Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano announced plans to assist Long Island-based startups and early-stage companies in pitching their technology products to leading angel investors in the style of the hit show, Shark Tank on ABC. The event, Pitch Island, is hosted by the Nassau County Tech Task Team (T3), co-chaired by Peter Goldsmith of LISTnet and Andrew Hazen of LaunchPad Long Island. 
Pitch Island, the latest Technology Island initiative, will be held at the Adelphi University’s Performing Arts Center on April 30th from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
County Executive Mangano stated, “Pitch Island provides local tech startups with an effective way to meet private investors that are willing to provide seed money to help entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground. While most small business owners find angel investors through word of mouth, Pitch Island provides a more creative way to meet to private investors.”
Angel investors are estimated to provide 90 percent of all seed and start-up capital, compared to the venture capital community, which invest less than 2 percent in start-ups and instead focus on a smaller pool of later-stage companies. The investors that will be present to evaluate the pitches are: Andrew Hazen; Faith Wall; Craig Kugel; and a professor from the Adelphi University School of Business.
The entrepreneurs that will be presenting to these angel investors are: Stephanie Lozito from BattleShop (www.BattleShop.com) ; Ramuel Maramara from Brimes Energy (www.BrimesEnergy.com) ; Tyler Roye from eGifter (www.eGifter.com) ; Gabriel Rutner from ChromaFISH (www.ChromaFISH.com) ; Li Liu from SwiMART (www.SwimVision.com) ; Kristie D’Amrosio-Correll from MarryMapp (www.MarryMapp.com) ; and Marina Montes from UR Swim (www.URSwim.com) .
“Pitch Island is a MUST ATTEND event for parents and children. Our next generation of entrepreneurs and STEM-focused students will be inspired, motivated and driven by the Long Island-based startups pitching for capital,” added Andrew S. Hazen, Founder & CEO of LaunchPad and co-chair of the Tech Task Team.
Peter Goldsmith, Chairman of LISTnet, also added “The Tech Task Team is working with Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano to have Long Island recognized as ‘Technology Island’, by hosting events such as the Technology Island Job Fair, Long Island Tech Day and now Pitch Island. It’s important that everyone realize that Long Island has all the essentials to support and grow technology companies, and that there are plenty of high paying jobs for our graduates and for people now working off Long Island and commuting. LI is truly ‘Technology Island’ and with the support of T3 it can become even bigger and better known.”
Seats are limited for Pitch Island. For more information, including tickets, please visit www.pitchisland.com
