The Launch Lab based at Stellenbosch University is hosting The Pitching Den.The concept is that participants provide an informal pitch at the LaunchLab. The pitch itself has some interesting rules, especially:
- 3 minutes
- No slides (e.g. PowerPoint, Keynote)
The topics to cover in the presentation are:
- Team
- Problem/need that is being addressed (your market & customer)
- Your solution (your product/services)
- Why it will work? (your value proposition)
- How will you make money? (your business model)
- How much money do you need to launch and what will you spend it on? (your budget)
- What are the main activities you will need to complete in order to launch? (your project plan)
After the three-week intake of ideas, a week will be allocated to filter the ideas and choose the finalists. A panel of judges will choose the best ideas from the final pitches. The winning ideas will win seed funding, mentorship and space in the LaunchLab so that they can be developed further. The panel of judges will consist of representatives from industry (Angel investors and/or successful entrepreneurs) as well as Stellenbosch University Entrepreneurship Forum and faculty members. Feedback will be provided to the students on the merits of their idea. The audience will be allowed access throughout the event to also provide input on the ideas. The Pitching Den will run on the 22 – 24 April 2014. The final presentations will take place on the 8 May 2014. For more information and to apply, please click here.
(Personally, I think this is a really useful exercise to undertake for any entrepreneur. Developing a short presentation without the aid of slides is excellent preparation for talking to clients, and perhaps even winning awards.)
The outcomes are that:
- Real businesses will be formed. An example is a previous winner of the competition, which teaches people Afrikaans. Africhance looks and feels like a real and viable business.
- Prepare students/ teams to present at the IDC, based on a relatiopnship between the IDC and Launch Lab.