Techweek Winning Pitches: Top 3 Lessons Learned

techweek-nyc-winners

This year’s NY Techweek was packed with alot of great pitches and advice.  It was the presentation and question patterns that I found most interesting.  I was a spectator in the audience, for two dozen pitches … and they all shared some winning qualities.

Assuming you have a good idea to pitch in the first place, your delivery and content is what separates your idea from everyone else’s. Get it right and you can capture the attention of your audience and move closer to your goal of sharing it with the world. However, if you get stage fright and/or don’t deliver your message correctly, well… then your idea could be lost forever. Ok, well maybe not forever but at least it will be temporarily stalled until you learn what went wrong and what went right and correct your approach as you move forward.

As a spectator in the audience I decided to take notes to make the most of this opportunity.

I want to share some of my notes to help those who didn’t attend, for those who want to learn more and be better prepared when they get their turn to present on stage.

Overall, the top 3 points I learned from listening to the winning pitches that day were:

1. Be well prepared (Have high level clearly organized slides and a natural authentic “presentation tone” to match your slides),

2. Communicate your Compelling Strategy (with good financials/projections, market strategy)

3. Show how your idea has integrity (demonstrate problem solving, how different than others)

So, If you’re starting your first pitch, begin with the above 3 basic points and then be ready to answer questions like the ones in my attached notes.

Click on this link: NYCTechweek2015-pitch-notes.pdf  to read my notes and see some of the specific questions asked that day.  Good Luck!!!!

 

Posted on November 10, 2015 in my blog

Share the Story

About the Author

Phil is a technology expert with 15+ years experience architecting and building web solutions. He started in digital agencies like PixelPark and Xceed and has worked in creating cutting-edge web solutions, including being an early technology adopter with live events such as Intel Music Festival. He was also the founder of All Media Interactive Group. He specializes in open source development using LAMP, iOS, Node.js, Java, PHP, Magento, and Drupal. At Citigroup/SmithBarney, he served as Development Lead and Tech Program Manager for the Applications Development Division and also headed up Applications Data Security as a certified CISSP for Smith Barney, leading architecture domains and creating standards and best practices for the Applications Development group. In addition, Phil has built integrated social media, informational and commerce database solutions from the ground up for the mobile and desktop platforms of Queen of Raw and Favoire. Phil served as a mentor at the Branson Centre for Entrepreneurship and was a Finalist for the $1M Verizon Powerful Answers Award and a Top 15 Fashion Tech Founders of the Future Finalist at New York Fashion Tech Forum.
Back to Top