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Capitalize convenes Bostonians at SXSW for Sunday afternoon pitch session

Posted by Scott Kirsner March 15, 2010 03:30 PM

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I'm sure quite a few entrepreneurs have pitched investors in bars. But I wonder how many have stood behind the bar, PowerPoint projected on a screen overhead, while two investors sit on barstools.

That was the set-up yesterday afternoon when Nicky Hajal, founder of Transissimo, participated in the Capitalize series of public investor pitch sessions at the South by Southwest festival. The series ordinarily takes place at the offices of VC firms around Boston, but the organizers put on a special edition at the Thirsty Nickel on Austin's Sixth Street. You can watch the video below, which features angel investors Dave McClure and Dan Martell sitting at the bar, asking questions and giving unvarnished feedback about Hajal's human-powered online translation service.

The gathering brought together an interesting sample of Bostonians (and a few New Hampshire-ites) who are here in Austin for SXSW, including Dharmesh Shah of HubSpot; Tim Rowe from Cambridge Innovation Center; Laura Fitton of OneForty; Jules Pieri of Daily Grommet; Blueleaf founder John Prendergast; Sim Simeonov of FastIgnite; Kabir Hemrajani from RiotVine; Betahouse's Jon Pierce; and Google exec Don Dodge.


The next Webcast of Capitalize, I'm told, will take place at Spark Capital on April 20th. Check the site for details.

tags Capitalize, Cort Johnson, Dart Boston, Jake Cacciapaglia, SXSW
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About Scott Kirsner Scott Kirsner was part of the team that launched Boston.com in 1995, and has been writing a column for the Globe since 2000. His work has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Newsweek, and Variety. Scott is also the author of the books "Fans, Friends & Followers" and "Inventing the Movies," was the editor of "The Convergence Guide: Life Sciences in New England," and was a contributor to "The Good City: Writers Explore 21st Century Boston." Scott also helps organize several local events on entrepreneurship, including the Nantucket Conference and Future Forward. Here's some background on how Scott decides what to cover, and how to pitch him a story idea.

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