GeekWire Elevator Pitch winner Syndio rides high with a software solution to address pay bias
/Twelve entrepreneurs rode to the top of Seattle’s Smith Tower for Season 2 of GeekWire’s Elevator Pitch. One of them kept going beyond that historic skyscraper elevator ride, all the way to victory at the 2019 GeekWire Summit on Wednesday.
The four finalists from four episodes of Elevator Pitch — in which business concepts were pitched in a 32-second elevator ride — emerged from a season featuring ideas related to agriculture, transportation, AI, IoT connectivity and more. They pitched once again, this time on stage in front of hundreds of Summit attendees at the Hyatt Regency. The entrepreneurs included:
Greg Newbloom, CEO of Membrion Membrion, a University of Washington spinout that makes ion membranes for use in fuel cells and water desalination systems.
Keith McCall, founder and CTO of Pollen Systems Pollen Systems, creators of agriculture and drone technology for the wine industry.
Maria Colacurcio, CEO of Syndio Solutions, creators of a software solution to address discriminatory pay gaps.
Jinesh Varia, CEO ofIndustrility, a startup focused on IoT technology solutions for industrial original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
Colacurcio and her Syndio pitch managed to impress our panel of judges once again and take the title this year. Her pitch also won the Geek’s Choice award after live voting by the audience in the Summit app.