I'm a big believer in the benefits of shared experience.  Group education through practice is a major contributor to communities of all kinds, and the tech and entreprenural communities in Charlotte, NC are no exception.  I've been working to show that through Charlotte Startup Weekend for two years, and now I'm helping co-produce a monthly event hoping to carry that momentum on throughout the year.So many events in our city aimed at benefitting our early-stage entrepreneurs are competitions: SEED 20, Charlotte Shapers, Charlotte Venture Challenge, the NC IDEA grant, the Chamber's Power Up Challenge, Startup Weekend.  North Carolina in general, and Charlotte in particular, love their contests.  We all want to make sure that our young, high-potential startups face scrutiny to make their businesses stronger as early as possible.  One of the problems that creates, though, is that there's almost no way to simulate these situations in an environment that is not crucial to your company.  Why make important engagements with potential investors or customers impossible to practice?Only events I help produce are foolish enough to have me on stage unsupervised, but I'm not so foolish to trust myself in the entirety.  Vic Howie, founder of the US Whitewater Center, will be on stage with me for the duration of the series.  Vic came to me with the notion of providing a stage for entrepreneurs to practice their demos to an audience in the morning in a friendly but structured environment.  This format has been very popular in Baltimore, and I've made no secret of my impression that such an event is needed in Charlotte's ecosystem.  In addition to the audience, we're planning a cavalcade of star panelists to review the pitches and offer constructive feedback.  It promises to be light-hearted fun and interesting networking along with a morning coffee and bagel.  As with other events in this series, this event will be free of charge.  I hope you'll consider joining us for the inagural event featuring these pitches in addition to what will be our standard program.   WomadzThe TorchReward Summit BONUS: We're going to have a big announcement regarding our second event, which overlaps with the Southeast Venture Conference being hosted here in Charlotte.  Attendees of this free event will have priority seating for that event next month! General Admission 0.00 I'd like to pitch! 0.00 I'd like to sponsor! 0.00