The venue for Monday's event was the Commerce Department library in Washington's Herbert C. Hoover Federal Building. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker delivered a keynote speech highlighting the department's initiatives to promote business and called on the private sector to encourage U.S. entrepreneurs, echoing the theme behind the White House's recent measures to promote women and minority business owners.
"Collaborating with start-ups is not a replacement for companies performing their own research and development, but it is another path for a big business to develop a new product and uncover creative solutions to complex challenges," Pritzker said.
"For start-ups, collaboration is an opportunity as well - to demonstrate innovative concepts and to attract capital."
Samsung was looking for ways to make its core phone apps more accessible to users with disabilities.
Comcast wanted ideas to improve its customer experience (which attracted more than a few snickers from the audience).
Time Inc. sought a more efficient system to catalogue photos from its publications, and the American Cancer Society wanted a mobile app to help consult cancer patients. (The Washington Post has also attended the event in the past).
Start-ups attending the event apply for SwitchPitch online and go through a vetting process before they are accepted. Those present were diverse; a Phoenix-based medical imaging company, the founder of a co-working space in Austin.
As the afternoon sunlight streamed in through the library windows, participants and company executives gathered at wooden tables to begin speed-dating style meetings. It was now the start-up owner's turn to offer solutions for the company's problem.
Pritzker, who walked around and observed the meetings, said the event was not only a good networking opportunity, but it was also a chance for start-ups to pick up valuable tips.
"You got to see big companies interested in the technology, but also coaching these young companies on how to be more viable," she said.
Not every SwitchPitch meeting translates to actual business, though there are some success stories from past events.
For most small-business owners, the chance to talk in person with a big company is enough. For others, the event is a way to form connections with fellow entrepreneurs.
"I'm actually following up with other start-ups," said Katie Kirsch, chief marketing officer of Baltimore-based Sisu Global Health, which develops medical technology for emerging markets.
"These global companies can be impossible. You know they have real needs, but it is like circling the walls of Jericho to get in," said Morris Panner, chief executive of Phoenix-based DicomGrid, which lets patients and doctors share medical reports through an app.
Panner said the event helped him forge unlikely partnerships. The American Cancer Society, an organisation he viewed as a potential partner, did not have a need his business could serve, but Samsung potentially did.
As for big companies, the event was a window into the issues their peers face.
"It was interesting to get visibility into the problems that other companies deal with, because there's a lot in common," said Chris Lee, Samsung's senior manager of technology sourcing.
