photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Christopher Niles Enneking participates in the 1st Annual Pitch Competition hosted by the entrepreneur group Douglas County CORE on Friday, April 21, 2023.

Kalin Baca had a presentation with a detailed drawing of a two-story device that her startup company has designed to recycle complex refrigerant chemicals. She followed it up with spreadsheets that showed the audience multimillion-dollar projections for the nascent engineering firm.

Christopher Niles Enneking had a slightly different pitch style for his startup, which is in the fantasy sports world. With a ponytail and bare feet, Enneking darted around the room with energy reminiscent of his days as an offensive lineman for the Jayhawks in the 1990s.

Yes, different styles were on display for the 1st Annual Douglas County CORE Pitch Competition on Friday.

What was important, though, is that they were on display at all.

The competition at the KU Visitors Center was a rarity for Lawrence. A dozen early-stage entrepreneurs were invited to pitch their ideas to four seasoned entrepreneurs. The businesses deemed to have the best pitches received a share of $20,000 in grant money that Douglas County CORE — a nonprofit that advocates for new business startups — had raised.

Similar to the television show “Shark Tank” — without the sharp teeth — such events need to become a part of the Lawrence business scene if the area hopes to become a true hub for innovative startup companies, said Kyle Johnson, a founder and organizer of Douglas County CORE.

“It is essential,” Johnson said.

Not only is the art of a business pitch the way many startup companies end up convincing people to invest in their venture, the process itself is critical to helping entrepreneurs get much-needed feedback on their ideas.

“Certainly the more feedback, the earlier in the process, the better it is going to be for the entrepreneur,” Johnson said. “Having smart people listen and ask questions will just help the entrepreneur develop at a much faster rate.”

Baca has no doubt that is true. A doctoral student at the University of Kansas, she is part of a team of KU researchers who have developed the technology and the business — Icorium Engineering Company — to recycle refrigerants in new ways to combat global warming.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Kalin Baca participates in the 1st Annual Pitch Competition hosted by Douglas County Core on Friday, April 21, 2023.

Friday was not the first time Baca has made a formal business pitch. It actually was a skill she started learning at her former university in New Mexico. When she came to KU as a doctoral student, she knew entrepreneurship was part of what she wanted to pursue.

“I started searching around three years ago for these types of things,” Baca said of when she arrived in Lawrence, “and they didn’t exist yet. I’m really excited to see it start to happen.”

Business and community leaders are too, Johnson said. A couple of KU entities and several private donors provided the $20,000 in funding for the contest. It is part of a bigger strategy to make the Douglas County economy more prosperous. More startup companies — especially those in the research and tech arenas — are seen as a key to producing more jobs and incomes. We reported back in June 2021 on the formation of Douglas County CORE, which is a nonprofit that calls itself an “entrepreneurship enabler.”

Johnson is the owner of a promising local tech startup, Bixy, that has raised significant amounts of money. He thinks Lawrence can become the type of place that can attract the attention of investors who like to fund startups, but the community is not doing so currently with any regularity.

“We have to build our pipeline,” Johnson said. “We are not going to have funding opportunities if we don’t build our pipeline and get companies that are fundable.”

Getting companies fundable includes getting them to a point where their ideas and numbers sound feasible and appealing to investors. Enneking — the former KU football player who is working to create the fantasy sports firm StatsDraft — said Friday’s event was a big motivator for him. The event gave him a deadline to get materials gathered, presentations created and forced him to think of his venture in new ways.

“Because of this, I now have the thing I can take to people and talk to them about my idea,” Enneking said. “I wouldn’t have had that if they hadn’t set a deadline, created some guidelines, provided a template. It has been a great learning experience.”

Johnson said the idea is that the experience will continue.

“This isn’t a one-time event,” he said. “This is the beginning of building a network of entrepreneurs that we can help.”

But Friday’s event by itself did provide some lessons. Enneking got to the end of his presentation, and the judges wanted to know what his “ask” was — in other words, what does he want to receive. He said he really was just trying to gain knowledge about the process.

“That’s sweet,” one of the judges said, “but you really should be asking for a grant.”

So, there’s a lesson for you: If there is money available, always ask for it.

(Information about grant winners from Friday’s event wasn’t available as of Friday afternoon.)