Elevator Pitch

Elevator Pitch Competition

90 seconds and we're counting!
Downloadable Scoring Criteria

Students (only) at CEO East write an Elevator Pitch in the clinic conforming to the criteria below for their business, social, or nonprofit venture concept, practice it with mentors, and deliver it to judges later in the day. Winners will be announced at the closing ceremony.

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia:
An elevator pitch (or elevator speech) is a brief overview of an idea for a product, service, or project. The pitch is so called because it can be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride (say, thirty seconds). The term is typically used in the context of an entrepreneur pitching an idea to a venture capitalist to receive funding. Venture capitalists often judge the quality of an idea and team on the basis of the quality of its elevator pitch, and will ask entrepreneurs for the elevator pitch so to quickly weed out bad ideas. It is said that that many of the most important decisions made on the floor of the United States's House or Senate are made "in the spate of an elevator ride" as a staff aide whispers into a congressman or senator's ear while they head down to the floor to cast their vote. A variety of other people, including intrapreneurs, project managers, salespeople, and job seekers, commonly use elevator pitches to get their point across quickly.

Details


Eligibility:

Criteria your pitch should adhere to:

  1. Company - Who you are (recommend one sentence).
  2. Need - Explain the problem your customers face (recommend two sentences).
  3. Solution - How do you solve this problem? Don't tell us any technical details, just tell us the same way you would tell your non-tech-savvy grandparents. (strongly recommend no more than one sentence).
  4. Market - Tell us how many people need your product or service. If you know the market dollar value, tell us that too. (recommend one or two sentences)
  5. Business Model - Explain how you make money. Do you sell the product to wholesalers for a flat fee? Do you charge a subscription? Do you split revenues with a partner? (recommend one sentence).
  6. Financials - Typically companies place a very summarized, five-year projection of their revenue, costs, and profits in this section. Given the scope of this contest, the above may be far outside your current levels of expertise. If so, it is perfectly acceptable instead for you to answer some or all of these basic questions: What will your start-up costs be? What will the COGS (cost of goods sold) for your product be? Once you are up and running, what will the approximate total annual cost of running your business be? How long will it take you to reach break-even (income=expenses)? (recommend one sentence each question answered)
  7. Exit (Nonprofit concepts can skip this section) - explain to us how the investor will get their money back + a healthy profit (at least double their money, if not 5-10 times their money). Will you sell the company? Will you license your technology and split the royalty check with the investor? Will you sell your product and share profits with the investor? (recommend one-two sentences)
  8. Impact (for-profit concepts can skip this section) - Tell us the positive impact your nonprofit will make on the world (recommend one-two sentences).
  9. People - Tell us who the smart, experienced, credible people you have assembled to execute your business plan are. If you don't have them yet, tell us what you do have and that you're smart enough to be looking for the rest. (how much time you spend here depends greatly on how strong your team is.)
  10. Investment Strategy (aka "The Ask") - How much money you need and what it will let you do. (recommend one sentence. For example: XYZ Company needs $100,000 to… what?)

Disclosure of Concept

Judges will not sign the Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA). Industry standard for Venture Capitalists is to not sign the NDA. Therefore, our judges will follow the standard operating procedure to help replicate the experience of funding a new venture. Please note that our judges are well-respected, highly accomplished business people who will treat each entry with the highest standard of professional privacy. If you are concerned about confidentiality, please exclude specific details from your submissions.

Ownership of Concept

Judges will not sign the Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA). Industry standard for Venture Capitalists is to not sign the NDA. Therefore, our judges will follow the standard operating procedure to help replicate the experience of funding a new venture. Please note that our judges are well-respected, highly accomplished business people who will treat each entry with the highest standard of professional privacy. If you are concerned about confidentiality, please exclude specific details from your submissions

Ownership of Concept

All work, ideas, and/or concepts submitted must be the original work of the team, exclusively. The team leader does not need to be the owner of the idea, concept, or technology, but the people who have ownership of it must be a team member. The concept cannot be under:

  1. A verbal or written contractual agreement
  2. A university, government, or company disclosure policy
  3. Another restriction that prohibits competing in a business plan competition, using the concept for personal use without informing others, or disclosing the concept to others

Judging:

50% on the quality of the presentation.
50% on meeting the scoring criteria.
All decisions by CEO East and/or its judges are final.

Sample Pitch:

All inPlay, creates software that empowers the blind and visually impaired to socialize with their friends and loved ones unhandicapped and as equals. Imagine how your life might become suddenly different if you or a loved one went blind tomorrow. The vast majority of social and recreational activities that we take for granted every day would become difficult or impossible for you to participate in. Since 2002, All inPlay's website and suite of online games have allowed the blind to reconnect with their friends in loved ones in a way where no one can even tell who's blind and who's sighted. There are millions of Internet-enabled, blind and visually impaired adults in the United States alone. All inPlay's business model is monthly subscription. With that model we've been generating revenues since 2002, attained positive cashflow in 2003, and can attain revenues of $5 million in 2010. Investors will be paid back through cashflow, providing them an annualized rate of return of greater than 40%/year. Previous to joining All inPlay, our leadership has: Developed and Launched Trivial Pursuit, increased Dunk'n Donut's growth from 3%/year to 30%/year, founded a multi-billion dollar mutual fund, managed the distribution network of the most successful low-vision products company in the world, etc. We seek $100,000 to launch our third product and turn the corner to profitability.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please direct them to ceo@wpi.edu

Entrepreneurship isn't just for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurial skills will work to your advantage in any career.

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Last modified: April 24, 2008 11:18:05