Dalton readies for pitch competition

3 startups will vie for prizes

With 60 entries from entrepreneurs in less than 60 days, organizers of Dalton, Ga.,’s first business pitch competition set for next week are jazzed about the results.

“It validates our hypothesis,” said Barry Slaymaker, director of strategy for Barrett Properties. “There was still an entrepreneurial spirit. We’re tickled to see what we got.”

Next Tuesday, PitchDIA will take place in downtown Dalton where three finalists will try to land first prize. The winning team takes home $5,000 cash and more than $15,000 worth of services.

The competition in Northwest Georgia comes as AOL founder Steve Case and his Rise of the Rest seed fund tour comes to Chattanooga today. Eight startups have been picked to pitch for $100,000 at the Chattanooga event.

In Dalton, the three businesses selected as finalists for the pitch are:

› K12 Logistics — The startup offers a platform that intends to transform the way educational attainment and standards are designed, implemented, and measured.

› Le-Glue — The company offers a patented, non-permanent glue for building blocks, allowing for reusability when immersed in water.

› Expedition Outside (Ex Out) — Ex Out proposes an electronic marketplace to match rural and suburban land owners with recreational land users seeking to engage with nature.

Stacey Roach, chief operating officer of Dalton-based IT

firm Inventure IT, said it was difficult to narrow the competition down to three finalists.

“We had so many great business ideas that the debate got a little intense at times,” Roach said.

Slaymaker said all three businesses are at different timelines in terms of their development.

While Expedition Outside is “very new,” K12 is in place and conducting “beta testing,” he said. Le-Glue has 18 months of sales data and is profitable, Slaymaker said. Earlier this year, Dalton officials unveiled plans for the Dalton Innovation Accelerator (DIA) in the historic, six-level Landmark Building on Hamilton Street. About 1,800-squarefeet of space will hold entrepreneurs and the services to help them grow their ideas.

Rob Bradham, the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive, said the accelerator — a first in the city — is not just aimed at high-tech companies, but more broadly at entrepreneurs.

Companies located in the space will have access to mentors and other successful business people from whom they can learn, he said.

“It will put entrepreneurs in the same space so they can learn from each other,” Bradham said.