Pitch-prov: Dungeons, Dragons & Due Diligence #CLETechWeek26
🎤 Pitch-prov: Dungeons, Dragons & Due Diligence
Your 3 PM Cleveland Tech Week side quest. 🎲
A live storytelling experiment about knowing your audience, adapting your story, and thinking on your feet.
What happens when you build a professional keynote around Dungeons & Dragons... only to discover you may have chosen the worst possible audience for it?
Ten years ago, William Tavel learned that lesson the hard way.
Now, after years working with founders, running startup programs, and conducting technical due diligence at institutions like the World Bank Group, he's coming back to that story to explore one of the most important skills in pitching:
Can you tell your story in a way that connects with the people actually in front of you?
William is currently the Director of the Veale Entrepreneurship Lab at Case Western Reserve University and has worked across startup operations, investing, and technical diligence. His approach to pitching starts with something surprisingly simple: a compelling pitch is a story.
But this is Pitch-prov, so we're not stopping with the lesson.
After William's story, six founders will take the stage for a live pitching challenge built around storytelling, adaptation, and a little fantasy.
They know they'll be pitching.
They know D&D is involved.
They don't know everything that's coming.
Expect founders to get pushed outside their normal scripts, see their companies from unexpected perspectives, and adapt when the story suddenly changes.
No slides. No polished decks. No pitch competition.
Just founders thinking on their feet, in front of a live audience.
And yes: you can come just to watch.
🎲 No D&D experience required.
🎤 You do NOT have to pitch.
😂 Audience participation encouraged, but never required.
Why come?
Most of us practice our pitch when everything goes according to plan.
Pitch-prov practices what happens when it doesn't.
When the audience changes.
When someone doesn't understand you.
When you're forced off-script.
When you need to explain the same idea from an entirely different perspective.
That's where communication gets interesting.
Practice over performance.
Progress over polish.
⏱️ The core show is 75 minutes
3:00 PM — Doors / arrive & grab a seat
3:15 PM — Welcome
3:30 PM — William's Expert Storytelling Lesson
3:45 PM — Live Pitch-prov Challenge
4:30 PM — Show ends + optional networking at Brothers Lounge
Have another Cleveland Tech Week event afterward? No problem.
Come for the show and head to your next stop at 4:30.
🎭 Our MC for the Night - Swarna Solanki
Swarna Solanki returns to Pitch-prov as our MC.
Swarna has spent years working across entrepreneurship, healthcare innovation, and Northeast Ohio's startup ecosystem, including work with organizations such as JumpStart, NeuroDesign, and Team NEO.
🎤 Tonight's Pitchers
Six companies.
Three rounds.
One very unusual pitching experience.
Attunex — Ben Nyx
Good Looks — Alyssa Swords
Anabaena — Derin Fasipe
PresAInce — Crystal Thies
GigRich — Torrey Babson
Asher Informatics PBC — Charlotte Kalafut
Plus a few founders waiting in the wings.
Doulify — Marie McCausland
Kofa — Dom Osankan
Pitch-prov: Where Pitching Meets Improv.
A low-pressure room to practice communicating before it really matters.
Real lessons. Real founders. Unpredictable situations.
A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats
#ClevelandOnTheRise
#CLETechWeek26
#BuildTheTide
Event Disclaimer
Alcohol may be served. Please drink responsibly and do not drink and drive. By attending, you assume all risk and release the event organizers and partners from liability for any incidents.
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This event is part of Cleveland Tech Week 2026, a community-driven celebration of innovation across Greater Cleveland. Learn more and explore the full calendar at cletechweek.com.
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