How we won Pitch@Palace — and what happens next?
Why you should apply and how to prepare for the UK’s biggest startup competition
“Ladies and gentlemen,” said the Duke of York, “the voting has closed and I am about to announce the winners of Pitch@Palace 10.0.”
The room fell quiet – quieter, probably, than at any other point that evening. Startup founders and audience alike sat still, waiting to hear who would be crowned champions of the final pitch. 42 businesses had made it here, to Buckingham Palace, to present to a curated audience of investors, industry leaders and friends of the royal family.
The blue lights focused on the stage.
“And the winners are…” announced the Duke in a carrying voice, “Stasher, Lilypads, and Biosure.”
Stasher: we had won. Anthony jumped up beside me and I just remember grinning in a bit of a daze. We walked down the red-carpeted aisle between the seats to the stage.
This was the culmination of an awesome journey, that saw us pitch in regional heats, boot camps and finally Buckingham Palace itself. Below I outline how you can apply for Pitch@Palace, what our journey was like, and my advice on how to craft a winning pitch.
Congratulations to everyone who took part, especially Lilypads & Biosure: their work is admirable. And thanks to HRH the Duke of York and everyone involved in organising the events – from all of us here at Stasher.
Applying for Pitch@Palace
What is Pitch@Palace?
Pitch@Palace is a networking/pitching event like nothing else. The initiative was set up by the Duke of York to boost entrepreneurs and involves an online application followed by regional heats, boot camp and then the finals. The idea is that you get a platform to pitch what you do and a place to ask what you need, with an audience who have enough influence to make it happen.
How do I apply?
Visit their website. The application form takes a bit of time to complete and it’s worth writing a good bio as it’ll be used in the regional pitch materials.
Who should apply?
We thought about applying last year when we were 6 months into our journey, but I’m glad we didn’t. I think this year was the perfect stage for us (for context, we were 22 months in when we pitched at Buckingham Palace).
In theory, anyone can apply — my advice would be that you need to be far enough into the journey to be able to articulate a clear ask. And be at a meaningful enough stage to engage that ask, if you are successful.
Don’t forget that to win you must demonstrate traction. An idea alone is not enough. Last year, our traction was far less impressive than it is this year, which means people take you less seriously. The Palace audience is next-level. It’s a supercharged networking event. You want to be at a stage where you are able to impress the audience and make them feel that they could meaningfully help you.
What do you get for winning?
Actually, the winning element of this competition is a bit of a sideshow. Taking part and networking is the true purpose of the exercise. I’m competitive by nature and writing an article about winning makes for a more compelling read than an article about taking part. But in this case, to win is not really to be voted winner, it is to pitch your ask and get it delivered.
There are no actual prizes for winning, but the credibility and prestige are invaluable.
What is the journey like? Well, here’s our quick story…
If your application is successful, you’ll get invited to a regional heat. By some quirk, we ended up drawn in the Belfast heats. I booked flights for the day’s event that cost me £180 and calculated that I was paying £60 per minute of pitching.
“That’s gonna be expensive if we don’t win,” Anthony told me. We briefly considered not going, but the opportunity was too good to miss. So I flew solo and did our 3 minute pitch to the crowd in Belfast. It went down so well that I barely changed it for the following rounds.
At the heats, they picked 3 startups to fast-track to boot camp — the rest got pooled to select from later. To my delight, we got fast-tracked and the plane ticket seemed worthwhile.
Very worthwhile, in fact, as getting fast-tracked to boot camp meant we had already booked our place in the final.
The boot camp took place at Cambridge’s Judge Business School. In a very warm auditorium, 42 startups got 3 minutes each to practise their final pitch. 12 would be given the full 3 minute slot at the Palace. The remaining 30 would get but 30 seconds each.
It goes without saying you want to secure a 3 minute pitch. All 3 winners from the finals had 3 minute pitches — in my view, 30 seconds is simply not enough time to make a real impression.
Speaking to one of the judges at the event, he informed me that in addition to assessing the quality of the business, the judges consider the following: Would this person be good on stage? Would they entertain the audience? Do they need 3 minutes to explain their model, or would 30 seconds suffice? In short, you need to impress with your presentation at the boot camp.
To my horror, I was last on the list. The graveyard slot. 42 out of 42 in the warmest of warm lecture theatres. My only choice was to embrace it.
I opened my boot camp pitch with, “I’d like to thank whoever was responsible for the scheduling.” Happily this was a joke that was well received. “My ask today, your Royal Highness, would be to meet this person ahead of Buckingham Palace, so I can go slightly earlier in the line-up.”
This got things off to a good start – we were shortlisted and won a place in the top 12.
Before you go to the Palace, you need to resubmit your bio and submit your ask in writing. You can also request invitations be sent to 3 individuals to attend the event. We asked for Brian Chesky (Airbnb founder), Richard Branson (does he need an intro?) and Rowan Atkinson (no direct relevance, I was just imagining how amazing it would be to feature him in an advert for Stasher). Alas, I don’t think any of them got the invitation, or none accepted it if they did.
What are the finals like?
We were very lucky to attend Buckingham Palace for ours. The Big One. The Palace to end all Palaces. Normally the events are held at St James’ Palace.
We had sound checks in the afternoon and plenty of time to look around, take photos, drink tea and chat to the Palace staff. They were all very disciplined and I think they were trained to talk in the Palace style of “Yes, sir. Very good, sir. Tea, sir?”
The audience took their seats around 5:30pm. The pitches lasted about 90 minutes in total. The results were announced, photos were taken, and then it was over to networking.
Networking at Pitch@Palace
The audience at Pitch@Palace is like nothing else you’ll ever experience. It’s a mix of investors, industry leaders, and people who seemingly and unaccountably know everyone. After our pitch, we were approached by people with a great many connections that could be game-changing for our business.
Persistent follow-ups are also critical. It’s very easy to promise a connection and forget to deliver. We learned this early at other events. Whenever you meet somebody worthwhile at a networking event, get their details, follow up the next day and make a note to follow them up again 3–5 days later until you get an answer.
A tangential note about networking: networking with pitching is so much more valuable than regular networking. Nothing beats people already knowing what you do and having your pitch as a talking point to open conversation. It means that they are already in a position to assess whether or not they can help you or work with you. It sidesteps the awkward networking scenario of:
Me: “What do you do?” … Them: “X — what do you do?” … Me: “Awesome, my thing is entirely unrelated to your thing” …Them: “Great, I’m sure we can work together…”
That brings us almost to the present day. We’re in the persistent follow-up phase. But if even 5% of the conversations we had after the pitch materialise into useful plans and deals, the whole exercise will have been a spectacular success.
In Part 2, I’ll go into more detail on pitching and how to refine your pitch for the Palace format.
What is Stasher?
Stasher connects travellers looking for somewhere to leave their luggage with hotels and shops that have secure storage space.
In 2018, Stasher won Expedia’s inaugural Travel Startup Competition, Travolution’s Startup of the Year, VRTech’s Startup of the Year, Visit England’s Award for Excellence, Feefo’s Gold Service Award, Phocuswright’s People’s Choice Award and of course Pitch@Palace.
