TEXARKANA MAGAZINE
Jesse Darby-Tillis II presents his idea to the 2022 Pitch It Texarkana judges.
I magine if Texarkana, USA, were a magnet for talent and entrepreneurship in our region. Bright young minds would see a tangible path to success after graduating from our schools, local businesses would have no shortage of eager and industrious recruits, an infectious startup culture would permeate our community, and hometown ingenuity would start to look a lot more like big city innovation. Pitch It Texarkana is a collaborative effort to turn strategic thinking into strategic doing. Born out of a desire to foster new business opportunities in Texarkana, USA, this grassroots project— an entrepreneurial idea audition—aims to inspire go-getters who have dreams of starting their own companies and introduce them to community leaders who could be instrumental in helping turn their dreams into reality. Lesley Ledwell Dukelow was, and continues to be, one of the driving forces behind the initiative. “Pitch It Texarkana all started from Leadership Texarkana’s Strategic Doing Initiative a few years ago,” Dukelow said. “A group of 90 community people who were interested in making Texarkana better got together for a half-day workshop on Strategic Doing. At the end, we separated into groups
to come up with projects to focus on our overarching framework question—Imagine Texarkana, USA, as a magnet for talent and entrepreneurship for our region. What would that look like?” The underlying Strategic Doing model of community success that inspired last year’s inaugural Pitch It event teaches people how to uncover their hidden assets, form a network of collaborations quickly, and advance toward measurable outcomes. The discipline of non-hierarchical cooperation was the very reason why a group of local community members came together to launch Pitch It Texarkana in the first place. By linking and leveraging various resources, the group sought to create an opportunity for local individuals to think outside the box and achieve success within the business community. Similar to the popular TV show Shark Tank , contestants have the opportunity to pitch business startup ideas in three minutes or less to a panel of local entrepreneurs. PowerPoint presentations and formal business plans are not allowed so that there’s more space for the contestant and his/her idea to shine. The judges’ rubric is even posted on the Pitch It website so that everyone has an equal opportunity to prepare their pitch and sharpen their communication
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COMMUNITY & CULTURE
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