The video captures the inaugural Lift Pitch Tahoe event held at Sky Tavern Resort in Lake Tahoe, where entrepreneurs and investors are paired for rapid 7‑minute pitches conducted on a ski chairlift. Co‑founder Kevin Peterson explains the unique format: investors wear silver jerseys, founders wear white, and they meet in the lift line to ascend together for a brief pitch. Dr. Thomas J. Powell of the Founders Office and Sky Tavern highlights the event’s purpose of connecting capital‑seeking founders with ready investors, and notes that the Founders Office provided pitch coaching and resources. Multiple participants (Speakers C and D) share their experiences, praising the organization, the high‑quality network, the informal yet focused “elevator‑style” interaction, and the abundant networking opportunities both on the lift and in the lodge. The overall sentiment is enthusiastic, emphasizing the value of the format, the community built, and the intention to make the event an annual fixture and potentially expand to other resorts.
Chapters
Hey everyone, it's Kevin Peterson. I'm at Sky Tavern Resort in Lake Tahoe today, and I am co-founder of Lift Pitch Tahoe. This is our inaugural event where we are matching entrepreneurs with investors to pitch on a chairlift. It's a 7-minute chair ride, and founders and funders, they've never met before. They, they've got different color jerseys, so investors have a silver jersey, founders have a white jersey. That's how they identify each other and then run into each other in the lift line and go up the chair together, and they get a 7-minute pitch.
Tom Powell here, and I'm with the Founders Office, and just as importantly, I'm with Sky Tavern. And today we had just one of the most cool kick-ass events. And it was great because we had people who need to raise capital for their ideas to become real true businesses, and we had capital that was in the room looking to invest in those businesses. And this gave them an opportunity to actually have people in the audience who do invest in startup businesses. And so they were able to make those pitches on the ski lifts. Now you captured somebody on a chairlift and they want to hear more about what you do. How do you actually go through that process? So we gave the founders some ideas about how they could do that through our founder's office and through Kevin Kevin Peterson and his Mastermind. And so they could take those tools and actually be able to talk to capital and say, this is what I'm building, and would you like to go to the next step and learn more?
Today was incredible from the beginning to the very end with the way it was organized, and then the quality of people that are here— not even just the investors but the other founders. I've learned so much even after my first run. I'm like, if this is all I get today, it was worth every second.
Today's Lyft pitch was a really interesting take on pitching to investors. It felt a lot more like an elevator-style pitch and a bit more informal and personable. I really enjoyed getting to know the investor on their side. That way I could relate my product to them, and I think it was a really interesting interaction that left people on a cliffhanger because there was this time window that ended so quickly. There are a lot of people, a lot of interactions, even just talking to other founders and having other people to hear your story and hear theirs. There was a lot of communication and networking going on today.
I have had the best day, the most amazing day here at Lift Pitch Tahoe. It's such a creative environment with these unbelievable founders and investors and having a chance to pitch to one another. But more than anything, what I'm personally taking away is just the amazing conversations that we are having informally at a chairlift, on a chairlift, coming down a mountain, in the lodge. Just so many opportunities to network and to meet just super cool people doing amazing things. And I would highly recommend getting involved with this community of people because it's really, really amazing.
Lift Pitch Tahoe is not a one-time event. We will be doing this annually here. We're also looking to do this at other ski resorts around the country and even around the world. So get in touch with us and learn more about Lift pitch and lift cruise throttle.
