Flight Night Pitch Event Showcases Local Startups

November 13 2018 Innovation Destination: Hartford Events 0 comments Tags: Connecticut, CT, entrepreneurs, Hartford, pitch, pitch event, reSET, startup competition, startups

A crowd gathered for Flight Night at reSET on November 7, 2018, where they heard business pitches from local startups.

The latest Flight Night startup pitch event took place Wednesday, November 7, 2018 at reSET in Hartford, CT.

Hosted by reSET and Murtha Cullina LLP, the event enabled nine local startups to pitch their businesses in front of an audience of community members, investors, business experts, mentors, and friends.

Judges Dave Menard, mentor and partner at Murtha Cullina and Mitch Jackson, Managing Partner at Northeast Payments, were on hand to provide constructive feedback and “poke holes” in startup presenters’ business assumptions.

Dave noted that presenting startups were doing “brave and important” work, helping to create a community. “Connecticut can be a center for entrepreneurship,” he noted.

Mitch reminded the pitching entrepreneurs to “be patient and trust the process.”

The Flight Night presenters are all startups building businesses for profit and purpose. The event encouraged networking with entrepreneurs and other members of Connecticut’s thriving startup ecosystem.

: Eliana Cardeno, Founder of Kiyomi Beauty, LLC pitched her business concept at reSET’s Flight Night on November 7, 2018.

Flight Night presenters included:

Bare Life
Career in STEM
y.Sol
Jam Program
KarmaWest
Kazark News
Kiyomi Beauty, LLC
SchoolSuite
SiggPay

SiggPay received the “best company for growth potential” nomination. Kazark News and Kiyomi Beauty were awarded the “best pitch” and “best new product” superlatives.

About reSET
reSET is a nonprofit organization that supports Hartford-area entrepreneurs by providing co-working space and accelerator and mentoring programs. The organization is working to advance the social enterprise sector by inspiring innovation and community collaboration with the strategic goals of being the “go-to” place for impact entrepreneurs, making Hartford the impact city and making Connecticut the social enterprise state.

VISIT: www.socialenterprisetrust.org
FOLLOW: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter

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From Potential to Pitch: How to Sell Your Great Idea (Part 6)

June 16 2016 Innovation Destination: Hartford Blog 0 comments Tags: entrepreneur, entrepreneur resources, entrepreneurship, pitch, strategies

Consider Aftermarket Licensing

If your top potential licensee group isn’t biting, know your plan B. This week, we’ll take the next step in our journey From Potential to Pitch and examine aftermarket licensing.

Albert has great leads and a good strategy for approaching original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for licensing agreements for his motorcycle bra patents. But if those efforts fail, he still has options. I suggested that he contact aftermarket manufacturers if OEM deals failed.

Surprisingly, aftermarket manufacturers and distributors for motorcycle accessories may provide quicker time to market, since they have much smaller reach. They are likely to have slower and smaller market penetration for the same reason, however.

Warning! There are a number of potential snags in negotiating in this platform and I strongly recommend professional help with these scenarios.

Aftermarket Licensing Can be Tricky

One downside to dealing with these smaller aftermarket players is that negotiations can become cumbersome because of the fragmented nature of the marketplace.
A second hurdle is the need for more research to determine the extent of any existing relationships that these providers have with OEMs. Suppliers are likely to have strong relationships with OEMs and may be less receptive to an aftermarket pitch.
In the case of an aftermarket supplier that does not provide both manufacturing and distribution services, Albert could end up in the position of trying to connect the two. This is doable, but a logistical nightmare. In such a scenario, there is a possible financial benefit by extracting royalties from each of the parties involved. The sum total of the separate royalties could easily exceed the amount that could be obtained from a single integrated source. Messy, but possible.

I suggested approaching aftermarket manufacturers and distributors after approaching OEMs, although in some circumstances, it might make sense to approach both simultaneously.

The Pitch

Direct pitch to owners and general managers.
Develop a team of manufacturers and distributors if they are not already integrated.
Gain customer endorsement of the motorcycle bra through demonstrations.
Establish compelling reasons to license, including:
- Market demand
- Quick revenues resulting from existing retail channels
- Freedom to shape market without OEM control
- Product line diversification.

Mode and Terms: How to Proceed

Non-exclusive licenses should be subject to later OEM licensing.
Offer limited exclusivity on regional carve-outs.
Increase regional size if possible, provided certain performance is met with guaranteed minimum royalties.
Provide incentives for direct assistance in licensing to OEMs (for example, royalty income participation stemming from OEM licenses).
With exhaustion of OEM licensing activity, offer standard licenses to aftermarket providers through media such as targeted publications or websites.

A Final Option

If licensing attempts run out of gas, Albert has at least one other road to explore. He could create a company to establish itself as an aftermarket supplier of motorcycle accessories.

This path is not simple, cheap or for the faint of heart. I strongly recommend professional help.

As a direct-to-market supplier, Albert will require capitalization for manufacturing, marketing, distribution and other business needs. If he doesn’t have personal funds, he’ll need venture or angel capital investments.

Operations profits will go to repay venture capitalization if needed, and finally, income for Albert.

Today’s lesson: With a well-researched strategy, licensing deals with aftermarket manufacturers and distributors can succeed. However, these deals are likely to be complicated and reach smaller consumer markets.

Read Part 1: Selling a Motorcycle Bra In the Naked Bike Market

Read Part 2: Size Up the Market For Your Invention

Read Part 3: Create Your Sales Roadmap

Read Part 4: ID Competitors and Potential Licensees

Read Part 5: Rev Your Pitch with Licensing Strategies

Share your story

Have you identified the potential market for your invention? Are you sure about your assumptions? Leave comments below.

About the Author
Will Jacques is President of Emanus, a consulting firm that works with entrepreneurs, early-stage, and small-/medium-sized businesses.

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From Potential to Pitch: How to Sell Your Great Idea (Part 5)

May 19 2016 Innovation Destination: Hartford Blog 0 comments Tags: entrepreneur, entrepreneur resources, entrepreneurship, pitch, strategies

Rev Your Pitch with Licensing Strategies

How can you rev up your pitch for a potential licensee? Present clear and compelling research, wow them with demonstrations and endorsements, and entice them with term options that are mutually lucrative.

Let’s continue our journey From Potential to Pitch and see what this next step looks like for our client’s great idea, the motorcycle bra.

What has Albert learned from my research so far? My step-by-step process has revealed several focus points:

Owners of sports bikes are the primary target for the protective covering, a motorcycle bra.
Based on conservative estimates, there are 250,000 potential sports bikes sold each year. If buyers mirror the behavior of new car owners, 90% will purchase after-market accessories.
Albert’s potential market also includes 880,000 existing sports bike owners in the U.S.
Not only are there regional opportunities within the U.S., but China is an enormous and promising global market.
Potential licensees include manufacturers and distributors of motorcycles and accessories. And, perhaps surprisingly, the car bra market may be an open channel for expanding into this new area.

For many good reasons, Albert chose to pursue licensing rather than manufacturing his invention. I recommended some different strategies for Albert to consider when looking for potential licensees. We’ll look at one today and explore the others in future articles.

Platform 1: Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)

OEMs are primarily focused on the manufacture of engines and other bike components. I suggested that Albert approach the OEMs first. If the product is acceptable to an OEM, then licensing is relatively simple as all of the value chain elements—production, marketing, distribution and selling – are controlled and accountable to one entity, the OEM.

End-to-end control of the market by the OEM provides reliability and stability regarding the market, a circumstance that benefits Albert’s revenue planning.

The Pitch

My suggestions included this approach or a combination of actions:

Direct pitch to OEM Marketing and New Product Development managers. These gatekeepers can be accessed through dealership contacts.
Customer endorsements: By showing and demonstrating prototypes, Albert can generate interest and buzz about the new product.
Establish in the mind of the OEM the compelling reasons for licensing: Revenue potential; brand marketing potential; and market statistics showing potential for uptakes (differentiation, customization, protection of investments)
Test marketing: Allow OEMS an opportunity to test market the motorcycle bra.

Modes and Terms

My ideas for how to proceed will differ for any product, but these are suggestions that I gave Albert.

Allow an Option Period of no more than 18 months to test market the motorcycle bra.
Permit non-exclusive licenses or exclusivity for only a short period of time.
If exclusive licensing is required, then negotiate for guaranteed revenue from committed sub-licensing.

Today’s lesson: If you decide to pursue licensing, focus your approach on target companies and fine tune your pitch before reaching out.

Read Part 1: Selling a Motorcycle Bra In the Naked Bike Market

Read Part 2: Size Up the Market For Your Invention

Read Part 3: Create Your Sales Roadmap

Read Part 4: ID Competitors and Potential Licensees

Share your story

Have you identified the potential market for your invention? Are you sure about your assumptions? Leave comments below.

About the Author
Will Jacques is President of Emanus, a consulting firm that works with entrepreneurs, early-stage, and small-/medium-sized businesses.

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The Perfect Pitch

October 08 2015 Innovation Destination: Hartford Blog 0 comments Tags: entrepreneur resources, innovation, pitch, pitching, startup resources

A presenter pitches his business idea at a pitch event held at reSET.

In March of 2013 I was invited to AppCademy, an accelerator for mobile apps run by AppCampus in Espoo, Finland. AppCademy is an intense 30-day accelerator program that focuses on apps, but also the businesses that produce those apps.

The first thing they had us do was to practice pitching our ideas. Most of us were not really prepared. And I wondered why they had us start with pitching. Why not do that once the app was ready to release and publicize?

Over the next 30 days I realized why they had us start with pitching. A good pitch is a clear vision of what your business is and how it will make money. The reason most of us were not good at pitching on day one was because we didn’t have that clear vision of what our business was or how it would make money. Sure, you can say “we will put ads in the app” or “we will charge money for the app”. But, really successful apps have a much stronger business model.

We pitched, and pitched, and pitched—in one form or another—for the full 30 days. By the end the idea I had for my app, Timmo’s Challenge, had morphed into a new idea with a lot more potential. One I really believed in, Ramble Rush. And my business plan had evolved as well.

START WITH A “CORE PITCH”

I now believe that a perfect pitch starts with a strong “core pitch”. One that can be tailored to be right for whomever you are pitching to. A core pitch is a two-minute pitch with the following elements.

A Punch Line: a quick one-liner that grabs the audience’s attention
A Problem: a problem that your target market is experiencing explained in a way your audience can relate to
A Solution: a clear solution to that problem—again, explained in a way your audience can relate to
A Value Proposition: in addition to solving the problem it must also save a considerable amount of time and/or money
A Revenue Model: an explanation of how much the product or service will cost and how you charge for it
A Team: people can be interested in an idea, but they invest in the team, so you need to come across as competent and likeable
A Plan: you must be able to tell your audience when and where they can see or buy your product
A Closing Punch Line: relate it back to the opening punch line, but ask an open-ended question as part of it

AND ALL OF THAT IN UNDER TWO MINUTES?

Yes, you need to be clear and concise. It takes work. Before you have the perfect pitch you will have said it 100 times in 100 ways.

I found it helpful to create a one-page grid with eight boxes. I wrote a single line for each box and then read it as I timed it. Then I would take a second sheet and make tweaks to the wording and timing and read it again. Then a third sheet, a fourth, and so on.

YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE

It is interesting to me when I’ve worked with people on their pitches and they try to defend a statement they make before I even question it. You know why? Because they don’t believe it themselves. In order to deliver the perfect pitch, you have to believe it yourself! How are you going to make someone else believe in you—invest their time or money in you—if you do not believe in yourself? You have to believe everything you say 100% and if you don’t, spend more time working on your business model before working on your pitch.

THE PERFECT PITCH FOR YOU

In the end, working on your pitch will help you be a better business person. It will help you have a better business plan. It is more than just trying to think of a way to convince someone to buy or invest in your product. It is about having such confidence in what you are doing that people want to buy it or invest in it.

About the Author

Tim Laubacher has been a web and mobile software developer for more than 15 years working in Connecticut’s insurance industry and then owning several of his own businesses. Tim currently owns two businesses; Mob Action Games and Sound Web Solutions. Mob Action Games is a mobile gaming company specializing in location based games and apps. Sound Web is a consulting company that serves startup companies that need development support for web or mobile products. Sound Web also has a product of its own called Launch EZ, which provides technology and content services to organizations that serve startup businesses.

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Flight Night Pitch Event Showcases Local Startups