Forté Power Pitch Competition
Powering aspiring women entrepreneurs

Update: The live 2020 Power Pitch competition is cancelled. However, we are working on new ways that our community of women MBA entrepreneurs can share ideas and start-up best practices. More details coming soon!

Forté’s Power Pitch competition offers a high-profile, real-world challenge at the Forté MBA Women’s Leadership Conference where women-led teams present business ideas to a panel of judges. The spirit of the competition is to focus on ideas conceived and developed as part of the business school experience.

Selected finalists will be invited to participate in the Forté Power Pitch competition on Saturday, June 13, 2020.

How to Enter

The 2020 competition is now closed for entries. Please review the 2020 Forté Power Pitch Guidelines.

2020 Schedule

March 5, 2020	We are no longer accepting entries for the 2020 Power Pitch competition.
April 10, 2020	Deadline to submit online contestant registration form, Executive Summary, and quick Pitch video.
May 1, 2020	Forté announces finalists who are invited to compete in final competition at the 2020 MBA Women's Leadership Conference in Los Angeles.
May 8, 2020 by 12:00 p.m. CT	Deadline for invited teams to confirm commitment to compete.
June 13, 2020 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.	Finalists compete in the Forté Power Pitch Competition and participate in Awards Ceremony.

General Eligibility

The competition is for MBA students enrolling in or currently enrolled on a full- or part-time basis at a Forté partner school. This includes students who graduated or will graduate in 2020, and those who have confirmed their enrollment plans for the school's next enrollment date. Teams must be women-led and a majority of team members must be women (50% or more). A woman team member must present in the video pitch and in the live Power Pitch Competition.

Forté Power Pitch Presentation on June 13, 2020

Following the Round 1 review, 4-6 teams will be invited to participate in the Power Pitch presentation at the Forté MBA Women’s Leadership Conference in June.

The Power Pitch presentation should be based on information outlined in the Executive Summary and must be no longer than 10 minutes, followed by five minutes of Q&A from the judges. Finalists must be physically present and give the Power Pitch presentation live. No pre-recorded or virtual pitches will be allowed. Additional details will be provided to the finalists.

Prizes

$10,000 in cash prizes awarded. Additional details coming soon.

Judges & Consultants

2019 Power Pitch Judges

Stephanie Breedlove, Co-Founder Care.com Homepay and Author, Forté Power Break: Don’t Go It Alone
Janis Collins, Co-Founder, The Refinery
Barbara Clarke, Principal, The Impact Seat