What's in a Pitch?

February 25, 2020

On November 7, 2019, I participated in the Carolina Challenge Pitch Party hosted by Innovate Carolina, an event that allows student entrepreneurs to pitch their app ideas to investors and business professionals. I was invited by my fellow HackNC team member, Braxton Hawkins, to help pitch the app design that he worked on throughout the semester, using the informational website we created together at HackNC. His team’s app: NetLink, strives to offer a unique perspective into social media, creating networks of individuals around you through shared interests and projects. This was my first time pitching an app to business professionals, and I really enjoyed being a part of such a vibrant space, flowing with incredible ideas! 

According to Guaraná, pitching an app comes with a structure (detailed below) that should be considered carefully. While it was super exciting to network with peers and share our ideas, I recognize my strengths and weaknesses in each of these areas.

Evaluate your target market. My group and I expressed this clearly in our pitch. At the time, the app was geared towards young college students looking to find people with similar interests and hobbies in their area. By evaluating and clearly stating my target market at the beginning of the pitch, I was able to set the scene for the investors and business professionals who were probably wondering if this pitch was even relevant to them. This allowed us to retain the investors that were most interested in the growing field of social media. 

Describe the product. Overviewing the functionality and design of the app was definitely the bulk of our pitch. By considering the app from a user’s perspective and guiding the investor through the prototype of the app in a demo, the app was clearly understood by this point. It is important for the investors to hear an outline of the technical plan and challenges that may arise, so that they can trust that you know the work that is required for the app. 

Business model. For me, this was an area that I could not clearly incorporate into my portion of the pitch coming from a technical perspective. But, this is such an important part of the development of an app. Letting your investors know about how the app is expected to thrive in the long-term is needed in order for them to recognize potential in investing. 

Identify competitors. My group received a lot of questions regarding potential competitors. Due to NetLink’s nature as a social media app striving to connect individuals through events and hobbies, we had to be prepared for the inevitable comparisons to Facebook and Meetup.com. Through this challenge, I learned that it is important to stress the uniqueness of the app, and have examples in mind of how it directly serves a purpose that cannot be found in competitor applications. 

The last two parts of the pitch involve describing funding and concluding. Similar to the business model, it is critical to support your passion for the app, but also consider the financial viability of the app, especially towards investors who need these aspects to be calculated for them. At the end of each pitch, I gained more and more knowledge on how to answer investor questions with a unique thought, allowing the pitch to be more insightful with each new investor coming to hear the pitch. Overall, this was an amazing first pitch event, and I look forward to improving and expanding on the techniques that are essential to a great pitch in further projects!