The winner of the Cox Business 2015 Get Started event in Gainesville, Fla. Credit: Cox Business.

Get ready to get started.

Five businesses have made the cut to pitch their ideas to a panel of experts at Cox Business Get Started Pensacola on Nov. 2 at Pensacola Little Theatre. The winner receives a prize package valued at $20,000 from Cox Business and ongoing support from the Studer Community Institute.

Get Started Pensacola kicks off EntreCon, SCI's annual two-day conference that starts Thursday, Nov. 3 in downtown Pensacola, featuring more than 40 speakers and panelists.

More than 30 local businesses applied to pitch their ideas at the event. These finalists make their pitch in front of a live audience:

— Beautiful by Marni Alisha: BEAUTIFUL is a line of luxury hair care products that can help maintain a salon finish between salon appointments.

— Coalgae: Coal is still a major source of power, and Coalgae International produces coal from algae quickly, cheaply, and at any location in the world.

— Cognitive Big Data System: This computer vision app uses creative machine learning technologies to learn the pixel patterns from each camera’s video stream to understand what’s normal at that location and generates both threat and business intelligence information on the fly.

— Reverbalist: Reverbalist is a music engagement platform, putting artists first by bringing the at-show experience to a far broader and more engaged audience, driving casual viewers towards super fandom.

— Yellow Dog Company: Yellow Dog Company presents Beach Side Table, a miniature and compact table that has its own tote carry bag to accompany you as you enjoy the beach or boating activities.

“We had several great ideas submitted for Get Started Pensacola,” said Harbin Bolton, vice-president of Cox Business Florida/Georgia.  “I’m really looking forward to meeting these visionaries and learning more about their product.  Get Started Pensacola is shaping up to be a fantastic event.”

Local businesses owners and entrepreneurs not competing are encouraged to attend this free event for networking and learning opportunities from accomplished leaders in marketing, funding and business growth strategy.

You can register for this free event at www.CoxBlue.com/GetStartedPensacola. Networking begins at 5:30 p.m. and will include food and drinks.