Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch | S3 Ep8: In The Sports Zone

I would not invest in this venture. Whilst this is one of the better elevator pitches in this pool, in the sense that it is a pitch aimed at investors rather than a product add aimed at consumers, the product shows very little room for growth. The elevator pitch certainly hit all the required points for a good one, including information about the history, structure and projection of the company but there are various aspects of the product itself that make me wary as an investor. The amount of time she has taken to set up this product makes me unsure of how much development or growth this venture could offer in the future. This makes it feel more like a gimmick investment than a long term venture and the profits made from would likely be tied to an initial 'wow' factor from interested consumer groups and may wane after that. For these reasons, I appreciate the good elevator pitch but would not put my capital into this business or be interested in buying shares.

The entrepreneur, Darla Hall, did a fantastic job in the session of the elevator pitch, her business itself, however, was less attractive. As a result, she got the opportunity to further discuss her business with the investors in the boardroom but failed to make a deal. As a venture capitalist, I would make the same decision and turn her down if I were in the boardroom at that time. Here are my reasons: 1. Darla had spent EIGHT years verifying her business model. Unfortunately, she had achieved neither profitability nor rapid growth. I might have to conclude that the profitability prospects of investing in this business were not exciting. 2. Based on its growth rate and annual revenues of $200,000, the estimated value of 20% of its equity was about $40,000 to $80,000, which was far below the required $500,000. Investors usually have less interest in this level of business size. 3. The current shareholding structure of the company was also unreasonable. Darla's equity was 51%, and angel investors accounted for 49%. I share one of the investors’ concerns that further financing will dilute the founder's equity and cause her to lose control of the company. Anyway, we are talking about elevator pitch here, and Darla’s performance was impressive. First of all, in just 60 seconds, she fully informed investors of her company's history, products, business models, target customers, plan for the next steps, required investment, and proposed share of the equity. Secondly, she successfully attracted the interest of all four investors by demonstrating the unique core competitive advantages. The elevator pitch effectively achieved its purpose as a perfect ‘teaching moment’ and redirected the investors’ interest to a more in-depth discussion. Last but not least, Darla well prepared with marketing materials (brochures and hats) and with her professional looks and appropriate dress code; she managed to express herself smoothly with good time control as well. All of these helped her to win trust and confidence from investors.

Yes I would invest in this - despite the pitch's drawbacks outlined further below. It's my belief that Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans will buy anything with a Buccaneers logo on it. And those who identify with Nike will buy anything with a swoosh on it, and so on. This here looks like a great product for brands to promote themselves and it will absolutely go a long way to create incredible brand loyalty. I also really like the idea of a 60 second pitch and almost literally being in an elevator. It is disappointing that our culture in the west is so tied to brands and teams, but that's a discussion for another course. Ultimately, anything that encourages reading and writing in youth is probably a net positive - and that's what I"m guessing this product does. And there's the rub. As far as the actual pitch itself goes, I'm not sure what problem this product is seeking to address or how the product seeks to address it. But, brand loyalty and brand identification are powerful forces in our culture, and for that reason, it's probably a winning formula.