Speed pitch event accelerates founder funding IQ; venture capital isn’t always the right move, investors say
November 13, 2026 | Nikki Overfelt Chifalu
Kit Ndeti, founder of Topeka-based Kites LLC, chats through his business with capital experts during a speed pitching event developed by Accelerate Venture Partners and Network Kansas/eGrowth Ventures; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
Romy Carlson is a stranger to speed dating, she admitted, but the Kansas City startup founder enjoyed pitching Enrichly to investors in a similarly rapid-fire manner.
A speed pitching event Wednesday at Keystone CoLab — in partnership with Keystone Angels — served as the culmination of the nine-week Accessing Growth Capital Series (AGCS) organized by Accelerate Venture Partners and Network Kansas/eGrowth Ventures.
Romy Carlson, founder of Enrichly, pitches her company during a speed pitching event at Keystone CoLab, organized by Accelerate Venture Partners and Network Kansas/eGrowth Ventures; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
Carlson and 15 other founders from across the Heartland earned deeper insight through the program into what institutional capital really looks like — what it costs, what it unlocks, and whether it’s actually the right path for their business.
“I liked the format of getting to meet a lot of people,” explained Carlson, founder of Overland Park-based Enrichly, a planning tool that streamlines youth activities scheduling for families. “And then the quick fire put me in different challenging situations. I couldn’t just go to my rote pitch. Each one had a different spiel, a different spin, different questioning.”
During the event, 14 of the 16 companies in the cohort rotated through small pods of investors for eight-minute conversations: one minute for the founder to lay out the company and opportunity and seven minutes for investor questions, feedback, and discussion.
Among them: Homezena (Olathe); Huxedo (Leawood); Surge Holdings (Overland Park); Rescue ID (Fairway); Balm Box (Overland Park); Lumos Equine Intelligence (Shawnee); SteroCore Therapeutics (Lawrence); and playhaus (Kansas City, Missouri).
The goal isn’t for founders to close a round in eight minutes, organizers said. It’s to hear directly from active investors about what resonates, what doesn’t, and what they need to sharpen before raising.
“I sat with some investors who I would never have talked to because they’re maybe ag investors and I’m an education product,” Carlson noted. “So that was actually really helpful because that was a different perspective. But I don’t necessarily think I would want to spend a full pitch on that because they’re not going to invest in me. And I don’t want to waste their time or my time. So I thought that was a fantastic format.”
Conor Adler, investment manager for NXTUS and director of Accelerate Venture Partners — said the ACGS program has evolved since it began in 2023 to help founders understand their investability in the fundraising process.
“We found that a big takeaway for founders going through the program is that a lot of them are figuring out that venture capital actually might not be the right route for them,” he explained. “And the ones that do figure out venture capital is right for them, we want to wrap our arms around them and help make the connections and provide the resources to make sure they’re on the right growth journey.”
Allie Young, founder of Fort Smith, Arkansas-based NurtureWell, center, pitches her company to capital experts during a speed pitching event developed by Accelerate Venture Partners and Network Kansas/eGrowth Ventures; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
The program has also transitioned to include companies from outside Kansas, Adler continued. This cohort included companies from Kansas, Missouri, Texas, and Arkansas.
“Expanding beyond the state lines is a big move in the (growth) strategy,” he added. “And then on top of that, we’ve also made a big push for bringing in rural founders to the cohort and meeting them where they’re at in their growth journeys.”
Chris Rehkamp, vice president of business services at KU Innovation Park, talks through Huxedo’s startup pitch with co-founder Tanuj Gupta during a speed pitching event at Keystone CoLab, organized by Accelerate Venture Partners and Network Kansas/eGrowth Ventures; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
With the speed pitching event preceding MidxMidwest — which brings together the region’s early-stage tech founders, capital providers, and corporate innovators — several investors from outside the Kansas-Missouri region were also present, including one from Nebraska Angels and one from South Dakota First Fund.
Having the ACGS cohort finish up right before Carlson, a veteran of past NXTUS programming, starts to raise her first round and before MidxMidwest is perfect timing, she said.
“That’s a little intimidating,” Carlson explained. “It’s my first raise, so I think it’s built my confidence up in the right way because I now have the right tools, skills, and contacts to launch into that raise with a much higher likelihood for success for my company.”
The program also allows for eGrowth Ventures to meet with Kansas founders before they might be ready for investment, noted Thomas Papadatos, senior venture investment manager for NXTUS, to help them understand what the investor ecosystem in the state is looking for.
“It’s us acting as an entrepreneur support organization and helping the startup ecosystem,” he explained. “But it’s also a funnel for our own investment. The goal would be to invest in some of these companies as they continue to grow and get customers and scale.”
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