pitch, please. what startups should pitch and why?

Nettra D. Pan | EPFL College of Management of Technology | @nettra

EPFL Forum – Startup Day | Oct. 7, 2015 | Lausanne 1

Pitch, please.Why are we fascinated? What can pitching bring us?

Source: Vergence Labs by Stephen Breshear (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) 2012



72 Startups at the Forum Actiss Partners

Akselos SA

Apidel SA

Attolight

BestMile

Bio

Biotechware

BlueWatt Engineering Sarl

Bookbedder

Bridgology

ChillingMonkey

CodeTickler

Coteries SA

CyberHaven

DomoSafety SA

eLamp

eSMART Technologies SA

Eurocol

Experientia

EZYcount by superVX AG

Fastree3D SA

Flyability

Foodcampus

Gait Up

Gookers

Greenastic

HARDAH Sàrl

Imperix

Innovare Platform

InvestGlass

Iprova

kaemco

KANG

Kireego

Kizy Tracking

Labs

LENR Cars SA

Lionel’s startup

LYO-X GmbH

MindMaze SA

Morphotonix

Mst Jojob

Nowy

OsmoBlue

PB&B SA

PodioBox

Percko

Pryv SA

Qloudlab SA

Quartz Bio

RC

Recmeabook

Reuteler & cie SA – Patent &

Trademark attorneys

ROVENSO

Safen Fluid & Mechanical Engineering

S.r.l.

SalesWings

ScanTrust

Sci-Consulting

Seedstars World SA

SenseFly SA

Sinclair Nanbiquara sàrl

Smida

Sofaces

Sqeedtime

SWINAPS

Swissmic SA

TawiPay

Technis

Utribo

Visionarity

Zizzz

Zepto



QloudLab Renso Fastree3D

OsmoBlue Sensefly Kireego

6 selected to pitch



5.12 million hits on Google

startup contest



sales pitch,value proposition

Recent, but rising popularity



Money Tigers (2001) first to bring pitching to TV



Watching entrepreneurs pitch, now in 28 countries



Me, with winners of of the

MyAfricanStartup.com pitch

at Abidjan, Ivory Coast in 2015

Winners of

SeedStarsWorld Kigali in 2014



“Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.Once you learn that, you'll never be the same again.”

-Steve Jobs



The potential of

technology we can

easily access is amazing.



Source: Youtube: RideswithChuck

Local Motor’s

3D printed car

in 2014



Venture$$$

Designs

TalentTraining

Ideas

Resources

The Internet

People

Feedback



Venture$$$

Feedback

Designs

TalentTraining

Venture$$$

Feedback

Designs

TalentTraining

Ideas

“labor on tap”

Resources

People

The Internet



Venture$$$

Feedback

Designs

TalentTraining

Venture$$$

FeedbackIdeas

Designs

TalentTraining

“mass customization”

“labor on tap”

People

Resources



Venture$$$

Feedback

Designs

TalentTraining

Venture$$$

Feedback

Designs

Talent

Venture$$$

Talent


Ideas

“labor on tap”

Resources

People



Venture$$$

Feedback

Designs

TalentTraining

Venture$$$

Feedback

Designs

Talent

Venture$$$

Talent


Ideas

“labor on tap”

Technical capacity

Resources

People



Venture$$$

FeedbackIdeas

Designs

Customer

Talent

“labor on tap”

Training


People

Resources

Technical capacity



Venture$$$

FeedbackIdeas

Designs

Customer

Talent

e-commerce

“labor on tap”

Training


People

Resources

Technical capacity



Resources

Venture$$$

FeedbackIdeas

Designs

Customer

f-commerce

Talent

People

e-commerce

“labor on tap”

Training



Resources

Venture$$$

FeedbackIdeas

Designs

Customer

f-commerce

i-commerce

Talent

People

e-commerce

“labor on tap”

Training



Resources

Venture$$$

FeedbackIdeas

Designs

CustomerPhone

F-commerce

i-commerce

click-and-mortar

Talent

People

e-commerce

“labor on tap” p-commerce

virtual goods

Training

remote assistance



Moore’s Law illustrated by the development of Lara Croft’s character 17 years

Source: http://www.halloweencostumes.com/blog/p-468-tomb-raider-infographic.aspx



Lara Croft today vs.

17 years ago

Source: http://www.halloweencostumes.com/blog/p-468-tomb-raider-infographic.aspx



Source: http://www.cafesmom.com/index.php/2014/09/04/the-unicorn-effect-code-words-for-stepmoms/



Source: https://medium.com/backchannel/here-are-the-secrets-of-unicorn-companies-c8951b99215b



Source: http://www.cafesmom.com/index.php/2014/09/04/the-unicorn-effect-code-words-for-stepmoms/



Startup contests



Promote an entrepreneurial culture

Startup contests



Help new + small startups earn legitimacy


Startup contests





Opportunities to support or found your own

Startup contests



Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2015/01/06/why-now-is-the-time-to-buy-tesla-motors-stock/

Competing against an existing startup can help expand the market



Moments to exchange + change your mind




Startup contests



Moments to exchange + change your mind




Moments to collectively define our startup culture

Startup contests



Image to left: Danny de Vito, used-car salesman in Matilda

Used-car salesman?



Founders must be more devoted to product

quality, knowing that their company will not

survive without delighting the customer.*

*Young companies suffer from liabiliteis of newsness and smallness and have to build legitimacy (Aldrich & Fiol, 1994; Stinchcombe, 1965).



ideaspitches

inspiration

important

opportunity for

startups



ideaspitches

inspiration

important

opportunity for

startups

information



demonstrate these 6 things (and keep doing them)

How to be a great startup:



1. Need for the product or service




2. Large + growing target market, composed of well-

understood customers






3. Creative and effective use of resources







4. Differentiation (through innovation or design)








5. Positive market reaction (e.g. hockey stick)








5. Positive market reaction (e.g. hockey stick)

6. General plausibility (we trust you + your team)

An ideal startup pitch demonstrates:



But also: Why?

How? is important.



What is your vision of the world?



They have our interest because

they also know why.

These founders are discovering

how to build valuable companies.



To enable the detection of hundreds of conditions and

diseases from a few drops of blood. Elizabeth Holmes, youngest self-made billionaire at Theranos (worth $10B).

Source: http://www.inc.com/magazine/201510/kimberly-weisul/the-longest-game.html



To help people with spinal cord injuries walk again.

Source: http://www.begeek.fr/hello-tomorrow-challenge-2014-vive-linnovation-127310

Gregoire Courtine

and Vincent Delattre

at G-Therapeutics

(EPFL spin-off)

created robot-

assisted training and

implantable

stimulation system.



To plant trees faster

and cheaper, and

combat deforestation.

Susan Graham:

Source: http://hello-tomorrow.org/susan-graham-biocarbon-engineering/



To enable safer search and rescue missions after

disasters.

Source: http://www.dronesandsociety.org/?p=674

Adrien Briod and

Patrick Thévoz at

Flyability (EPFL

spin-off) pose with

Gimball, a rotating

carbon fiber

protective frame

encasing a robot,

controlled by a

flight control

algorithm.



You have the right tools, and are in the right place.

200+ startups founded in 20 years.

200M+ CHF invested in startups in 2014.

1-2 startup founded each month.



Please ask keep asking

the right question.

Source: http://vpiv.epfl.ch/innogrants



Why?

Source: http://vpiv.epfl.ch/innogrants



What new world will you pitch?

pitch, please. what startups should pitch and why?

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