Are you a Catholic CEO, founder, investor, mission leader, or growth-minded business leader? Do you feel too Catholic for your business friends, but too driven for your Catholic friends? Have you been wanting to take your business and spirit to new heights? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then you’ll want to check out SENT Ventures 2nd its annual pitch competition.
We’ve written before about SENT Ventures, an organization that supports Catholic entrepreneurs in living out their values while growing and excelling in their businesses. Their work is a welcome haven for Catholic leaders in the business world.
At the annual SENT Summit, coming up this September 3-6 in Dallas-Fort Worth, winners of the competition will have the opportunity to pitch their startups to a panel of seasoned investors.
An event for Catholic business builders
I had the chance to catch up with John Cannon, the inspiring force of nature behind SENT Ventures, about the upcoming pitch competition and summit.
“The SENT Pitch Competition is the world's first venture pitch competition specifically for founders and companies that advance Catholic values,” he said, inviting all early-stage companies that fit this mission seeking venture financing to apply for the competition by June 28. “We pray that God gives us the grace to serve well the mission of the Church through this endeavor.”
In addition to the Pitch Competition, the four-day Summit will feature small group strategy sessions, multiple forums for networking, opportunities for Mass, adoration, and reconciliation, and keynote and breakout sessions led by some of the most successful Catholic business leaders in the country. The SENT Summit combines powerful spirituality, practical business help, inspiring content, and relationship-building into one event curated specifically for the Catholic business builder.
Meeting a need
After supporting hundreds of Catholic founders through the Catholic founder community, SENT, Cannon noticed a common problem: Founders struggled to find investing capital that aligned with their values.
“They wanted to grow their companies but not sell out by just growing as fast as possible or feel forced to do things contrary to their values,” he said. “This problem was particularly difficult for companies at the early stages, trying to get off the ground. They need the forum to share their vision and for partners to believe in them and help them bring their visions to life.”
At the same time, he met investors who wanted to find companies that advanced things like human dignity, human flourishing, and Catholic values, but they didn't know how to find them.
“There seemed to be a natural opportunity to connect these two groups,” he said, “so we created the pitch competition as a clearinghouse to help these founders and investors find each other.”
Cannon collaborated with Zak Slayback, a venture capitalist, and Juan Acosta, a Catholic founder, to create the first Angel Network for Catholic investors. Together, they designed and ran the pitch competition.
What to expect
If you’re thinking about entering the pitch competition, you might be wondering about the finalists and winners at last year’s event.
The first annual SENT Summit pitch competition prize went to Storybook, a parenting app founded by a husband and wife.
“The platform impressively integrates faith-based values to strengthen parent-child relationships and child development and is the #1 parenting app in over 90 countries,” Cannon said. Besides winning the pitch competition, Storybook met some of its early investors at the summit, including SENT Angels, an Angel investing network that backs founders that advance Catholic values.
Another finalist, Allera, helps food manufacturers prevent allergen contamination. Founder Paddy McNamara felt inspired to found Allera after nearly dying from an allergic reaction and wanting to protect others from the same fate.
“Part of the goal of the pitch competition was to help Catholic founders find investing partners with shared values,” Cannon said. This goal was a success: “Of the four finalists who presented at the 2023 SENT Summit, two received significant venture capital investments from investors they met at the Summit.”
If you’re a Catholic in the business world, don’t miss the SENT Summit. And if you’re entering the pitch competition, good luck and Godspeed!
