Tech Ranch® and TriNet will be co-hosting a Chill Lounge from 12-3pm on Monday, March 11th and Tuesday, March 12th at TriNet Austin. Stop by to escape the crowds for a bit, have a snack and mix with startups, entrepreneurs and others.
On Wednesday, March 13th from 12-3pm we are proud to announce Pitch Slam, a pitch event with a twist…the chance to re-Pitch.
If you’ve ever pitched your startup, you’ve screwed it up. Come on, admit it. You’ve said the wrong thing. Skipped a slide. Forgotten key information. We’ve all pitched our startups and thought “man, I wish I had the chance to try again using the feedback I just received”? Well, here’s your chance.
Before the event, we’ll select ten startups to pitch and get audience feedback and field questions. The audience will then vote and we’ll give three of those the chance to go away, fine tune their pitches and re-Pitch based on the feedback they received from the audience.
Here’s the format
10 Startups
5 minute pitch
3 minutes of questions and feedback
15 minute break
Audience selects three startups they’d like to see re-Pitch
This is what we want to see
There’s nothing worse than not knowing what to cover in a pitch, so we’re going to tell you. Your pitch must be in PowerPoint or Keynote and contain the following slides and information. Bill Clark, the Austin area President and Founder of MicroVentures wrote a great post “10 Things to Include in Your Startup Pitch Presentation” on Mashable about pitch content. We’re going to pare it down a bit to hit the highlights in five minutes.
Cover Page: Business name and tagline. Pretty self explanatory.
Summary and Team: Give a high level overview of your business to get the crowd excited about what you are doing. Investors often indicate the biggest criteria for investment is the team. Success or failure start there.
Problem and value proposition: Cover what problem you’re solving and why investors should care. If you have a live product show a screenshot or two and any case studies you have.
Competition and size of market: Talk about your competition (yes, we all have some – even you), your differentiation and the whale of a market you are about to capture. Throwing in an exit and acquisition or two in your space always makes ears perk up as well.
Business model and any traction: Customers and revenue also make people pay attention. If you have them, talk about them. If you don’t, talk about your route to market and pricing plans.
Financing to date and the big ask: If you’ve raised money, let us know. Investors like to know you are investable. Lastly, make it clear what you need. Founder, advisor, money. When it comes to startups, “always be asking” is the new “always be closing”.
To participate:
Simply fill in the form below including the Pitchslam140 box, which is the area to give us your 140 character elevator pitch. All fields are mandatory. We’ll be reviewing the applications over the next couple of weeks and we’ll let the ten lucky startups know before SXSW.
To Attend:
Want to see some up and coming startups pitch? Want a place to escape the SXSW crowd for a bit and meet entrepreneurs, investors and others? Our goal is to provide the startups with valuable feedback to improve their pitch. We need an audience to do this. Register here:
Location:
TriNet
515 Congress Avenue
Suite 1200
Austin, TX 78701
Register to participate: