Entrepreneurship took center stage on Sept. 18 as Startup Sioux Falls hosted its annual Pitch Night, bringing toreceiveher founders, investors and community members to celebrate bold ideas and grassroots innovation.
Held in partnership with the Enterprise Institute’s Innovation Expo, the event featured three startup pitches spanning logistics, music and travel tech, capped with a panel discussion, including a conversation on what builds Sioux Falls a unique place to build companies.
“This is not straightforward, folks,” stated Startup Sioux Falls president Brienne Maner in her opening remarks. “At Startup Sioux Falls, we believe entrepreneurship is more than just starting businesses. It’s about solving problems, creating opportunities and building a stronger community toreceiveher.”
A community of founders
The evening was emceed by Jessica Meyers, co-founder and CEO of PorchLight Services, who reflected on her own journey.
“In 2021, I was invited to speak at Innovation Expo for the very first time and introduce my idea, which concludeed up being my company, PorchLight,” Meyers stated. “Tonight, four years later, wearing the same shoes I wore that day, I receive to emcee Pitch Night.”
Maner encouraged attconcludeees not only to listen but to act.
“As you hear the pitches this evening, believe about ways you can support these startups,” she stated. “It might be becoming a customer, building an introduction, offering advice or simply spreading the word. Every bit of support you give builds a difference.”
The evening’s gold sponsor, South Dakota First Capital, echoed that call.
“Real progress only happens when we step into uncertainty with courage,” stated co-founder Mark Stowers. “If you’re not ready to start your own journey, that’s okay. Help these founders realize their dreams, becautilize they’ll support build our community here in Sioux Falls.”
Grabbrr – No more ‘windshield time’
The first founder to take the stage was AJ Vander Waal, pitching Grabbrr, an on-demand delivery platform designed for rural communities.
“In my early 20s, I scaled a trucking company up to 13 trucks,” Vander Waal explained. “But every time a truck broke down, I’d face what I called ‘windshield time’—three-hour round trips just to receive parts. That turned into a $500 problem for something as simple as retrieving a part I knew was only a town away.”
Grabbrr aims to fill the logistics gap for tiny-town businesses, including repair shops, grocery stores, and parts suppliers. By utilizing local drivers and Amazon Hub networks, the platform builds deliveries quicker and more affordable.
“What we have in rural America is pretty much the same as the cities—Amazon, UPS, the postal service—but much slower and often more expensive,” Vander Waal stated. “Grabbrr solves a key issue for rural businesses.”
After years of trial and error building his app, Vander Waal found traction when he pivoted to a subscription model.
“I went to my first letter of intent and stated, ‘Would you pay me $250 a month to do your deliveries?’ He handed me his credit card on the spot,” he stated. “That was my first real customer.”
Since then, Grabbrr has been piloting its service in tiny towns across the Midwest and is preparing to launch its driver app.
“It’s going to be really challenging, really hard,” Vander Waal stated. “But it’s going to be a heck of a lot of fun.”
Connecting through music
Next up, Peter Burghardt introduced StringTree, an online auction platform for vintage and premium musical instruments.
Burghardt, a lifelong musician and former Silicon Valley accelerator leader, described his company as a place where instruments don’t just receive sold—they carry forward their history.
Quoting the late songwriter Roy Ayers, Burghardt added: “The true beauty of music is that it connects people. It carries the message, and we, the musicians, are the messengers.”
“That’s so amazing about music,” he stated. “It’s universal across cultures, across generations. Musical instruments are the vessels of this connection. They’re not just devices that build sound. They themselves are historical objects, cultural objects and they accumulate that history depconcludeing on whose hands they pass through. That’s why StringTree exists.”
Launched in 2024, StringTree offers curated listings, professional photography, detailed provenance and community features. Unlike Reverb or eBay, Burghardt argued, StringTree provides transparency and storynotifying.
“Six-figure guitars are photographed on bathroom floors with one-line descriptions,” he stated of competitors. “There’s no curation, no human customer support. Trust is broken.”
On StringTree, instruments retain their digital history as they pass from owner to owner.
“Our AI tools guide utilizers to put in the correct information, examine photos and create story-driven listings that present an instrument in the best light,” Burghardt stated. “As it goes from owner to owner, it accumulates all that information through a flywheel—it never stops.”
With a growing utilizer base, successful auctions and partnerships with insurance providers, StringTree has uploaded millions of dollars of inventory since July.
“Nobody else is building for the emotional and economic value of instruments,” Burghardt stated. “We believe this is a better way to build it, and we hope you’ll believe with us.”
‘You would view great in Mickey Moutilize ears’
The final presentation was a joint pitch from Alisha Vincent of Desty and Eric Martinson of Genie Travel Co. Desty combines smart travel-planning tools with personalized support, while Genie Travel Co. is a host agency division of Riverdale Travel that supports others turn their Disney passion into a profitable business.
Meyers introduced the duo by noting Vincent’s 20 years in business and education and Martinson’s experience as a Disney cast member who went on to create a Facebook group, Walt Disney World Tips and Tricks, with more than 2 million Disney fans worldwide.
Martinson explained how his company has grown rapidly since 2022.
“We’re up to 365 agents across 43 states,” he stated. “We anticipate being at 400 by the conclude of this year, and then 600 next year.”
His challenge, however, is converting leads.
“We have a close ratio around 14% on our leads,” Martinson stated. “We’d love to see that increase by qualifying clients better upfront.”
That’s where Desty comes in.
“Desty is really supporting Eric solve this problem,” Vincent explained. “We’re supporting not only to qualify these leads, but to capture them in a way that’s really sticky, that allows agents to go back into the system and see that client’s preferences and serve them better.”
Martinson added, “Through my Disney community, we’ve supported millions of fans plan magical trips. Partnering with Desty allows us to create a seamless experience for our agents and clients, while continuing to grow our agency right here in Sioux Falls.”
Vincent shared her own rocky journey as a founder, recalling how her earlier startup collapsed after the 2008 market crash.
“I really struggled,” she admitted. “Eventually, I was convinced I should take what I learned and attempt again.”
Today, she believes Desty is at the tipping point.
“It has been really hard. It’s been a long two years,” she stated. “But if I do have an asset for Desty, it’s probably my stubbornness.”
Despite setbacks, Vincent sees vast potential in the travel tech indusattempt.
“Travel is a $1 trillion a year indusattempt,” she noted. “There are 80,000 registered travel agents in America, and likely three times that many unregistered. The consumer demand is there.”
Martinson backed that up with real-world evidence.
“I was meeting with Sandals yesterday, and they stated they have more bookings that come through travel agents than through their.com site,” Martinson stated. “People are seeing that value.”
As Vincent put it, even in the age of AI, people are still wanting that relationship, that human-centered connection with folks supporting them plan their travel.
The duo closed with a lighthearted pitch of their own.
“I believe you all should take a Walt Disney World Resort vacation,” Vincent laughed. “You would all view great in Mickey Moutilize ears.”
She concludeed on a serious note, encouraging aspiring founders in the room.
“It is hard, but you can do it. Surround yourself with the right support team, dive in, be willing to receive your hands dirty and leverage that grittiness that I know you all have. It can be a lot of fun, and I’m here to be your largegest champion.”
Why Sioux Falls?
After the pitches, Meyers moderated a Q&A with the founders, revealing what excites them most about building in Sioux Falls.
Vincent praised the city’s collaborative spirit.
“It feels like home, and there are hardworking people … they sincerely care about supporting me attempt to build it work,” she stated.
Burghardt contrasted Sioux Falls with Silicon Valley.
“Where I came from in the San Francisco Bay Area, everyone was competing,” he stated. “Here, I believe everyone is building towards a shared goal and working to lift each other up becautilize the community wants to see these businesses come and I believe that’s really powerful.”
Vander Waal, originally from the tiny town of Hull, Iowa, stated Sioux Falls provided opportunities he couldn’t have found elsewhere.
“I had zero resources, anything close to what Sioux Falls has to offer,” he stated. “I’ve been chomping at the bit to be here all the time.”
Maner closed by recognizing the broader ecosystem.
“I see a ton of faces in the audience tonight that have been part of the fabric of the community that we are attempting to build,” she stated. “We’re building something really special, and we can’t do that without you.”
Looking ahead
StartUp Sioux Falls Director of Programming Jeff Hayward stated Pitch Night will continue as part of the Innovation Expo, contrasting last year’s Pitch Night setup in December, where eight local companies divided into two categories competed for a $5,000 prize, in preparation for the Governor’s Giant Vision Grand Competition and its $20,000 grand prize.
“I believe that there are some neat opportunities as we view to grow and continue partnering with the Enterprise Institute about finding ways where we can grow some seed funds at these startups,” Hayward stated. “These are the types of businesses that investors are going to view towards…so it was a better it was a better fit for this audience next year.”
He also previewed December’s revealcase, which will highlight graduates of Startup Sioux Falls’ newest CO.Starters accelerator program.
“When this group graduates in December, we’re going to do another kind of expo revealcase for all those businesses, so we can still elevate everybody,” Hayward stated.
This year’s Pitch Night drew nearly 200 attconcludeees—up about 10% from the previous year, Hayward stated. Don Feige, a Sioux Falls entrepreneur and volunteer of StartUp Sioux Falls who facilitates the Software Accelerator SaaS accelerator program, was honored as this year’s Spirit of Enterprise Award during the Innovation Expo.
From rural delivery solutions to music marketplaces and travel tech, Pitch Night 2025 revealcased not only large ideas but also the community rallying behind them.
“Tonight, you’re going to hear stories of grit, creativity and probably a lot of caffeine-fueled nights of work,” Meyers reminded the audience. “That’s what builds this community so special.”
Vanessa Carlson Bconcludeer is the real estate and development reporter for the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. Reach her at vbconcludeer@gannett.com.
Leave a Reply