Peter Harrington's Blog

Nov 24, 2008

On the weekend I participated in a business pitch competition. First place got $3,000 for their business or tuition. I was competing with Heddge.com and I had an opportunity to learn quite a few things. First place went to my good friend Mark (I had guaranteed the organizers that one of us would win), and I’m happy for him but disappointed in myself.  Although I’m confident I would have taken 2nd place, an organizer reassured me of this, I was unsatisfied as I absolutely hate losing. The constellation prize was some good networking and having the MC telling me that we could probably get funding.

Things I did right:

1. It is very important to educate the audience on the basic knowledge of the industry your operating in. I knew going in I would have to educate them on Technical Financial Analysis, but I think that they didn’t quite get it in the end. Without any educational aspect I would have been drowning for the 5 minuets I was up there.
2. Show your passion. This was very easy to do as I am very passionate about: web based technology, startups and financial analysis. I was probably one of the most enthusiastic people on stage, which I knew helped a lot. When your excited about your idea it gets other people excited too.
3. No powerpoint or keynote. It was only me up on that stage speaking about Heddge. A slideshow would have distracted people from my enthusiasm and passion, plus there isn’t a whole lot I could have put up that would have made things easier to understand.
4. Be confident, going into the competition I knew I stood a strong chance. Knowing you will win is the first step towards winning. 

Things I would change:

1. Show how you discovered the need for this product. Somehow I managed to skip over how we found a problem and are solving it. Going by the judges comments afterwards, this is one area that I lost ground in.
2. I would showcase the need for the money/prize more. Student competitions don’t want to give the money to somebody who has $100,000 in the bank, they want to give it to the person to whom it make the most difference.
3. Talk slower, it all my excitement I may have talked a bit too fast.
4. Tailor the talk to the audience more. After seeing that non of the judges had any technological or financial experience I should have talked more about the concept then implementation. 

All in all it was a helpful event and I’m glad I could take away some valuable lessons and networking connections. This time I guaranteed that my friend or myself would win, next time I guarantee I will win.