The search is on for the most ‘exciting and innovative’ startups in the UK, and low and behold two of our friends were selected to represent the nation. Amanda Jones of Red Button Design and Richard Burton of Hoodeasy do us proud, and we need to rally behind them if we want to see a young entrepreneur from around here make the finals. It was Craig Smith who got voted through to the next round on Scotland’s behalf, so congrats to him, but the wildcard spot is up for grabs! Let’s show the rest of the UK what we’re made of and rally behind Amanda and Richard. You can see their pitch videos HERE and rate them by clicking on the stars below.
Red Button Design is an internationally award winning (and Dragon’s Den appearing!) design house founded by Amanda and her partner-in-crime James Brown, developing products exclusively for the aid and humanitarian markets. Their first product is an innovative water transport, purification and storage device designed to bring relief to the 1.2 billion people across the world without access to safe water.
Richard runs a company that sells custom hoodies to students in the UK and USA. Hoodeasy is a revolutionary way for groups to order 
customised clothing, taking the stress and complications out of the process for the unfortunate person who otherwise gets dumped with a massive task. They replace cash, cheques and paper order forms with a super-simple online-ordering system.
I just got the following message from Amanda explaining the situation:
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We need your help: We’re one step away from The Pitch 2009 grand final!
http://www.thepitch2009.com/videos-2009.html
We’re really pleased to have reached the regional final, but it’s up to the public to vote us through into the London grand final, where we’ll have to present our business to a panel of experts including an ex-TV Dragon and a winner of The Apprentice, all in front of a live studio audience.
This could really make a difference to us as the winner of the competition will walk away with a business support package worth £50,000. Voting closes on 2 November.
We would be really grateful if you could spare two minutes to visit The Pitch 2009 website and rate our video.
http://www.thepitch2009.com/videos-2009.html
Thanks!
Amanda
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So c’mon guys let’s put our votes together and help get Amanda and Richard to the top of the wildcard list. It may soon be you asking for our votes, so take a minute here and we’ll do the same for you next time. Best of luck!
Woo, well done to both! The pitches were great.