PitchIt

pitchit

90 seconds could be worth $300!

PitchIt is UVic's pitch competition open to all UVic students, staff, faculty and recent alumni. You get 90 seconds (the length of a typical elevator ride) to describe your concept to a panel of experts. The top 5 most viable concepts win prizes of about $300 each.

Upcoming Application Deadline: TBA

Upcoming Pitch Competition: TBA

Note: The competition is now online! We recommend planning ahead by orienting yourself with Zoom. You do not need to download Zoom to participate; you will receive a Zoom link and further instructions after submitting an application. 

Who can PitchIt

To participate, you must meet the following criteria:

  • You are a current UVic student, staff or recent alumni.

  • You may participate as an individual or you may present in a team of up to five people. The team lead must be a current UVic student, faculty/staff or alumni, but the accompanying team member(s) do not necessarily need to be affiliated with UVic.

  • Teams may either have only their team lead deliver the pitch, or up to all five team members may participate in the actual presentation of the pitch.

  • Entered PitchIt or PlanIt with this idea and won a prize in the past? You are welcome to pitch again, but the pitch needs to be significantly improved between sessions.  

Register

 To register for the PitchIt event, submit the following form:

  • Download the form, fill in the form (either using the "add text" feature in Adobe or by hand), save or scan it to your computer.

  • Email the completed application form PDF to icpoc@uvic.ca before the registration deadline.

  • Once we've devised a schedule, we will email back with details and information for PitchIt.

Prepare

How to prepare a fast pitch for investors:

  • Putting your deal into a package that can be communicated and shared quickly and efficiently is a critical element of raising funds.

  • Your potential investor is likely to make an instant judgement based on the strength of your first spoken sentences or the first few lines in your executive summary.

  • So how do you get around this communication problem? First you must disambiguate, or simplify and clarify, what you are attempting to communicate.

  • It is this simple: First moments matter most. The whole point of the "fast pitch" is to get investors interested enough in you to get their business cards and to agree to meet with you at a later date, or at least have them refer you to someone else who might be interested in your deal.

  • Investors know that the way you will engage your initial customer base is through a fast pitch. It is the same for attracting strategic partners and even recruiting executives, which means that in general, the investors know that entrepreneurs best suited for funding can usually articulate their venture's value proposition within a sentence or two.

  • It is important to cite references, stats or information to add credibility to your deal.

Questions your pitch should answer:

  • What is your product or service (concept)?

  • What are your benefits?

  • Who is your market? What is your market demand? How large is the market?

  • What is your revenue model? How do you expect to make money?

  • What is your market strategy?

  • Who is your competition? Don't have any? Think again.

  • What is your competitive advantage? How is your concept different and why you have an advantage over the competition.

  • Key partners? 

  • Is your technology proprietary?

Adapted from The Art of the Elevator Pitch by Robert Pagliarini.

Judging

What are the judges looking for?

  • Degree of innovation/newness: To what extent is the concept dramatically different from what exists in the market?

  • Overt benefit/product-market match: To what extent is there an overt, specific benefit in meeting the needs/solving the pain of an identifiable target market?

  • Feasibility/reason to believe: To what extent is the concept believable? e.g. substance, supporting research, a link to "self" etc.

  • Market potential/social impact: To what extent does the concept create economic or social value or otherwise have potential for impact?

  • Overall presentation: To what extent was the pitch clear, engaging and convincing?

Watch

Want to watch the pitches?

PitchIt is open to the public, so feel free to invite friends, family or anyone who shares your entrepreneurial spirit!

Each participant/team will be given 90 seconds to pitch to a panel of judges. Your presentation may be followed up with 2 minutes of Q&A from the judges.

Light networking reception to follow before announcement of the PitchIt prize winners. Take this opportunity to meet other entrepreneurial students, advisors and mentors from the business community. You never know who will be interested in your idea!