Eosera, Inc.
Fort Worth-based Eosera wants to pay it forward — or is that pay it back? — by hosting the inaugural EmpowHERment Pitch Competition for female entrepreneurs.
The EmpowHERment Pitch Competition is an annual competition conducted during Global Entrepreneurship Week in November. Three finalists will be selected to pitch to a live audience, and three qualified judges will pick one winner to take home the $10,000 prize.
Applications are now being accepted until 11:59 p.m. Sept. 16. Go here to find the application, rules, regulations, and frequently asked questions.
“This competition is a way for Eosera to pay it forward to a community who gave so much to us,” says Eosera co-founder and CEO Elyse Stoltz Dickerson. “In this network, there are so many resources available for entrepreneurs that a lot of people don't know about. We hope, during Global Entrepreneurship Week, that entrepreneurs — especially female entrepreneurs —see how supportive our community is.”
Eosera’s partners in the endeavor include Simmons Bank, Satori Capital, Fort Worth Report, Tech Fort Worth, and UNT Health Science Center.
Founded by Dickerson and Joe Griffin, Eosera is a biotech company that develops ear-care products. Today, the company's products are available in more than 26,000 stores nationwide and online. One of its pivotal moments in getting to market was a pitch competition that Dickerson won.
Having collected “robust test tube data,” it was time for the company to run a human clinical trial, but the price tag of this part of research and development was $50,000.
It just so happened, Hollywood-type stuff was about to intervene. Dickerson saw an advertisement for a pitch competition in Dallas, hosted by the Dallas Entrepreneur Center and Comerica Bank.
The top prize: $50,000.
“This is where being an athlete and super competitive paid off,” says Dickerson, who earned 12 varsity letters while a student at Fort Worth Country Day, Class of 1993. “I went to my business partner and said, ‘I’m going to win that thing.’ I spent months on this eight-minute pitch. I ended up being one of the five finalists and got to pitch in front of a panel of judges, and we had literally eight minutes. It was a big room full of people and a panel of judges.
“I got up and pitched, nailed it, and we won the $50,000.”
Now Dickerson wants to give another female-led, Texas-based company a similar opportunity.
The EmpowHERment Pitch Competition application consists of perfunctory information about your business, five essay questions on a variety of topics relating to your business, and a 60-second video submission telling the judges what your business is, about your business, and what inspired you to start your business.