Rush hour on a Friday night was no match for the hundreds of people who made their way to Mindspace Wynwood for this year’s The Big Pitch Night. Back for its third year, the event brought together five founders, a packed room and a judging panel moderated by Daymond John of Shark Tank. The night had all the ingredients of a Miami startup event: high energy, diverse pitches, big personalities and more than a few reminders that Miami is still having a moment.
John was joined by judges Erica Groussman, founder and CEO of TRUBAR; Maria Derchi Russo, CEO of Refresh Miami; Richard Lavina, CEO and co-founder of Taxfyle; and Amir Segall, chief operating officer of Mindspace. In front of them, five founders made their case, pitching their companies and answering questions. The lineup included SPACE, a smart safe startup; Globe Thrivers, a travel-planning platform that turns creator inspiration into bookable trips; Revel, a wellness-focused platform built around community and experiences; Lusaea, a therapy companion app; and Got Game, a video-challenge app for skill-based competitions. But the judges’ top pick went to SPACE, which Oscar Hedaya pitched as “Ring for safes.”
The winning pitch
SPACE is designed to give users more visibility into what is happening inside and around their safe. The smart safe includes exterior and interior cameras, multiple PIN codes and app-based alerts if someone tampers with it. The pitch was built around the idea that traditional safes have not kept up with how people monitor the rest of their valuables.
Hedaya [pictured below] pointed to burglary statistics to make the case for the product, citing figures that show the U.S. experiences a break-in every 26 seconds, 88% of which lead to theft, with the average burglary loss totaling about $2,800. He also said the company has sold more than 2,000 safes and is in active conversations with luxury hotels, where guests traveling with jewelry, passports, watches and other valuables could be a natural fit.
For taking home the win, Hedaya will receive a 30-minute consultation with The TAG Experience, a membership to Mindspace and access to Daymond John’s coaching program.
Advice from the Shark Tank stage
While SPACE walked away with the night’s top prize, the competition was only part of the draw. After the pitches, the room turned into a mini founder master mind with John answering questions about risk, timing, self-doubt and the unglamorous work of getting an idea into the market.
He advised founders not to wait for the perfect version of an idea but instead start with what they can afford to test, learn from the market and build from there.
“There’s nothing new in this world,” John told the crowd, making the case that many breakout products are not entirely new ideas, but sharper versions of things people already understand.
He also reminded founders that they do not need to be good at everything. When asked about what to do if you have a strong product but struggle to sell yourself, John answered, “you find somebody who is good at selling.” He pointed to technical founders and specialists (engineers, doctors, etc.) as examples of people who may be deeply focused on building or perfecting the thing itself, but less comfortable marketing it. The lesson for founders in the room was to know what they are good at and what they are not, and to build around the gaps.
John also gave Miami its recognition. When asked what the city has that Silicon Valley and New York do not, he pointed to culture, humanity and beautiful water. He then joked that compared with his hometown of New York, Miami also has the advantage of no snow and no “hot garbage juice.” The room left with a winner, gold nuggets from John himself and a familiar reminder that in startups, the pitch is only the beginning.
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anayansy@yansymedia.com.