Bethesda Green To Hold Investor Pitch Training
Bethesda Green, the environmental sustainability nonprofit and business incubator, will hold its first Investor Pitch Training Program in June and choose about six entrepreneurs to pitch investors on their businesses.
The program, funded by the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development and the U.S. Small Business Administration, is open to tech and non-tech early stage green businesses in the D.C. area.
Bethesda Green’s business incubator has produced notable green businesses such as Rockville-native Zack Kline’s green landscaping company. Last year, Kline and other incubator businesses made their pitches as part of the Startup Maryland competition.
Applications for the new program are due May 17. Robert Snyder, Bethesda Green’s incubator manager, said its the culmination of the group’s six-month finance workshop series.
Entrepreneurs who apply should have sustainable products or services and a plan to grow. Those who have the most feasible ideas and best business models will be selected to pitch to a panel of four active investors for feedback.
For more information, visit the program website.
Bethesda Duo Debuts Car Repair Startup
A pair of Bethesda entrepreneurs are betting you’d like an easier way to find a mechanic when your car breaks down or needs work after an accident.
Zlatan Beca and Fred Yu, two area natives and Walt Whitman High School grads, have started Repair Jungle, a referral website that solicits bids from D.C.-area mechanics for those in need of car repairs.
Upon observing the explosion of internet and mobile app services for everyday tasks such as making dinner reservations or calling a taxi service, Beca and Yu said they went to family and friends for inspiration.
“The one thing that was pretty consistent,” Beca said, “was that car repair can be pretty frustrating.”
The two 35-year-olds, who met and became friends on Whitman’s JV basketball team in the mid-1990′s, have opened an office in downtown Bethesda with a team of six employees and plan to expand the service for mobile apps and into other markets nationwide.
