Last Wednesday, I got the opportunity to pitch at the Echelon Malaysia Satellite.
The Echelon 2013 consist of several events across the South East Asia region, ending in Singapore where winners of the pitch get to win some money for funding. It also allows promising tech startups to be featured in their marketplace where they get to meet more people within the industry, most notably venture capitalist.
At the Malaysia Satellite, I presented Ser-Savealot among 15 other startups and they were:
- App La Carte (mobile app creator)
- ChopChop (loyalty program for retailers)
- ChopInk (another loyalty program for retailers)
- Perkpool (an Employee Benefits Platform, but I call it a discount program for employees)
- GetGetGot (an events aggregation app)
- GridMarkets (read below)
- HungryHippie (airBnB for food travellers)
- Kupuns (can't remember)
- Metrip (no-show)
- Pofers.com (can't remember)
- RichMediaAds (turns your normal web banner into a mini website)
- Ser Savealot (take a wild guess)
- Shopbust (no-show and what on Earth is with their name?)
- Styleprofile (a pinterest + e-commerce in one)
- Catch That Bus (buy your bus tickets online)
- SaveMoney.my (website about comparing deals, promotions and about them)
- Xilnex Retail Business Solutions (a cloud based POS system)
Before the pitches, there were a talks by other entrepreneurs but I'll just be writing down just a few notable quotes.
Keeson Lim of TripConomics : finding tech partners are hard and take time. Just keep looking and go on 'dates'.
Patrick Grove of Catcha Group : it takes a pair to make a successful startup. Apple was started by a pair. Pear, geddit?
After the talks, the pitches began. Each company was given 5 minutes to pitch and 5 minutes for a Q&A Session.
Here are my personal thoughts on the pitches by other startups:
1. Most startups had plenty of pictures used to illustrate their product. However, as the slides went on there were too many pictures to digest and confused their business model for some startups.
2. Some startups had too many revenue streams that complicated their value proposition.
3. 1 startup had too many slides that would never fit under 5 minutes.
4. Quality of pitches were good overall but could be improved.
5. Most startups had a finished product. Ser Savealot, GetGetGot and GridMarkets were the only 3 that did not have a finished product.
6. Most startups focused on social solutions, while Grid Market was the only technology product.
7. 1 startup had too many words in the presentation.
Out the above, here are some lessons that I've learnt:
1. Keep the words and pictures down to a minimum.
2. I need to smile more.
3. Know the objective of the pitch (personally I forgot why I entered myself in the pitch, so I ended up using it as platform to improve my pitching skills).
Personally and according to my co-founder for Ser-Savealot, I did very well as my pitch was specifically targeted to investors. Only thing was, this was not a pitch for ideas and it was not a technological advance product.
Furthermore, by the time I presented I was the last location based related service so the judges probably got bored of it.
Personally and according to my co-founder for Ser-Savealot, I did very well as my pitch was specifically targeted to investors. Only thing was, this was not a pitch for ideas and it was not a technological advance product.
Furthermore, by the time I presented I was the last location based related service so the judges probably got bored of it.
In the end, the winner of the Malaysia Satellite was GridMarkets and they deserved to win because they offered one heck of an amazing product that would allow underutilized servers to be leased out.
Photo source: Digital News Asia
http://www.digitalnewsasia.com/sizzle-fizzle/echelon-malaysia-satellite-a-hit-with-startups
Ok, now that's over.... I've got another pitch to prepare on the 29th and to complete Ser-Savealot on time!
