I Went To The Olympics!

Yesterday I attended the annual Venture Association of NJ Pitch Olympics. What an eye opener! The format of the event involved entrepreneurs presenting their products / services in 2 minutes and a panel of judges (mostly from venture capital firms) rating them on their presentations and fundability. I had actually thought of participating, but the cost was prohibitive so I went for the learning experience - and boy did I learn a few things:

1. If you can't speak well - get a spokesperson. The entrepreneurs were limited to 2 minute presentations. No questions were asked. So, with that format, why wouldn't you get a great spokesperson to present your product? I was amazed at the entrepreneurs who could barely enunciate! One company actually had a product that I felt had promise - but you couldn't understand a thing that was said.
2. You need to talk about other things than the product. The judges kept stressing that product information was important, but where entrepreneurs fail is by not giving the investor a better idea of HOW the product will be used and WHO will use it. Entrepreneurs need to give as much information as possible of the market opportunities and the specific target markets.
3. Bring notes. So many of the entrepreneurs presented off the top of their heads. Why would you do that? You are standing in front of a podium - you have a place to put your paper. Many of the entrepreneurs just came across as unprepared.

My FAVORITE pitch was from Meryl Rosenthal of FlexPaths (http://www.flexpaths.com/). She was the first to present and she was AWESOME! She presented a clear presentation that hit on all the points in which an investor is interested. Better yet: they are an alliance for our services! She missed first place by 1 point to Mattingly Sports (http://www.mattinglybaseball.com/) - and they mastered the concept of product placement (the moderator prominently held one of the Mattingly bats throughout the event).

I am very glad that I went to the event. I sat at the table with venture capitalists and got to hear a little about their thoughts. Interestingly, I was surprised at the amounts the entrepreneurs were seeking. Most were asking for about $1 million - and according to Bill Payne (angel investor extraordinaire), this is an amount that hits the angel limit but is not near the venture capital amounts. I am curious to find out what each entrepreneur's goal was by participating in the event. Who exactly were they trying to reach?