Hype Man Media's Open Pitch Night
25 March 2025 - Melbourne
An open Mic night for ideas
Hype Man Media was created to give a platform to people in the Startup ecosystem without one, as everyone could do with a Hype Man every now and then. That's why we decided that for our very first event, we simply had to make it a showcase our incredible ideas that was opening to anyone and everyone!
A lot of Startups struggle to get into pitch competitions and don't get the practice they need to pitch their business in front of a live audience. I like to think of this as the old job searching conundrum: you don't get the job as you don't have enough experience but you can't get the experience without getting a job.That's why last week we hosted an "Open Pitch Night", think of it as an open mic night but for ideas
We put the call out online and had 14 amazing entrepreneurs take up the challenge, with a live crowd of over 100 people from across the Victorian Innovation ecosystem cheering them on.
The brief? 2 minutes, no slides and 1 comment or question from the audience to field
The night couldn't have gone better with some huge success metrics that you don't see at most events:
⭐ At least half of the pitchers had never pitched before in public and you honestly couldn't tell!
⭐ We had an insanely diverse set of pitchers without having to tailor who was on stage! 6/8 gender split, diversity of ideas, ethnicity + ageshowing the DEI work we are doing at the ecosystem level is working
⭐ and with 110 registrations + 14 pitchers for a Tuesday night we proved that Victoria has a buzzing ecosystem despite what the naysayers will tell you
The event was in support of WYNovation 2025, Wyndham City’s award-winning annual festival of entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity. With our Open Pitch Night a great springboard for those who pitched to now go and do so at this year's Pitch Grand Final at WYNovation. A huge thank you to the Wyndham City Council team for supporting this one.
And for our amazing venues hosts TankStream Labs, the HQ of Hype Man Media in Melbourne's CBD.
As for the real stars of the show, our 14 entrepreneurs. Here they all are in their full glory.
Connect with them and reach out to support if you can!
1. Desmond John - Des helps Startup support orgs with community, events & experiences. Also known as VaaS (Vibes as a Service).
2. Trevor Brunton - Trev is the COO of Circulise. Which empowers organisations to develop and implement innovative circular initiatives that position them to capitalise on the emerging opportunities in the circular economy.
3. Jess Price - Jess is helping to create workplaces designed for the world we live in. She does this as Chief Vision Officer at Paradigm Makers.
4. Jesse Lai - Jessie is developing a transcription tool that will help teachers increase engagement and accessibility in their classrooms.
5. Mallika Ramchandani - Mallika told us about Level Up Lab, including her podcast that shares practical insights to help you get ahead in the race
6. Michelle Chen - Michelle is the Founder of Mental Jam, a platform for sharing lived experiences of mental health struggles through video games co-creation as a form of creative self-expression
7. Sonia Kaurah - Sonia is the Founder of Tala Thrive, a mental health platform that matches people to professional therapists and coaches who understand their culture, language and/or religion - for culturally competent care
8. Ishan Dan - Ishan is the Founder of RegenX, a market-based platform enabling agri good buyers to invest in regenerative programs that reward farmers within their supply chains for successful farm transitions
9. Warwick Peel - Waz is working on Misfits, a national innovation incubator, industry co-ventures and specific industry verticals collaboration with startups.
10. Andrew Ballard - Andrew is the Founder of SpatioTemporal, which is building a Large Spatial Model — an AI foundation model that understands the kinematics of objects and groups of objects — how things move, interact, and behave in the real world.
11. Mily Lee - Mily is the Founder of AI Mily, Australia’s first and only AI-powered medical interpreter, delivering real-time, medically accurate speech-to-speech translation to improve patient care in hospitals and clinics.
12. Radek Rozkiewicz - Radek is building a platform that enables owners in a strata to self-manage the easy way, currently targeted at 10 dwellings or less.
13. Thuy Pham - Thuy is the Founder of Spectrum AI, helping businesses grow using AI-driven marketing and automation starting with implementing a Voice Ai Receptionist service.
14. James Kenny- James is developing Subbi, a mobile application to simplify finances and tax obligations for subcontractors, freelancers, and the self employed!
If you can help any of the entrepreneurs above out then please reach out! That’s what the Hype Man community is all about.
Thanks to everyone that pitched, came to support and to our hosts (Tank Stream Labs) and event partners (Wyndham City Council)
We’ll definitely be doing this event again, so watch this space!
and watch out for future Hype Man Media events coming your way in the near furture.
After the success of this open pitch night we'll definitely be taking it on the road for another run!
