How I Judge Pitch Competitions
Last week I was asked to be one of the judges for a pitch competition for female founders. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take part due to illness, but I wanted to break down the judging process for all of you in case it’s helpful the next time you are presenting your startup before a jury. I feel two ways on pitch competitions. In a positive sense, they can be great exercises for founders to get comfortable pitching to a big audience, spreading the word about what you do, and if you win, the winnings can help make things a bit more comfortable for you (but don’t depend on them!). But, pitch competitions also can bring in a lot of negative competitive attitudes into a startup ecosystem, they’re highly subjective, and can be very distracting. In certain ecosystems, I’ve seen founders going from pitch competition to pitch competition, surviving off of the proceeds, and not necessarily making any progress on their startups. Continued winning at these things might make you feel like you are advancing, but ultimately, you should measure your progress based on how you win customers, rather than winning over judges. That being said, pitch competitions are a longstanding facet of the startup ecosystem, and if you are taking part for the right reasons, they can be a good platform to share what you’re doing to a wide amount of people as possible.
Here’s how I judge:
- The Rubric. Certain events have a specific scoring or judging system that attributes points and scoring percentages to certain aspects of the pitch, presentation and business model. In these cases, the final evaluation is much more systematic than in cases where judges choose an overall favorite. For very large events and when evaluating many different startups at the same time, scoring rubrics are common (Startup Weekend, Founders Institute Founder Hotseat, early stages of WebSummit Alpha Pitch, etc..). These are usually evaluated numerically, 1–5 or similar. As a founder, it’s important to know the competition beforehand.
Ask questions of the organizers about how the pitch competition is going to be scored, and know before you go on stage the specific aspects that the organizers are looking for in a good pitch. Is the idea, or business model more important than the presentation? What weight does each have? Maximize your chances by playing up the part of your pitch that is most likely to make the biggest impact scoring-wise.
2. The Presentation. When the organizers have not given a rubric for the judges to evaluate the startups, things get quite a bit more subjective. The judges will only have a few minutes to evaluate your business and it’s potential, but in that time they will be able to give a much better assessment about how you present yourself, tell your story, and develop your narrative. As it is a pitch competition, and not a business plan competition, the presentation of the pitch, tends to weigh a bit more highly than you might expect. This means, an incredible presentation of an unsteady startup, brilliantly sold can be competitive against businesses that might have more potential in the long term. Thankfully, there is something that everyone can do to be competitive here. At the bare minimum, I’m looking for startups that take the timing of pitch seriously — if the pitch competition is for three minutes, make sure your presentation is three minutes, not five minutes. You would be surprised at how many startups get their timing wrong, and it’s something that you can easily prepare for. Other things I’m looking for: does the presentation sound well-rehearsed? Is it clear from the presentation the problem the company is solving, the intended customer, and how they are going to solve it? Has the presentation kept the audience engaged, or are they drifting off? The organizers will generally give judges an idea about how much to weigh the presentation, but if they don’t have a preference, the presentation garners about 50% of my overall score.
3. The Pitch (business). Evaluating the potential of a startup based on limited information presented in a short pitch can be tricky. That’s where things get pretty subjective, and where it is important to know as a founder that failure at a pitch competition does not mean that your business idea is invalidated. Here, is where it makes sense to do your homework and know your jury beforehand. Oftentimes events will publicize who is on the jury prior to the pitch. Juries are often made up of individuals across the spectrum of the startup ecosystem, from previous founders, investors, journalists, to corporate sponsors. It is likely that none of the assembled jury has no specific domain expertise in the area your startup is working on. Make sure you prepare your presentation accordingly, removing jargon and developing a narrative that anyone can follow, regardless of their prior expertise.
If they’re lacking specific insight on your domain area, judges will first be looking for red flags that automatically put limits on your business potential. Some areas that might be highlighted as a “red flag” include scaling to outside markets, significant competitors in the space, or costs and pricing challenges. Identify possible roadblocks before you’re asked about them. Remember, the pitch competition is just the chance to tease what you’re doing, to encourage them to learn more — not to lay out in extended paragraphs the nuts and bolts of your solution. If at all possible, use visuals to help illustrate what you’re saying. For example, a well-placed chart or graph can do more to illustrate magnitude than a black and white number can.
If you’ve done your research on your jury, and find that they do have considerable domain expertise in your area, use your pitch to speak directly to them. Appeal to their understanding by connecting your solution to other examples that they already know, and preempt their questions by answering those specifics that you’re continually asked about (you’ll know what they are) directly in your pitch, before they have a chance to ask in the questions. When I’m evaluating your business pitch, what I’m looking for: What is the global potential of the business, how you differentiate yourselves from the competitors in this space, how does the team measure up?
4. The Response. How you respond to questions is a great opportunity to really up your game when it comes to your pitch. Most events (and always at the later stages) will have a few minutes for questions by the judges at the end of the pitch. The worst outcome is that the judges have no questions for you, so avoid this by building up the anticipation in your pitch about the future roadmap. Use your presentation to build the excitement, trust and anticipation in your solution, rather than give everything away. For example, describe the business model and market, but don’t necessarily break down the specifics of the pricing strategy. One of the best things you can do to make yourself shine during this part of the presentation is to predict your jury’s questions, and make slides for them, that you can show during the questions if they come up. For example, if you think you will receive a lot of questions about your pricing strategy, you can make a slide for this at the end of your presentation, that you can cue up when you receive a question on it. When I’m evaluating startups at a pitch competition, I’m looking to see how well they’ve prepared for the questions, if they take the time to listen and understand what they are being asked before responding, and if they are responding to the questions directly. At times, you will find founders responding to the “questions they wish they were asked”, rather than the ones they were asked, politician-style. Please don’t do this. You only have a short amount of time with your jury, show them respect by listening carefully to their questions and responding to their specific request.
5. The Jury. Despite the subjectivity of a pitch competition, know that the ultimate result is never made by one person. Even if you are judging off of a rubric, the final score tally can be fierce. There is regularly a deliberation process, where all the judges discuss their results before the final votes are cast. During this time, votes are frequently changed. It is rare that all judges will be in agreement, and it is much more common for there to be huge disagreements when it comes to choosing the founder who will take the top prize. I mention this because oftentimes it is easy to focus on the winner, but rarely is it the case that it is one startup above all of the rest. So if you don’t take home the top prize, but you’ve given it your best shot, presented yourself well and responded accurately to your jury’s questions, you should feel good about the presentation
A few Do’s and Don’ts…
Do your homework. On the pitch competition itself, how they evaluate winning startups, and who the jury is beforehand. Know the format of the event, how long you have to pitch, and how many rounds will take place.
Do time your pitch beforehand, and practice, practice, practice. Ask a friend or family member (not affiliated with your startup) for some frank advice on your pitch. Can you keep them engaged? What types of questions keep coming up?
Do respond to your jury’s questions and prepare question response slides at the end of your deck. Try to anticipate what will be asked of you, and prepare responses to those questions beforehand.
Do be brave enough to show a demo, if you have time, and you are confident it will work.
Don’t show a video during your pitch. They distract the audience from you, and they often have technical difficulties.
Don’t be worried if you’re a non-native English speaker, or if your slides aren’t built by a professional deck designer. Authenticity is key.
Don’t feel like there is a specific formula of the “right” slides to include in your deck, or how you need to tell your story. That being said, “Do” ensure that the audience comes away with an idea of who is on your team, their credentials, your existing support thus far and how you can be contacted.
and most importantly…
Don’t take your success (or failure) in a pitch competition as the ultimate validation of your business.
(This post was previously published March 9, 2020 on BoostX, the member’s platform of Startup Boost)