This year's annual Special Big Kitchen Dinner is bringing together three keynotes that have one thing in common: Winning Pitches. To achieve high growth, entrepreneurs need investment. Some can secure the funding from friends and family, or tapping into their savings, while others need to pitch their ideas and businesses externally and win the investment battle.

Our selected keynotes vary from Astia member Lisa Halpern having just secured $700K pre-launch from a Super Angel, to Carol Savage,who pitched on national television and won Deborah Meaden's investment to take her business to the next level, and Lena Bjorck, who did a memorable pitch to The Prince's Trust, shaking a cake to simulate public transport, that secured her the £2,500 she needed to pursue her business and now turns over £1.7M and employs over 100 people across Europe.

The event takes place on December 1st at 7pm in a secret venue, 2mile radius from Notting Hill. Early Bird Discounts end today, November 9th, so grab yours now. The evening will start with canapés and prosecco, followed by a 3-course meal when our keynotes will briefly talk about their experience and join us in a short panel on the challenges and return of selling your business to investors and advisors. Attendees can pre-define their core interest when purchasing tickets to help us plan seating arrangements:

• Mobile/iPad
• Social Media
• Crowd-Sourcing
• eCommerce
• Fashion
• Marketplaces
• SaaS
• Sustainability

More about our Keynotes:
Lena Bjorck, Founder of Inn or Out, Ambassador of The Prince's Trust and Honorary Member of WLG, Board Member of Duni and Founder Patron of The Entrepreneur's Club
Lena Björck founded Inn or Out in 1995, alone in a foreign country with no computer or financial backing. She began cooking at home and delivering food via the London Underground, with family from Sweden sending over printed menus.

A key turning point was a £2500 loan from the Prince's Trust – enabling her to buy a computer and a van and the business has not looked back since. Inn or out have kept up very close ties with the Prince's Trust, catering for many fundraising events - including Party in the Park - sponsoring prizes and mentoring students. This has been a familiar pattern as the company has grown, with many early clients still firm friends and loyal customers.

With wheels on the road and a computer behind the scenes, Lena set about growing the business. Inn or Out now turns over £1.7M and contracts over 100 people across Europe.

Some of Lena’s Awards to date:
O2 Inspiration Award 2007 - Runner up, "London's Most Inspirational Entrepreneur"
The Business Excellence 2001 Award - Winner Docklands Business Club
Business Woman of the Year 2001 - East London Business Award
Woman into Business Award 1999 - Winner, Small Business Bureau

Carol Savage, Founder of MyDish.co.uk and Winner of BBC Dragon's Den.
MyDish is a Recipe sharing network where people can search, store and share homemade recipe ideas with family and friend's everywhere - Facebook for Foodies. Its main objective is to be an interactive hub for food lovers on the web.

Carol won backing from Deborah Meaden on BBC Dragon's Den in August 2009, and has since proved most other Dragon's wrong about her potential to attract sponsors and advertisers and reaching profitability. She recently signed a partnership with Tesco that will support the site's traffic growth from several thousand unique visitors to over 5M users. They have reached profitability by licensing the software as a white label tool for corproate clients like BT and Axa, and through merchandising, selling personalised cookbooks and calendars.

She will be talking about her journey, from recession to building a successful social media platform, and her plans to grow the business at global level and compete with US-based competitors.

Lisa S. Halpern, Founder & CEO of Kiboo, Finalist at Astia Doing it Right in New York.
Lisa graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Clark University in 1993. She received her J.D. from Cardozo School of Law in 1998, and earned her Masters in Tax & Estate Planning from the University of Miami. She then practiced law for 8 years as a tax and estate planning attorney for high net worth individuals. She experienced on a daily basis the stress and confusion managing personal finances caused her clients and frequently heard their concerns about their children’s ability to achieve financial independence.

Lisa left her career in law in 2007 with a vision for a banking service that would empower young people with tools and resources to learn, earn, save, spend, and give wisely and safely. Kiboo was created to address a critical need for financial services in the teen and young adult market, it has raised $700,000 from UK Super Angel Nigel Wray this summer and is planning a public launch in Q1 2011.

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