Today we organized the third pitch day for the season for the second Startupbootcamp HighTechXL selection period. 6 Amazing teams joined us and the atmosphere was positive, full of energy and a few nerves…. pitching takes a bit of courage. I had table sessions with 4 teams.
A few observations:
- Focus brings a clear story. Find your niche and focus on that. No… a smaller niche. Even smaller… bingo. Your story to mentors and investors will benefit
- Customers. You need them… NOW! “But my prototype is not ready”… Doesn’t matter, talk to them and get their feedback. Your story improves dramatically if you interacted with them.
- Kudos for the teams that were ‘not ready’ and DID join the pitch day. You’ll get there, you got out of the building and did get that feedback that brings you closer to your focus.
- Amazing mentors. The mentors were amazing again. It’s so awesome to experience the positive and constructive atmosphere. And the type of questions asked. Not the easy ones like ‘how much revenue do you currently have’ but the ones that require the deep understanding of the startup, the technology and the market. Read this article as I can’t explain it that well.
- Dedication. I’m increasingly seeing dedication with the Dutch startups. More passion, more drive. The gap between some of the foreign teams and Dutch teams we’re talking to is closing.
The feedback we got from the teams was encouraging! We’re creating the right atmosphere. We consistently heard they had critical but constructive and positive feedback. All 6 teams left the room with more energy and full of ideas. And so did we!
Have a look at the below video for an impression on our pitch days:
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