About the Small Business Pitch Contest
HarborOne continues to recognize the important contributions of small business owners and entrepreneurs in our community. It is rewarding to have the ability to support small business owners who are making positive contributions to the communities we serve.
Our 8th Annual Small Business Pitch Contest will take place September 28, 2023, 4:00pm-7:00pm, at HarborOne Bank, 131 Copeland Drive, Mansfield, MA. The event will include a reception with light refreshments, followed immediately by the start of the competition.
Application opens July 7. See full contest details below.
HarborOne Rhode Island Small Business Pitch Contest
Criteria
- Applicant must be 18 years of age or older.
- Business must be for-profit.
- Business must be located in Massachusetts or Rhode Island.
- Business must be in operation for two years or more.
- Annual revenue must be less than $1,000,000.
- As of the date of entry and through the end of the Contest, the business must be in good standing with the Secretary of State in its state of incorporation.
- Complete and submit online application.
- Complete and upload a Financial Summary.
- Applicants do not have to be a customer of HarborOne Bank to participate.
- HarborOne employees and immediate relatives** of HarborOne Bank employees, HarborOne Mortgage employees or HarborOne Board of Directors are ineligible (**Immediate relatives includes spouse, parents, children, grandchildren, stepchildren, step grandchildren, grandparents, step grandparents and siblings.)
- Past winners of HarborOne's Small Business Pitch Contest are ineligible.
Award
- $10,000 to a small business looking to accelerate their product or service.
How to Apply
- Application Opens - July 7
- Deadline to Apply – August 31
- Sample Application
Process and Notification
A selection committee will screen all entries and up to eight (8) applicants will be selected to “pitch” their idea.
- Applicants will be notified by email no later than September 12th.
- It is difficult to obtain detailed information about the selection committee’s decisions about the applications eventually chosen, so you should not anticipate detailed feedback if your business is not selected.
- Presentation will be no longer than 5 minutes and 5 slides in length. Presentations will be timed and once a presentation has reached its limit, the presenter will be asked to stop immediately.
- Participants will take part in a brief Q & A with a panel of business experts.
- The panel will then deliberate and select a winner.
- Winner will be asked to complete a W-9 tax form verifying their tax identification number.
HarborOne has additional small business resources to help you manage and grow your business. Visit Voyage for Business.
If you have any questions, please email us at info@harboroneu.com.
Take Your Best Shot
To assist applicants in preparation for their “Pitch”, HarborOne has a recorded webinar called “Take your Best Shot”, a virtual coaching session focused on developing winning pitches. We highly recommend watching this recording.
