Pitch & Re-Play

This afternoon session (1:30pm – 3:30pm) gives entrepreneurs a unique opportunity to fine tune their pitch in a non-competitive environment to seasoned entrepreneurs and mentors.

Founders or would-be founders pitch and get immediate feedback on their ideas.

This process is repeated up to five times to different small groups where entrepreneurs get to make corrections perfecting their pitch and their presentation style all while gaining helpful feedback and meeting others who can help. Those who pitch range from individuals who have been thinking over an idea, to CEOs of companies preparing to go into the investor arena for funding.

All presenters are winners here as each presenter gets to pitch five times in succession to five different small groups of interested listeners. This enables participants to perfect their pitch, making changes on the fly and testing ideas on ways to better convey their stories. The exposure to five different audiences provides small group dynamics and facilitates receiving helpful feedback on each pitch. Also entrepreneurs potentially make new connections with people who can help them on their startup journey.

Interested in Pitching?

The application deadline is August 14, 2023, click here to apply

Merlin Mentors

Although having an existing entity (for profit or not for profit) is not a requirement, those who apply should have thought through the problem they are addressing, their solution, how they intend to build a sustainable business and how their skills and experience rise to the task of executing the project.

The format is simple. Following welcome remarks, all attendees will be assigned to an initial table. The table has 1-2 mentors that you the entrepreneur will be pitching to.  Each entrepreneur gets 15  minutes (5 minutes to pitch, and the rest to answer questions and receive feedback).  Entrepreneurs will receive a 1 minute warning  prior to rotating to the next table.

Pitches should cover:

  • who you are
  • what problem you are solving
  • who you target as customers
  • why your solution will interest them enough to buy and
  • how you will build a sustainable business around your vision.

This session will leave entrepreneurs with a high dosage of feedback in a short amount of time.