For the City Times

PORTAGE COUNTY – HATCH, an entrepreneurial pitch program has selected the finalists to pitch their ideas to regional judges and a live audience at the annual event held at John and Patty Noel’s Car Barn, 1995 River Bend, Plover, on Nov. 13, 6-8:30 p.m.

The seven finalists are: Michelle Goetsch, Kronenwetter, ERbin; Julie Kaprelian, Marshfield, The Fresh Jar; Karolee Krause, Stevens Point, Therapy Cubes; Debbie Lemke, Wausau, U Rock For Kids; Heidi Pope, Stevens Point, Expat Biz Network; Nate VanDerLoop, Stevens Point, Chronetic Software; and Ian Waller, Iola, Kazuko.

Judges for the event are: Jeff Ebel, SCORE; Volker Gaul, Mid-State Technical College; Lisa Johnson, BioForward; Melissa Meschke, Small Business Development Center; and Laura West-Kralcik, CAP Service.

HATCH is a rotating, high-energy idea pitch program designed to facilitate connections between prospective entrepreneurs and those within a community who support them such as industry experts, professional service firms, banks, non-profits, business leaders, and investors.

For more information about HATCH, contact Fred Raasch at fraasch@brightstarwi.org or Todd Kuckkahn at tkuckkahn@portagecountybiz.com.