to downtown Chicago, he vowed never to be in that situation again. So he creat…
#22 Investor FOMO: Lunar Wireless
Hunter Rosenblume is pitching Lunar Wireless, a company he co-founded as an answer to pricey cell phone plans. But getting invest…
#21 Metabrew
Romy Raad and her cofounder have created Metabrew, a healthy beverage they believe could replace your morning coffee. But can the…
#20 Harper Wilde
The founders of Harper Wilde want to take the B.S. out of bra shopping. That means convincing our investors that they’ve found a …
#19 Ghosted: Sandbox
When Sterling Smith left his job as a software developer to start Sandbox Commerce, he knew he had the skills to build great mobi…
#18 ROWViGOR
Co-founders Kevin Allen and Moses McCall think rowing is the next big trend in fitness. To cash in on their hunch, they need to c…
#17 Investor Spotlight: Jillian Manus
You’re probably familiar with Jillian Manus the investor — but in this episode, we dig in a little deeper to understand how she b…
#16 Qleek
After Ismail Salhi discovered his father’s old record collection gathering dust in the attic, he teamed up with Johanna Hartzheim…
#15 A Veteran Starts a Startup: Shift
When Mike Slagh left the military, he wanted to find a job in tech, but he couldn’t get his foot in the door. And then he found o…
#14 The Ghost of Startups Past: Tushy
Miki Agrawal made headlines with the success of her first company Thinx—until she became the headline. Now she's ready for a come…
#13 Meet the Investors
The entrepreneurs usually own the spotlight on our show. But venture capital is a two-way street. On today’s episode, we hear fro…
#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’…
#11 Tesloop
Haydn Sonnad pitches his plan to revolutionize regional transit on the back of Tesla’s electric charging network. But there’s a c…
#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 …
#9 Tuckrbox
Co-founders Meghan Carreau and Alex Payne are pitching their food delivery service built on noble ideals of making kids healthier…
#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…
#7 Shimmur
The social media landscape is a veritable graveyard of failed startups, but Matthew Peltier believes his company, Shimmur, is dif…
#6 Guru Games
Between classes, part-time jobs, and social lives, college students Evan Thomas and Troy Pettie have been moonlighting to build a…
#5 FITGuard
Concussions have cast a major shadow over contact sports, from youth leagues to the pros. But entrepreneur Anthony Gonzales think…
#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 …
#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 wa…
#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 …
#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…