Day 3: Pitch Please! (pun intended)
In case you have no idea what I’m talking about, here was my experience on Day 1 and Day 2.
In the previous article, I mentioned we were stuck on the question: “How were we going to make money off of forcing people to recycle more?”
What ensued was everything short of an Ocean’s 11 crime sequence montage…
At least that’s the outcome I had hoped for.
Unfortunately, the collective team ego had suffered a severe blow. Everyone felt defeated and had very little motivation to conjure up the energy required for a serious pivot. Our business idea so far had been carried by one brave soldier who put himself on the line with what he thought was a killer pitch. Now that he looked perplexed and seriously shook, the rest of the team had lost their guiding beacon. Half of me wanted to just go home and sleep and forget that this ever happened. The other half won. I decided to convene a pivot meeting. We plopped ourselves on some not very soft couches and I started asking some hard questions. The floor was again open for anyone with a remotely good idea to speak up. After 15 minutes of what were supposedly intentional epiphanies, we had come full circle and the question remained.
How were we going to make money??
Diversity comes in many shapes and sizes. Some of the best startup teams are made up of people who disagree over the business model and this forces everyone to be logical. Others consist of a mixed bag of strong and weak personalities with different work ethic. Yet others are still simply made up of people from different cultural backgrounds. Our team was 100% Asian, 60% Singaporean, 20% Indian and 20% Chinese. You see, this is largely representative of the population of Singapore and instead of solving a problem that the entire species was facing and trying to save the earth all at once, we devised a simple solution. Let’s make it a Singaporean problem first.
Do you remember my blackboard hero from Day 1? The guy who had brought a clacking keyboard to settle into the game? Thus far, he had contributed to our collective decisions but shown limited interest in the exact wording of the pitch, the exact type of customer to interview etc. If given a personality test, he would emerge as the quiet intelligent type that just wants to pay his dues and move on. That was a major assumption on my part. His biggest strength so far had been to keep some distance and gain an understanding of the bigger picture.
And deliver he did!
As a Chinese National, he was well aware of the lottery culture in Chinese origin Singaporeans. So he came up with an idea to create a lottery car giveaway to a lucky recycler every month!
When I first heard him, my mind did a major double-take. What was this guy talking about? Lotteries and recycling? How was this ever going to become a business? It was simply absurd. I started shooting questions at him instinctively but he wasn’t budging on his idea. So I decided to play along and give him his due opportunity to speak. After he explained it to us, it didn’t seem so bad. In fact, it was almost too good to be true!
It was late so we decided to call it a day. I had no idea how this would play out. So our team leader was put to work again. I told him, this could work only if he figured out one thing, “How were we going to make money?”
The following morning, I arrived groggy and not so ready to work. I quickly grabbed some cereal and coffee (Thank you so much, dear organizers!), and headed straight to our workstation. When I got there, the mood was incredibly different from what I had expected. The night sleep had refreshed them and there was positivity in the air. As soon as I landed at my spot, Mr. Team Leader immediately rolled out his sheet of paper with a very very clear business plan. This is what I had dreamed of all along!
What he had on paper was what we call unit economics. Unit economics helps you to figure out at the level of a single set of products, how the money will be coming in and how the money will flow out of your company. Last night we had a breakthrough with consumer motivation to reuse and recycle. Today we had a plan of how we were going to make that a reality. As I traced the inflow and outflow of money, it all came together. Finally, our idea made sense.
If we were correct about the lottery culture in Singapore, we would essentially be a lottery company with a higher cause! Saving the environment!
Each time a consumer recycles or uses eco-friendly methods of consumption they would get a chance at winning an (of course) electric car! All they had to do was register their kind deed through one of our channels and they would be in the running. The more green steps they took, the more the number of lottery tickets they would get. There was no limit on how many lottery tickets one could collect. The prize would still be one car to the person with the most number of tickets. The consumers wouldn’t have to pay a dime because our real customers were retailers looking to reduce packaging costs by cutting their carbon footprint.
Our idea had come to something we could actually compete with. We only had a few hours to go before our first pitching round to real judges. These were people who’ve been in the industry and proven their worth through their work. Since we discarded our earlier idea, our presentation had to be built from scratch. The only slide that remained was the one with the team. This was something I was very happy with. We had stuck to it through thick and thin and now it was time to show off. We pulled together yet again and finished our deck in the nick of time. We had a few minutes to coach our team leader again and it was now time for round 1.
I was impressed with the judges that had given up their weekends just to see what we had come up within the past couple of days. Celebrity founders and cynics alike, we were about to be tweezed to the bone. But none of that fazed our team leader. He had one and only one job, deliver the pitch. The rest was up to us. If there were any questions about the lottery aspect they would be handled; if there were questions about the business proposition they would be handled and most of the remaining weight was carried by our cause. Environmental impact. The impact was one of the key criteria teams needed to have a chance at winning.
The pitches began… One team was working on Parkinson’s disease patients, another on mental health. The causes teams were contending for were quite impressive. But not all of them were actual business ideas. Some focused too much on the cause, others too much on the business. What stood out the most were the teams with a working demo.
These teams had managed to create prototypes of apps they would build if they actually won Startup Weekend. Some had simulated these so well that it appeared as though the presenter was actually clicking buttons to launch a function. They had also put their designers to work! The UIs were modern and friendly and some of them had incorporated team members as users on their apps.
This is the one thing our team didn’t have. An MVP (minimum viable product). Anything can be an MVP if it can communicate the intended product through your pitch. The pitches with demos were the best example. Technical founders often think that they need a fully functioning version of their product for people to buy the product. More often than not though, people don’t just buy a product, they buy an idea of a product. If our team had decided on the lottery idea in the start, this is what I would have liked to do. But this is what hackathons are, anything can happen.
As our team approached the stage, I could see the judges and the crowd. This is one of the biggest reasons why some brilliant startup ideas never see the light of day. Pitching.
To my surprise, the pitch was quite a breeze. I could see the judges listening intently but none of their faces gave their opinions away. In fact, we were the only team that the judges didn’t ask ANY questions. I didn’t know what to make of it as we exited the stage. Either we were really good or we had blown it and they thought we were out of our minds.
The team regrouped and echoed my thoughts. The youngest changed his conviction every few minutes but there was nothing we could do now that would change the outcome. So we held our breaths…
Suddenly, our team leader received a DM. The organizers wanted access to our slides. What could this mean? Did we get through? Was everyone asked for access so that they could present at the next round?
As we bit our nails, a few more meals passed by and finally, all the participants congregated to the main arena once more. Back to where all of this first began, everyone was on the edge of their seats to hear who had gotten through. As is with most award ceremonies, everything that was said before winner announcements was an unnecessary delay of gratification…
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*everyone gives a drumroll
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Annnndddd…
We got through!!!! We were one of the 12 finalist teams!! I was elated and jumping out of my seat!! Our team was shouting and glowing with pride. We felt like we had achieved the impossible and all of us felt like winners already (That’s how they get you Strike 3!). Not only had we pulled this off in one night, but we did so well that we went to the next round.
All was not over yet. We still had to defeat the “Final Boss” in this game.
It was now time for the final push. One of the criteria that the judges pointed out as a major differentiator between teams was the demo. We knew we didn’t have one but there was no time a create one. We were going to be on stage soon. Now we simply had to sell what we had. I had an internal dilemma of possibly wanting to make the pitch myself. Our team leader was pretty good but we had to win these judges to think that we were much better than our competition, most of whom had demos. Having gone on to the finals had changed my mindset completely. The external validation had pushed me to become even more emotionally involved in our idea. This was probably the biggest reason why I decided not to pitch.
As the final round of pitches started, we struggled to keep our minds occupied. The demo one of the teams had absolutely nailed in round 1, had technical difficulties in this round. Some finalists had clearly worked on their ideas months before the hackathon. Some pitches fell flat and others seemed better. As more and more teams pitched, it appeared to be an even match. None of the teams seemed to really stand out. Again, the judges’ reactions gave nothing away. Now it was our turn. I felt pretty confident walking up to the stage. I even gave the crowd a gesture to cheer for us. Clearly, my adrenaline had replaced most of my inhibitions. We went into the wings and let our team leader pitch. Nothing to read from the judges faces. The delivery had to be rushed quite a bit due to the 2 min time limit. Then the questions started and all of us entered the stage. The first question was, “Why do we even think that supermarkets would pay us to conduct such campaigns?” Our team leader was still in the rushed pitching mode and while initially making some logical points, eventually lost himself in a loop like a failed computer programme. The clock was ticking. This was not good. The judges weren’t stopping him. It had now been a full 1 and a half minutes of this out of a 3 min Q&A. I tried to call his attention toward me in vain. In the audience, I spotted Robin smiling at me. I quickly grabbed the microphone and answered the initial question. What a relief…
We were now 2 min into our Q&A and only now had the second question come up. The question indicated that the judges had not actually understood our idea at all! I was about to give a short and simple answer but I wasn’t the only one suffering from excessive adrenaline. Thankfully, this time the answer was much better. A few more questions went around and it was time. I didn’t even know which slide was on display in the background. When I looked at the pictures that Robin took later, I saw it was the team slide. We had not gotten a chance to complete all our slides. It was over now…
As we exited the stage, we all knew what had happened. No one said a word though. What was done, was done.
Once all the teams had pitched, we were ushered to one more amazing meal but I had already lost my appetite. I was too nervous and chewing my words instead of my food. As my team struggled to keep the conversation casual, we received a DM again. This time they wanted a one-line pitch of what our idea was. This could have meant that we had made it through too. Just like last time! The team’s faces lit up. We sent them the pitch in a matter of minutes. We didn’t know what was going to happen. I had a feeling that we were going to make it. Probably not as the top three winners but we were in the running for an “Impact” category prize.
We entered the auditorium and sat down to take our seats. The games we had played as an audience on Day 1 were no longer necessary. We were more attentive and engaged than we wanted to be. The feeling was unanimous in the team. No matter what the final outcome, we were proud of what we had already achieved.
After another phase of talks and speeches, it was time for the final winners to be announced.
The Impact award was announced first. It wasn’t us. This was especially disappointing for me because I believed that was our only chance. We weren’t the Most Creative team either. Fair enough. The perks and prizes for each category were being displayed before every announcement. I was actually nervous for if we did make it through. I knew that I definitely would not have been able to commit to an accelerator programme full-time. I pushed those considerations aside.
As the third prize winners were announced, my heart dropped. We hadn’t made the cut. I knew we weren’t the best team and this was probably all we could have hoped for. As expected, we didn’t place second or first either. We were actually, losers! It’s sad to say that the team didn’t talk much as the arena started clearing. Everyone had already plunged their mind back to reality and the tiredness accumulated through 48 hours of hard work had set in. I couldn’t wait to return home for some reason. Probably because I felt like a loser. Somewhere in the back of our minds, we really thought we had a shot. I think everyone but the winners in the room had had this hope.
If you’re reading this I guess now is a good time to tell my team a secret. I didn’t mention that The Startup Buddy team works in the same co-working space as where the hackathon was held. The following week when I came into the office, Merryl told me to go look inside our store room. Inside was the whiteboard the judges had used to deliberate their decision… As I peered in, I saw the winners names right at the top, but on one little corner at the bottom, I saw our team name! For what its worth, we did make it to the board guys! One of the judges believed in us.
Hackathons are not always what they’re made out to be but there’s something for everyone to take away from the experience. These 48 hours were all the founder emotions everyone feels delivered to you all at once, in one concentrated shot. This was my first hackathon and in spite of having been through an accelerator before, I was still unprepared for what was to come. I didn’t have much to gain from the prizes on offer, nor did I actually intend to build a company based on our idea. Yet, the stakes felt high and my pulse even higher. Not for a second, did I feel like letting my teammates down and our common objective brought us very close to feeling like a real startup company.
I may be wrong but I believe that there are two possibilities if a hackathon doesn’t stir the inner founder in you, a) You’ve done this way too many times in the past and have started seeing a pattern to the whole circus or b) You’re not at the right mindset to be a founder right now.
Well, hackathons are, really, for losers! Out of the 40+ teams pitching there were only 12 finalists and 5 winners. Yet, everyone who lost gained something out of this short weekend. Something that even the winners didn’t get to experience… The mind-opening failure of standing in the shoes of a real founder.
The Startup Buddy is SEA’s founder friendly Startup Accelerator. We provide step-by-step guidance through specially designed missions, mentors from around the world and curated content to help you with your Startup journey! Find out more at The Startup Buddy!
