“Pitch Perfect” Workshop on October 4
Applications are closing for ‘Cuse Tank, but remain open for the upcoming Impact Prize, ACC InVenture Prize, RvD iPrize, and the Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award, as well as Whitman’s Orange Tank and the Panasci Business Plan Competition. To help get students ready for the many opportunities ahead, starting with ‘Cuse Tank on October 8, the LaunchPad will be hosting a “Pitch Perfect” workshop on Monday, October 4 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. to help students prepare. The session, at the LaunchPad in Bird Library, which will include tips on presentation techniques, as well as info on what to include in pitch decks.
The workshop will include:
Presentation style
- Tips on an effective presentation, and how to create a compelling story
- How to pitch with polish in a way that connects with the audience and judges
- How to create effective visuals and infographics to demonstrate your points
- Do’s and don’ts of presentations, and how to create impact
What the judges are looking for
- Problem identification, customer discovery and validation
- Viability and feasibility of solution
- Market opportunity and effective identification of target customers and end-users
- Competitive advantage and value proposition
- Strength of the business model the product/service or technology being developed, solid assumptions and realistic projections of cost and revenue drivers
- Expertise of the team, and a network of supporting advisors who bring expertise
- Passion, drive and team commitment
- Clear, convincing and engaging pitch
Components of the pitch
- Problem and its significance (tell a story and create a context)
- Solution and what makes it unique
- Problem/solution validation
- Size of the market opportunity and customer/end-user you are targeting
- Competitive landscape and where you fit
- Marketing and sales channels to reach your market
- Your plan: product roadmap and business development roadmap
- Financial projections over three years (expenses and revenues), and a breakeven analysis
- Your funding strategy, and projected sources and uses of funds
- Your team, and expertise it has to tackle this problem and bring this solution to market
- Your wrap and how to hit it out the park. Make the ask and give the judges a reason to invest in your idea and your team
The LaunchPad team will be working to help prepare students for the competitions, and a series of practice pitch sessions will be held before each competition.
To learn more about the competitions, get details on the schedule, or schedule coaching sessions with LaunchPad Rubin Family Innovation Mentors, email launchpad@syr.edu.