Learn the best practices for pitching to Judges, specific to participants participating in Startup Weekend Doha 2016

1. Best practices
for pitching
to judges
Emad Saif
Entrepreneurship Trainer
@esaif
March 23 2016

2. AGENDA
Judging Criteria
Useful Tips
Q & A Preparation

3. 1. Business Model 2. Customer Validation 3. Execution & Design
Judging Criteria
- 5 Min Presentation -

4. 1. Business Model
• Address the 9 building blocks
• Customer acquisition
• Competition
• Scalability
• Risk

5. • Are teams building something that
people actually want?
• How well does the team understand
their customer and their customer’s
needs?
• Did the team get out and talk to
customers?
• What is the value proposition to
customers?
2. Customer Validation

6. • Have they established a “Minimal
Viable Product” for the weekend
(software, hardware, etc.)?
• Does it deliver a compelling and
captivating user experience?
• Were they able to demo something
functional?
3. Execution & Design

7. AGENDA
Judging Criteria
Useful Tips
Q & A Preparation

8. AUDIENCE WANT TO BE
ENTERTAINED

9. USE SIMPLE LANGUAGE

10. SHARE YOUR PASSION

11. HOOK YOUR AUDIENCE

13. DON’T MEMORIZE

15. DON’T READ WORD FOR WORD

16. KNOW YOUR CORE MESSAGE
7 min
3 min
1 min
•Hook
•Customer Problem
•Value Proposition
•Team
•Product
•Market
•Financials
•Millstones
•Risks
• Hook
• Customer Problem
• Value Proposition
• Team
• Product
• Market
• Hook
• Customer Problem
• Value Proposition
• Team
Pitch
Pitch
Pitch

17. 5GB 1,000 songs
BENEFITS vs. FEATURES

18. WATCH YOUR TIME
• Time your self
• Plan your pauses
• Use images triggers

19. NON-VERBALCOMMUNICATION
Body
Distance
Clothes & Looks
Body & Arm Positions
Movement
Gestures
Eye Contact
Face Expressions
Touch
Voice
Voice Tone
Speed & Pauses

20. END WITH
“CALL TO ACTION”

21. PRACTICE.
PRACTICE.
PRACTICE.
Steve
Jobs did it
for hours!

22. AGENDA
Judging Criteria
Useful Tips
Q & A Preparation

23. WHY Q & A ?
• Feedback
• Additional clarification
• Challenge certain assumptions

24. DOs & DON’Ts
• Don’t give long explanations limit to 2-30 sec
• Ask for clarification if question is not clear
• You don’t know everything and that’s OK

25. Handling Feedback
• Accept the feedback
• Don’t respond – this is not a question
• Don’t argue – this is not a debate
• Say “Thanks for your feedback

26. Common Questions
• Do you have evidence customers want it?
• How big is your market? Is it scalable?
• What’s the team look like? What are your backgrounds?
• What is your product differentiation?
• What risks exist? How do you address them?
• What do you need? Milestones?

27. THINK LIKE AN
INVESTOR

28. Market
Attractiveness
Product
Differentiation
Managerial
Capabilities
Resistance to
Threats
Expected
Return
Perceived
Risk
Decision to
Invest
+
-
To Invest or not to Invest?

29. PITCH VIDEOS

30. AGENDA
Judging Criteria
Useful Tips
Q & A Preparation

31. LEAVE AN
IMPRESSION

32. You can
do it!

33. QUESTIONS?
Emad Saif
Center for Entrepreneurship
emadsaif@qu.edu.qa
@esaif