BIC x Launchpad Fall 2025 “Pitch Night” Recap

Originally Posted December 2025

"Columbia shows up."

I've heard this a few times now from people in similar roles to mine across the state. Fall 2025 "Pitch Night" at the Boyd Innovation Center was a beautiful illustration.

The founders showed up, the collaborators showed up. The tech, startup, and business community showed up. The OGs and the newbies showed up. The University, VCs, and statewide private and public leaders showed up. The pitches were strong, the ventures are legit, the crowd was energized and engaged, the conversation was buzzing in all phases of the event. We got to hand out two comically large foam-board checks (congrats CuffWay Inc. and Facet!), and I already have meaningful follow-up conversations for several of the founders about potential investment and other meaningful steps.

It was a joy to see it unfold.

Thank you to everyone for making last Thursday's Pitch Night a major success. Namely Dana Watkins for all the work going into both a program and an event like this, the BIC board and supporters, our partners at Launchpad for coming down each week from Greenville and delivering the 12-week program, and most importantly the 18 entrepreneurs who showed up weekly at 7am (plus learning, homework, and mentorship time) for 12 weeks to take their big ideas and emerging businesses and prepare them for launch (or pivot, or bail -- also good outcomes!). We'll keep highlighting these founders and startups, the value they are building, and the incredible progress they've made and will continue to make. And if you want to be one of them, check out the program and next cohort dates here.

And thank you to the Columbia (and beyond) community for showing up -- 170+ deep, the Thursday before Christmas, in the rain -- to see what Columbia's founders are building and be an active part of this city's startup community.

That was fun, thank you. Momentum is building, and more to come.

-Sam Herskovitz, Executive Director