Every entrepreneur eyeing for investor funding would have to go through the rigmarole of preparing an investor pitch, rehearsing it several times before actually pitching the concept to a prospective investor. So what exactly is an Elevator Pitch?

This was the theme of discussion for Jan 2015 Edition of Startup Saturday organized by  Headstart Network Foundation. This was again a full house session very similar to the previous one  on ‘How to start an F& B business- the challenges & opportunities related to it.’The format of the event was some selected startup companies would pitch their ideas in a Live Pitching Session before the eminent panelists which comprised of Venture capitalists and angel investors from Delhi NCR Region, who would then give their feedback to each startup. An introduction about the Panelists was given by our host Ajay for the benefit of the audience.

The panelists were Girish Shivani – Director Your Nest Angel Fund, Mr Ashu Agarwal who is currently the Program Director for Startups & Early stage ecosystem at Businessworld, Gaurav Gupta Co-Founder of Biz Research Labs and Alok Mittal of Cannan Partners.

Six startups pitched their products which are:-

1.Rockerzzz Inc. is a music video composition & production company which provides the most creative and catchy theme song videos for your company in most economical manner while including the USPs of your organization. A one-stop-shop for creating a theme song as well as music video ad in the most creative manner for all your advertising needs. They not only compose jingles but also teach you music inside your office. Pranshu from team Rockerzzz presented his idea to the panelists.

2.Raise my App ( http://www.raisemyapp.com/) was another concept which was presented to the panelists. RaiseMyApp team can help you turn your ground-making innovation into an application that will simplify lives world-over. They will assess the potential of your Idea and if they like it, they will produce, fund and market it for you. Prateek from team Raisemyapp presented his idea to the judges and audience.

3.Chai Thela (www.chaithela.com) serve authentic Indian drink CHAI and that too in over 40 different varieties along with a bunch of complimentary eateries. They are currently operating in over 6 shops spread across Noida and will be adding more soon so that they can reinstate the flavor of Chai in India again.

They are here to show the world as how a traditional Indian drink can rule the world without compromising the consistency in the quality and the taste. Pankaj from team Chai Thela presented his idea to the panelists.

4.    Ogha India ( www.oghaindia.com)are passionate about the hand crafted creations of India. They are travelers who explore the corners of the country to meet these artists, artisans and craftsmen who still practice these crafts and art forms. They understand and communicate their art.
They design, customize, curate and contemporize the rich traditional arts from across the country. The journey takes you to stories of creativity that live in the by lanes of rustic India. When you participate in their journey, you are a stakeholder and not just a customer. Saurabh Goyal presented his idea to the panelists.

5.Healers at Home ( https://www.facebook.com/healersathome ) provide World Class Yoga & Physiotherapy at your doorstep. Their aim is to reduce pain & stress by providing easy access to affordable services at doorstep. Kshitiz from Healers at Home presented his idea to the panel.

6.The last startup to present was Clickyourday ( http://www.clickmyday.com/) . Their concept is to connect budding photographers to photography assignments which come to their website. Shankar Narayan from clickmyday presented his idea.

After each session of presentation, the panelists and the audience asked questions related to the concept / business idea. Important feedback was also given by the experienced jurists to improve upon the presentation.

The session concluded with Mr Girish Shivani who advised entrepreneurs to structure their pitch under the following heads.

1.The Basic Need that is addressed through the business idea.

2.Detailing about the size of the opportunity. An investor is keen to know the size of the market which can be catered.

3.The execution plan: How the business plans to reinforce itself. How does the business plan to distinguish itself from its competitors?

4.Elaborating on the team size. Stressing why your team is the best team to execute the challenge at hand.

5.How do you see the whole project evolve with the intervention of either technology or with improved product quality or sourcing etc.

Entrepreneurs and those aspiring to be one, surrounded Mr Girish Shivani during the networking session and he patiently talked to each one of them to understand their concepts and provided them valuable inputs. The audience connected to each other, exchanged business cards over delicious pizza and steaming hot coffee. It was a very enriching session for all those attended

Compiled By:

Prithu Mukherjee