4YFN: Hack D Gap Jury Panel
As usual, I am taking notes largely because I have trouble remembering details (someone once said at a Sand Hill Angels’ meeting that they would love to have access to my notebooks…I hadn’t realized until then that they could actually be pretty valuable and informative so I now have them locked up in a safe place…LOL). We hadn’t even started seeing the founders pitch and I was already noting something of importance to me. Cecilia Tham was probably saying something eloquent and brilliant that I just HAD to record for posterity (or to steal and use later).
This was the oddest panel. I was the only investor among a panel of global entrepreneurs (kick ass ones to boot) tasked with judging pitches by some global, female founders. This was part of the Women4Tech program associated with Mobile World Congress designed to get more women to and participating in the event. I am not sure what the numbers were at MWC but at 4YFN, they were still pretty low.
Regardless, I was honored to be on this panel and thrilled to meet Cecilia. She stepped in at the last minute to cover for another woman who was unable to attend. I do think that next time, some of the founders could use some coaching from some US or Silicon Valley based investors or accelerators. The ideas are there. The business acumen is there. But the sophistication in pitches needs some work. The pitch should be designed to convey enough information to pique the interest of the investor to want a second conversation. That was lacking but this was the first year for Women4Tech at MWC and I have high hopes and great expectations for next year.
