Ski Lift Pitch - Activate New Mexico

2025 | Taos Ski Valley, NM

Entrepreneurs and investors alike are all-too-familiar with a typical elevator pitch. We think New Mexico is known more for its elevations than its elevators. Ski Lift Pitch brings New Mexico’s best startups and world-class VC funds together for a special event. And no, there are no elevators involved. Not the usual kind, anyway.

Alongside this year’s Platinum Sponsor, the Outdoor Recreation Division, we welcomed pre-seed and seed-stage startups headquartered in or growing in New Mexico to apply.

Application opens soon!

What You’ll Experience

Audience of investors, economic developers, peers, customers, and more
Three separate pitch opportunities on the ski lift with investor judges
- Initial (ski lift) Pitches must be given by someone who can ski/snowboard down the mountain, no rides down are provided
Scores are tallied and 3 finalists are given a final 5 minute pitch for a chance to win $10,000
- Final pitches are given with a prepared slide deck
- 5 minute Q&A following
- The final presentations are on the main stage so they can be given by someone who does not ski.
Judges are a combination of investors, economic developers, and successful entrepreneurs

Eligibility

Pre-seed and Series Seed Startups
NM Based Companies
High-growth and Scalable Companies
- Companies must represent scalable businesses that have proven potential for significant high growth potential.
  - High Growth means the business can achieve significant and rapid expansion in terms of revenue, customer base, market share, or other key performance indicators in large addressable markets.
  - Scalable means your business should showcase the ability to expand operations and increase revenue without incurring a corresponding rise in operational costs.

Pitch Judging Criteria

Team
Founder is clear and compelling; other core team experience, skills, and network instills confidence that they can execute on the vision.

Product
The company’s product, service, platform, network, ect., is disruptive and timely, addressing an interesting and important problem.

Market
The company is focused on a sizable and underserved market that presents an opportunity for ROI.

Traction
The company’s growth in the last year is impressive and shows that relative to their stage, they have great velocity and potential for scale.

Competitive Advantage / Differentiation
The company has a strong advantage over competition or alternatives both now and in the future thanks to strong IP, a hard-to-replicate approach, or other “unfair advantage(s)