Fitness startup wows judges at PITCH event: entrepreneurs showcase new products, innovation in Sudbury.

• Author: Durnan, Matt
• Position: NEWS - Concert review

Four entrepreneurs took the stage at the Steelworkers Hall in Sudbury to pitch their business ventures to a panel of judges and a crowd of hundreds.

NORCAT Innovation Mill hosted PITCH 2017 on April 27, an event that offers startup companies the opportunity to showcase their idea and secure angel investments.

Sudbury's Jamie Fairchild, CEO of The Yoak, walked away with both the judges' choice and the people's choice awards for his multi-modal training device.

The Yoak is a uniquely designed stability training product that Fairchild came up with when recovering from shoulder surgery. The design of the product allows for a multitude of uses; it can function as both a barbell or a chin-up bar and, weighing in at less than 10 pounds, it's easily transportable.

Fairchild was up against three other pitches during the evening, all of which impressed the judges.

Sudbury's Calvin Henderson kicked off the evening and was also the youngest of the entrepreneurs to take the stage. Henderson is the co-founder and CEO of Gripp, an app that launched last year.

Gripp, according to Henderson, fills a gap in today's social media landscape with the ability to allow users to create stories that function as progressive streams of photos and/or videos.

The app allows users to create stories individually or as a group.

"Say you're at a party, everyone can contribute to the story, adding their own photos from their own perspective, and these all go into one story," said Henderson. "Currently, there's no way for friends to sync their photos and videos together in real-time to show a shared experience."

Next up to the stage was Stephen Thurlbeck, CEO of...