PitchSwap: karaoke for startup pitches organized by Brad Oyler has debut

The PitchSwappers were bombarded with questions all night.

“Who here is a hoarder?” “Who buys food and forgets about it?” “Who’s trying to quit smoking?”

At last night’s first ever PitchSwap, about 25 entrepreneurs and onlookers gathered at McGillin’s Old Ale House to pitch each others’ ideas in a friendly competition. The ideas ranged from wacky, like Better with Beards, a movement suggesting that everyone would benefit from growing a beard, to potentially useful, like Skin It, a daily peel-off iPhone case for germophobes.

The first hour of the event was dedicated to networking and finding a teammate whose idea you would pitch. Then the pitching started. No matter what the idea, when you’re in a bar, pitches that made the audience laugh reigned supreme.

Four judges, including Bob Moul of Philly Startup Leaders, chose winners in three categories: Best Delivery, Best Idea and Best Overall. “Best Overall” went to engineer Jared Shockcor and his teammate, for Shockcor’s pitch of Fickle, a box-of-the-month club for children who get bored with their toys.

Shockcor said it helped to go toward the end so he could see what worked and what didn’t. And of course: “Have a beer to take the edge off,” he said.

Event organizer Brad Oyler, who wanted the event to recreate the energy of the beginning of Startup Weekend, was happy with the turnout and said he’d plan for another one if he could find sponsors. Oyler has said entrepreneurs from other cities have already asked about hosting similar events there.