Focus on fundamentals

Last night, the teen team I mentor at BUILD (see here for more info from a previous post - is worth your support!) presented at Round 2 of the business plan competition. There are two more competitions to go, the last one being the biggie, but this one was exciting and illuminating on many levels, and as usual, there are many lessons for us grown-up entrepreneurs.

First, there was plenty of drama before the competition. My co-mentor and I were concerned that the team hadn't quite completed the presentation - this was their first attempt at Powerpoint, the lingua franca of business pitches - but we'd given all the feedback we could, and both of us prefer it to be their own effort, not overly influenced by our own business experiences. In other words, we didn't show them how to do sales projection graphs in Excel, for example. And we found out there was more confusion when one of the parents felt that the product was not properly designed (it's an accessory for teens) and got involved in re-doing the whole pitch the night before, but it was too late as the original pitch had already been turned in and that was the one that would be projected.

There was little we as mentors could do minutes before the presentation other than assure the team that the original pitch which they had worked on was good enough, and that they were all familiar with it, so to just go ahead with it. They were the last team to present, so the tension kept mounting. All the previous teams had colorful slides, with sales projection charts and all. We kept repeating that the team shouldn't worry about their plain slides though they weren't convinced - but when it came time to make the pitch, they went up there showing none of the tension and did it and won!

Based on the judges feedback and what I observed, here are some reasons why I think they won, all of which are applicable to any business:

• The lack of color and flash on the slides did not matter, but the content of the slides did. Our team had only a few bullets per slide and they were in simple words (side note, for most of our team, English is a second language). It's good to have clarity in your pitch (though a little color wouldn't hurt).
• The product and manufacturing/distribution process were described clearly and step by step, so everyone could understand it. In fact, the judges even complimented them on the simplicity - which implies the viability - of the process. People trust what they can understand.
• They focused on the important stuff - the product and how they would make it, sell it and what the financials would be. They missed some extras covered by other teams, like what they would do with the profits, but they nailed the core elements of what it takes to build the business - the stuff that matters.
  
• The team projected confidence, both during the pitch and in the Q&A. Even when questioned on things that they hadn't considered before (like 'barrier to entry'), they thought on their feet and answered with conviction if not accuracy. You trust teams that believe in what they're selling, and if you're sold on it, the chances are potential customers will be too.
  

The win was a big deal, and though this is not the final 'funding' pitch, it has a huge impact. As I've mentioned before, these teens are not your typical college-track prep school kids with PhD/MBA parents. They are 'under-resourced' and jumping through a lot of hoops to just be at these sessions, so the win yesterday was a huge boost, and I hope it makes college seem more attractive and attainable now. Winning is sweet, and as one of them said to me later (she's one who was calls herself shy and worried how she could ever speak in public), "You know what, when the judges were asking all those questions, I felt so happy!".