Twenty New York startups are competing to be featured in the second season of our web series The Pitch. But only 10 will move on for a chance to pitch investors--Steve Schlafman of Lerer Ventures and Nikhil Kalghatgi of SoftBank Capital--and win funding for their idea. And you get to decide!

Check out the slideshow and vote for your favorite startups to make it to the next round.

Admitted.ly – A platform gamifying college admissions.

Chalkable – An app store for educational tools.

Doppelhanger – A matchmaking service for your closet.

Equala – Social radio for you and your friends.

Funderverse – A social network for companies.

FundingCommunity – A platform revamping small business lending.

Instreamia – A new way to teach and learn language.

Kapture – A mobile application to turn anyone into a brand ambassador.

Lover.ly – A visual search engine for all things bridal.

MealTics – A crowdfunding platform for donating meals to local soup kitchens and shelters.

Motionry – A social network for developing sustainable technologies.

SeamlessDocs – A platform for making any PDF fillable.

Seed&Spark – A social network for filmmakers and film lovers.

Sendicate – An email app for sending emails simply.

Silver Living – An independent source of research and reviews of senior care facilities nationwide.

SpaceSplitter – Free and simple tools for awesome roommate living.

Status Chart – A better way to showcase all things freelancers do.

Suitey – A real estate brokerage platform.

The Swizzle – A platform organizing and simplifying daily emails from brands.

UrbanClout – An internet subscription service for TV shows and movies.

The topography of New York’s tech scene has changed since 2011, when we first peeked behind closed doors to document the fundraising process for season one of The Pitch. According to the latest reports, venture capitalists are investing more money in more local tech startups, luring expats from fashion and Wall Street to pursue their dreams and launch their own company.

But success is far from guaranteed, especially with the spectre of the Series A crunch and difficulty in getting users to download and engage–never mind pay for–your product or service. That’s why, for our second season of The Pitch, we’re letting you decide which startups get a chance to sell their concept on camera to investors from top notch firms like Softbank Capital and Lerer Ventures. Because, hey, if the founders can’t convince you to vote, how will they ever convince VCs to invest?

Will it be the team gamifying college admissions? The platform for managing finances and responsibilities with your roommate? The matchmaking service for your closet? Or, perhaps, the site that lets users crowdfund meals for the homeless?

Readers are welcome to vote as many times as they would like. The 10 startups with the most votes by midnight Thursday, March 28th will have their pitch vetted on camera by Nikhil Kalghatgi from SoftBank Capital and Steve Schlafman from Lerer Ventures, and vy for the chance of taking home $10,000 in funding.

Check out this season's startups and click “like” to vote for your favorites.

(Photo: Instagram/Mazy)

Airbnb Is a Belieber Early this week, CEO Brian Chesky tweeted out a photo of Justin Bieber, whose startup cred apparently extends to Airbnb renter. The Instagram shot was taken by Mazy Kazerooni, cofounder of #DominateFund, Ben Parr's still hush-hush, celebrity-focused micro-VC. Gee, wonder who their LPs are?

Friday flashback This week the revamped Digg got an unexpected celebrity thumbs-up: Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit fame (infamy?) tweeted at developer Robert Tolar Haining, "I love Digg. Great job and beautiful interface." "Why thank you sir!" Mr. Haining replied, because what else are you going to say when Fred Durst compliments your UI?

Curtain's up This week, Facebook sibling/musical theater devotee Randi Zuckerberg attended and spoke at TedXBroadway. More importantly: She got to meet Lt. Sulu himself, George Takei:

With @georgetakei at #TEDxBroadway! He was so great talking about theater & social media, I don't even have to speak! twitter.com/randizuckerber…

— Randi Zuckerberg (@randizuckerberg) January 28, 2013

Not even gonna front like we aren't jealous.

Devastating It seems Monday was a rough day in the Business Insider office. We speak not of Henry Blodget's regaling the Internet with tales of his air travels, nor of the site's tussle with the Awl over the nature of parody. No, we speak of the fallout from Sunday's episode "Downton Abbey." "Still kinda shaken by last night’s Downton," tweeted deputy editor Joseph Weisenthal. "Sybil?" Mr. Blodget responded with understanding and sympathy, before adding that it had been "brutal."

It's hard but we'll all get through this somehow, just like the Granthams. Stiff upper lip!

Panty Drop Off Softbank principle and devilishly stylish VC Nikhil Kalghatgi got a little surprise in the mail this week. Turns out some silly prankster decided to send him "3.9 kg of panties." Though he declined to reveal just how many pairs of panties equal 3.9 kg, he invited one lucky user to DM him on "Thonger, the all panties Twitter." Sassy.

(Photo: Twitter)

It's all Greek to me I don't think that word means what you think it means.

(Screenshot: Twitter)

The Coworker Is Right WeWork resident Asi Lang guessed the right price on stage with Drew Carey, while his fellow coworkers watched on TV from 175 Varick Street. Between this and all the Foursquare questions on "Jeopardy," game shows seem to have a Silicon Alley bias.

Oh you fancy huh Appcelerator head of partnerships and occasional Betabeat columnist Spencer Chen has some sick Super Bowl plans. Too bad TechCrunch columnist MG Siegler has better ones. Suddenly we feel gloriously populist for our plans to watch it in our PJs on a normal-sized TV.

(Photo: Tumblr)