Samuel Adams announces Brewing the American Dream Pitch Room Wild Card competition

Small-business owners have opportunity to win $10,000

July 7, 2015

To continue to expand its coaching and mentoring program to small businesses across the country, Boston Beer Co.’s Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream announced a partnership with Entrepreneur Media to host the second annual Pitch Room Wild Card Competition. The virtual competition will be hosted on www.entrepreneur.com and allows small-business owners to submit a product sales pitch for a chance to participate in the in-person final round and pitch to a panel of expert judges and retail buyers, the company says.

The Wild Card is part of the larger Pitch Room Competition, which consists of regional events around the country, according to the company. Small-business owners pitch their products to a panel of expert judges and retail buyers in hopes of perfecting their sales pitch and advancing to the final round. The business owner ultimately chosen will be rewarded a $10,000 business grant and extended mentoring from Samuel Adams, it says. This competition is one part of Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream, its’ philanthropy program that supports small business owners from coast to coast.

How it Works
To enter the Wild Card portion of the competition, entrepreneurs with a food or beverage product, including craft brewers, are invited to upload a two-minute video of their best sales pitch to http://entm.ag/samadamspitch2015 from July 7 to 30. A panel of experts from Samuel Adams and Entrepreneur will judge the videos based on criteria including pitch quality, creativity, product viability and passion, the company says.

The Top 5 best video submissions selected by the panel will then be posted on www.entrepreneur.com, where the general public will be invited to vote for their favorite from Aug. 16 to Sept. 7. The small-business owner who receives the most votes for his or her sales pitch will be named the Wild Card winner and receive a trip for two to participate in the Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream Pitch Room finals this December in New York City.

"Samuel Adams and Entrepreneur share a common love of and commitment to innovation,” ," said Ray Hennessey, Entrepreneur.com editorial director, in a statement. “Last year, we saw an impressive group of entrepreneurs putting their hearts and souls into their products and businesses. We look forward to being able to foster the latest group of entrepreneurs through this great program."

Competition Finals
The Brewing the American Dream Pitch Room finals will bring together the Wild Card winner and the winners from four regional competitions in Chicago, San Diego, Boston and New York, the company says. Each participant will give their best two-minute sales pitch to a panel of expert judges, including national retail buyers, the editorial director of Entrepreneur.com and Samuel Adams founder and brewer Jim Koch. The judges will then provide constructive feedback for each small-business owner before choosing the best pitch.

"An impactful sales pitch will, time and time again, be the difference between getting a customer to say 'yes' versus a 'thanks, but no thanks,'" said Jim Koch, founder and brewer of Samuel Adams, in a statement. "I started out by bringing my craft beer from bar to bar, and sampling bartenders and drinkers. More often than not, I only had two minutes or less to talk to them about why my Boston Lager was better than what was available. We look forward to helping more small business owners get to the next level by improving their sales pitch."

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