Perfect pitch?
So, you've hooked up with some genius across campus and together you've developed a jaw-dropping product and innovative business model that will save humanity and make you zillions in the process. All you need is venture capital. Well, it goes that a friend of a friend gets you invited to a party for this illustrious vc — big-time investor, hailed the most powerful woman in the city a few years back, rich beyond belief but a sucker for a business plan that marries social good and profitability.
So, you put on your Sunday best and plant yourself amid the gaggle of other would-be entrepreneurs around the bejeweled vc at this lavish affair. Suddenly, the vc spills her drink. The others rush off for paper towels and to refill her drink. They'll be back in 60 seconds. So, you speak. Intelligently? Persuasively?
It's a shame the success of a brilliant business idea could hinge on a 60-second pitch, but there's a reason entrepreneurial gurus like MIT Sloan's Ken Morse stress the importance of the so-called elevator pitch. Your opening could arise in any place, at any moment. You have to capitalize.
Morse has taught students the art of the elevator pitch for years, and refining one's pitch has always been part of the events leading up to the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition, which is in its 18th year and has facilitated the birth of over 85 companies. This year, the elevator pitch emerges from the, um, elevator, with its own competition as part of the Entrepreneurship Competition.
MIT's first-ever Elevator Pitch Contest will take place Oct. 13 at the MIT Stata Center. A panel of venture capitalists, angel investors, and entrepreneurs will judge the contest. There is no fee to participate or attend, and the competition is open to both students and the public. More than $10,000 in prize money will be awarded.
“The Elevator Pitch Contest is a brand new addition to the $100K Entrepreneurship Competition series that allows up-and-coming entrepreneurs to test their ideas with passion,” according to Jeff Sabados, lead organizer of the $100K. “Conceivably, a participant could win $2,500 in 60 seconds, which isn't bad for an afternoon.”
- Posted by Scott Rolph
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