Podcast Episodes

Next Generation: What Comes Next?

Aug 8, 2023

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[00:00:02] Sloane: We got through that as a team, and I think are stronger because of it.

Shiv: I still remember that being so anxiety-inducing.

Alex: We're not approaching this like a hey, we're going to just try to get to the next funding round every time, right?

Kevin: To really succeed, you have to fail.

Julio: That's her superpower. Like when somebody else will be like, no, I'm done. I'm done. Like, let me rest. She's like, no, I gotta keep going.

[00:00:30] HOST (Andrea): Hi, and welcome to “This is Small Business: NEXT Generation” - a miniseries brought to you by Amazon, where we follow 4 student teams behind the scenes throughout the Rice University Business Plan Competition. You’ll hear all about their challenges, hopes, and fears as they prepare to pitch. And by the end of every episode, we’ll be pointing out key takeaways that will help you wherever you are on your business journey. I’m one of your hosts – Andrea Marquez.

[00:00:50] Mitch: And I'm your co-host, Mitch Gilbert, the co-founder of Oya Femtech Apparel, and a former Rice Business Plan competition competitor.

[00:01:00] HOST (Andrea): So this is the last episode of our miniseries. The competition is over. In our last episode we announced the winners and got updates on all our teams right after winners were announced. Unfortunately, none of our teams made it to the finals BUUUT Active Surfaces won two awards and Tierra Climate, founded by one of Shiv’s long-time friends (that’s Shiv from Active Surfaces), managed to make it to the finals. Sooo, Mitch how do you feel about the results?

[00:01:33] Mitch: Great. I feel like it was an interesting learning experience being both a competitor and now being behind the scenes. It sometimes makes me sad about the state of venture capital because I don't know how we can get it to be more diverse. It's very complicated. It made me feel hopeful because there were a lot of businesses who were doing really cool things. It was exciting to talk to so many students and see how excited they were about their [00:02:00] products and their businesses and it was also cool to go to Rice because I competed virtually. And so it was cool to meet people and see the energy surrounding the competition.

[00:02:15] HOST (Andrea): Yeah, talking to all these entrepreneurs really got me looking forward to seeing how they do in their future. Hopefully, they'll succeed! On this episode, we’ll be checking in with our teams after the competition to see how they feel about it and what they’re currently up to or what’s in their near future. Did they manage to snag an investor or more opportunities at the competition? Are they competing for more money elsewhere? Or are they hanging up their pitching capes? I’m so excited to find out! We’ll also check in with Brad, one of the organizers who you’ve heard from before, and Mitra one of the judges who you’ve also heard from before, to learn about their thoughts on the results of the competition this year. Here’s Brad Burke…

[00:03:00] Brad: This was my 23rd competition and so I've seen a lot of these and I think this is one of my favorites, if not my most favorite competition. Competitors said that they got really good feedback from the judges at the competition. One of them said in a 15-minute period during the practice round, they got more feedback and better feedback than they'd gotten in the weeks leading up to this competition. So they felt the quality of the feedback was really outstanding. And, and, you know, that's a whole part of the competition. We give away a lot of money and that's one thing. But we really want all the students to walk away and feel like they had a great experience, they learned a lot, and they met a lot of people who can help them make their companies be successful going forward. So it's not just about the money it's about the experience for the students. And they consistently walk away and they go, wow, this, I had a great experience and they met lots of people who will help them be successful going forward.

[00:04:00] HOST (Andrea): Yeah, and we've already heard from some of our competitors that the RBCP offers a lot more than just extra money to help with their business. But the money does help, like a lot, so for anyone who's looking to compete in a pitch competition, Brad has got some advice for you.

[00:04:18] Brad: Investors are looking for five or six things and a company that's solving a real problem that's easy to understand, that is a big problem with a big market and with customers who are willing to pay for it. So if you can, if those are about four things and if you can demonstrate those four things, I think it goes a long way. And then, you know, if you can demonstrate that your team is a strong team to found and create this company, I think that's a plus. And then you have to understand. How much capital that you need and how quickly an investor will get an exit. I think if you can do those five or six things really well, I think you can succeed at a competition. [00:05:00] And teams have to do a nice job, have to understand what their competition is. Sometimes their competition is just the status quo, and people don't like to change and you have to demonstrate that your solution, your product, your technology is enough better than what people are doing today or, or enough better than competition in order to have customers to change to you what you're doing and to adopt your product or your solution.

You know, there's a lot of economic turmoil going on right now, or concern about recession and concern about inflation. And you know, one piece of advice I would say is that even though there is economic uncertainty, it's often in times of economic uncertainty when some of the most successful startups are founded. I would encourage entrepreneurs to follow their passion and follow their idea. And even if they're not successful in the first one, that often makes them more investible for their second one [00:06:00] because they have learned from their success or learn from their failure. As you would guess, I'm a huge fan of founders and entrepreneurs and encourage them to go forward.

[00:06:15] HOST (Andrea): Here’s Mitra Miller:

[00:06:16] Mitra: R B P C is always my favorite event of the year, and this year did not disappoint. It was at least as good and perhaps better than ever, so it was pretty awesome.

My problem is I never have enough money to put in all the deals that I want to. I end up doing a few, but honestly, if I could invest in almost everything I would because the companies are coming up with so many great solutions that we need, business needs, the planet needs, people need. I wish I could do them all. My, my goal is to make enough money that I can invest in everything. That's my long-term goal. But overall, the winners were fantastic. [00:07:00] I think there were some that were super exciting. By the time you get to the end of the three days, you're very focused on the last seven. But the ones that don't make it are just too early. They still have exciting ideas, they have exciting technology.

So honestly, the way the R B P C prizes work is we meet the companies and we go into due diligence. So we will do additional research into the companies and see if we can agree on terms. So investing is a marriage. And it can be a very long marriage. I'm in deals that are now 10 years old, and they're not exiting yet. They're great, they're looking good, but we're talking about a 10-year relationship. So you and the founder need to make sure that this is a relationship you want to get into, especially at a super early stage.

[00:07:50] Andrea: And if you're looking to compete in the RBPC in the future, here's some advice from Mitra:

[00:08:00] Mitra: So there are a lot of different kinds of pitch competitions, some that are targeting companies that are looking for investment, some that are targeting companies that want advice and feedback. They may want marketing and exposure to the public. There are many different goals. At the Rice Business Plan competition, the instructions that we get from the leadership, Brad Burke and Catherine Santamaria is to vote for the companies that are the most investible. We're supposed to be wearing an investor hat, whether we are an investor or not. So I'm gonna answer in the context that going to R B P C, we're looking for the company that is the most investible. So advice to somebody who wants to get to a pitch competition like R B P C number one, understand the investor, try to turn around and stand on the other side of the table. And think about if I were an investor, what would I be looking for? Well, I'm looking for something that if I put my money into it, that they're able to use it efficiently, grow the company and get traction, and exit at some point so that the investor has a return.

[00:09:00] So the idea is a huge part of that, the timing in the market and this is the hardest thing to know. Is it the right time in the world for your idea to move forward? Is it too early? Is it too late, or is it exactly the right time? Number three is the leadership team. Are these the people with the fire in their belly who can take this forward and make it a great success? We look very, very much at that. And then of course the last one is will they be able to take it all the way through to the finish line? And that might mean raising additional capital, getting creative, pivoting the company so that they can take it all the way home.

So after you think about those things from the investor perspective, then you'll be able to build that into your pitch from the very beginning. Make sure that the whole idea when you're a founder is you need to have answers to all the questions that the investors are going to ask you ready to go, so that you can give them quickly and efficiently. [00:10:00] I think that's the biggest thing of all. And then just get excited and be ready to learn and take the feedback that you get because once you get to a competition like this, you're going to hear some things that you love and a lot of people complimenting you, and you're gonna hear some things that are tough love and are gonna be a lot harder to take, and you'll need to stay open and receptive and try to take it in the spirit that it was delivered.

[00:10:30] HOST (Andrea): This experience has been full of a lot of learnings for our teams, for us as hosts, and hopefully for you as a listener. To finish off and understand how the competition impacted our teams we checked in with all of them a couple of weeks after the competition. First up is Active Surfaces. If you don't remember, in our last episode we mentioned that Active Surfaces had another competition that they were competing in right after the RBPC and they won! So of course, we had to ask about that first.

[00:11:00] Rich: We actually swept house. We won every, every level that we could have. We got the MIT hundred K full winning, but also the audience award as well.

[00:11:10] HOST (Andrea): This just goes to show that every competition is different and loosing doesn't always mean that you have a bad business. And aside from their win, we've found out another little detail from them. Apparently Active Surfaces was so close to making it to the finals at the Rice Business Plan Competition.

[00:11:25] Shiv: They sent an email with like the, some of the prize winnings that we got cause we won the climate prize, which we were super excited about. In that same email, they're like, oh, you also won a cash prize cuz you made it to the semis. And you were third place in your room and therefore you get a certain amount. Cuz if you're fourth place, you get a different amount. If you're fifth place, you get a different amount.

[00:11:40] HOST (Andrea): They were so close, but hey that's an extra injection of cash into their business so it's a win-win! Anyway, here's some of their thoughts on the winning teams.

[00:11:50] Shiv: I'm happy a couple of climate ones made it too. The main reason Rich and I are both in this space overall is cause we care about addressing climate change in whatever way. [00:12:00] So as long as any of these folks are winning, not to be too political, but I think I like the idea of those people getting pressed.

[00:12:03] HOST (Andrea): And remember when Rich said that he was worried about how public the competition was and how that might influence investors opinions on Active Surfaces? Well..

[00:12:12] Shiv: Like now our LinkedIns are blowing up with like former MIT alum or just people in the climate tech VC space, DMing us saying, hey, I saw that you did well here. I saw you won the climate prize at RBCP, or I saw you won the hundred K. Like, how can we connect and work together? It's nice to not have to go and like cold reach people, but we can have people reach out to us, which is nice.

[00:12:32] Rich: The benefit of these sorts of competitions win or lose is press, right? It's getting your name out there and, and at the beginning of the startup journey, all you're really doing, probably a hundred percent of your, your effort is validating your idea. So with Rice, you know, I mean, we're unsuccessful in getting to the finals, but at the end of the day, right, like we're getting pinged a lot on people on LinkedIn who say like, Hey, we like the startup. We like the idea, like, let's connect. [00:13:00] Same thing with a hundred K. It's a point of validation and it's really nice that we won, but it's also, again, just like the main core benefit beyond the a hundred K or whatever prize winnings is, is that public appearance and presence. Those sorts of things has kind of like led into what we're doing now, which is we're sort of used that to leverage financing.

[00:13:25] HOST (Andrea): Aaaannd Active Surfaces has some exciting news...

[00:13:30] Rich: we're going to be venture backed. The first closing's the end of this month, and then there'll be a little bit of a closing after which, we ended up having the term sheet before we ended up going to Rice. When the full financing is in, it's gonna be a combination of people who know us before rice as well as people who met us after Rice as well. So that's kind of like the benefit of these sorts of competitions overall, right? Win or lose is that like you're getting your name out there and ultimately it's through those higher like secondary connections that that end up pushing you forward.

[00:14:00] Shiv: Being venture backed essentially means selling part of your equity or part of the company to venture capitalists who then value your company at a specific amount, give you a specific amount of money, and then that gives you 18 months to 24 months of runway to then go and build a business. And we're at the very early stage of that, getting our first venture financing. The entire point is to move faster. And specifically it means building out a team. It means getting access to manufacturing facilities. It means iterating on our product. It means getting a commercial pilot ready within two years, being able to do things we wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

[00:14:40] Andrea: And what are some benefits to being venture backed?

[00:14:45] Rich: It's multimillions of dollars cash injection, which allows us to hire is the biggest one. So that would allow us to go from us two to probably a team of like five, six engineers plus business staff.

[00:15:00] Shiv: One is, being venture backed now means that we can stop, not stop, but we can lower the amount of time that we spend pitching and spend more time building the business and hiring people and actually doing what we wanna do, which is making surfaces active. But the other piece of this is, Rice's business plan, and Rich kind of touched on this, there's over 400 judges that are potential investors, and our goal isn't to have 400 investors in our cap table. Our goal is to find people that believe in us, and that could just be a couple that end up reaching out to us. And the climate prize, I think was something that meant a lot because we knew they were genuinely interested in the idea. A, they're looking for climate specific technologies and there's like maybe five to 10 in the competition. So being the best of those is nice. But at the same time, I think the 25 K prize that we won was an investment prize. So they want a seat on the cap table. They want a seat in the investment for this round, but that's not what they're limited to. They don't have to do just 25 k and they are suggesting they may be interested or open to more. And I think that is what truly gets me excited.

[00:16:00] HOST (Andrea): Press is definitely a big component of these competitions. Both Mitch and Active Surfaces has talked about the benefits in previous episodes. So, Active Surfaces is doing well and I’m excited to see where they go. Next we’ll check in with DIA, but first, a message.

[00:16:22] HOST (Andrea): You're listening to This is Small Business Next Generation, brought to you by Amazon. I’m one of your hosts, Andrea Marquez, and along with Mitch Gilbert, we’re introducing you to the world of business plan competitions and learning about how to best pitch your business in a way that attracts investment, in the case of the Rice Business Plan Competition, teams are competing to win up to $350K towards their small business startups.

Did you know that nearly 60% of products sold in Amazon's store are from independent sellers - most of which are small and medium-sized businesses? If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or an early-stage small business owner, there are many resources that Amazon offers to help you succeed and grow. [00:17:00] One of those resources is the Amazon Small Business Academy where you can find the help you need to take your small business from concept to launch and beyond. You can strengthen your skills at no cost with live and on demand trainings, Q&As, events, and even find more This is Small Business Next Generation content. If you don’t know where to start, you can take the free self-assessment on the Amazon Small Business Academy site at www.smallbusiness.amazon.

[00:17:30] HOST (Andrea): Alright, and we’re back with DIA.

[00:17:32] Sloane: I think I'm really glad that we went. It was a really valuable experience for Julio and I to learn pitching together. Just honestly, like learn more like the ins and outs of how each other work. As Julio said earlier, I. And I mean, it was, it was honestly also fun. Like we met some really great fellow entrepreneurs of the fellow teams. Our practice pitch was a little rough, but I think we really came in strong with our first real pitch and I think we were both really proud of that. [00:18:00] We were both flying pretty high after that. We didn't walk away with any of the big checks or prizes, but we, you know, I think we were proud of the pitch that we ended up putting.

[00:18:12] Julio: I'm a night owl, I do most of my research at night. What I can tell you is before you make an important pitch, try to get some sleep. I know it's hard. might have to go get those melatonin gummies or something, but it's worth it.

[00:18:30] Sloane: I would say some of the, like the really helpful feedback that we got was just really making it explicitly clear of what exactly our timeline was. So, being clear about our go to market strategy and that we sort of, we have this DOD angle that we're going to do and because it's DOD, there is going to be a dual use component of it with athletes and probably, you know, a fitness component, that is to get to our ultimate play of med tech, [00:19:00] but then also exactly walk them through how much time we're giving ourselves for the FDA play and that we're giving ourselves the exact standard of 80 months and showing them all of the steps to that process. Because the FDA is something that scares investors a lot. So I think that some very valuable feedback that we got and then implemented was that we said, just put on a slide, this is the timeline we're giving ourselves exactly average. And here are our steps one through five to get from A to B.

On some of the presentation style, it really was helpful. So the first one they really said come out from behind the desk. I think Julio was maybe fidgeting a little bit and you know they really gave us both some sort of just like own the space a little bit more and be confident in your pitch. I will say then we went in with that, with our second pitch and then we sort of received some Goldilocks feedback of saying like, well, don't be too confident, and so it was a little bit like, well, you can't have it both ways, guys.

[00:20:00] Julio: Like that is no reason to stop female entrepreneurs from trying to do. but I, I think I'm very proud of how Sloan handled it. I think both pitches went great and I do wanna be emphatic that it was not even most people like, but, but the fact that there's still people there who, who think that way is what worries me.

[00:20:25] Andrea: Brad did touch on this subject as well.

[00:20:30] Brad: There's a lot of dimensions to this issue. Um, and it's something that we think about often at the competition. Um, I, I would say that, and, you know, what's my perspective then, drilling down on the competition. I would argue that a hundred percent of founding teams should have women on their founding teams, because I think the data shows that when you have women who are part of a founding team, [00:21:00] The overall success rate of startups with women is higher than the success rate of, of startups that do not include women on the founding team that from the data that I've seen in the past.

I'm happy that we have 50 to 60% of our teams have women on them. Um, and that's good. I think it should be higher than that, and I'd like to see it continue to to increase. This year, I believe the number we, the number is now up to between 35 and 40% of our judges are women. This answer to that is simple. We, the objective is simple. That we ought to get, we need to get to 50% of our judges being women. But there's some things that have to be done upstream of that, which is we need more women, angel investors in the country, and we need more women, venture capital investors in the, in the country.

[00:21:50] Andrea: It adds another layer of understanding for the different hurdles that founders have to go through, especially as minority-owned businesses. Speaking of which, here’s Bilal from Unchained, a Black-owned business.

[00:22:00] Bilal: So we didn't end up, you know, advancing to the finals, but we did complete our team's objectives, which were to get more exposure to clients, which we met about three potential clients for Unchained there and that reached out to us after we pitched, and they were actually one of the judges in the room. So, although we didn't, you know, continue with prizes from the actual competition, we did receive like, the exposure we needed to bring on potential clients. And we also got exposure to a couple venture funds, one in Austin, Texas, and then there's another one in Louisiana, and they were very appreciative of our mission and wanted, you know, to be involved.

And then we also figured out how to pitch, our product confidently regardless of who the audience is in that sense. Like the ones who were receptive to it, understood, bought in. We didn't have to oversell the ones that didn't, you know, they just weren't ever going to. And so like, that just gave us our team, that confidence in knowing that it's not our product, [00:23:00] it's not the presentation, it's, you know, whoever this value would be added to, you know, is gonna accept it that way. So I feel like that's what we learned. We learned that regardless of, the outcome of the competition, we did gain value from participating. We did gain exposure and we did make connections. So that's, that's kind of how the event went.

The demographics of the judge room was, you know, mostly, you know, all, all white judges. I wouldn't say that like everybody wasn't receptive because the five that did, like, they didn't have an issue with how we were presenting what we were talking about. They provided resources, contacts. One was even a recruiter in the room that like was a recruiter in the industry for like 15 years. He came up to us afterwards and like actually talked about some of the things he faced so that's when we realized like it's not a race thing, it's a, you know, either you understand the value and understand the issue or you don't want to hear it. And so that's kind of like what we just gathered from it.

[00:23:55] Andrea: Talking more to the right people. I think that’s a valuable lesson across the board.

[00:24:00] Bilal: I'll say like this competition is like our graduation from pitch competitions. It's time to, you know, put on a tie and, you know, start, start running the company. This run was great. It gave me a lot of experience, a lot of reps, but I'm done with the reps, you know, I have an actual, product, business team to, you know, continue figuring out. So like, I feel like that's what it symbolized for me in my journey is like, I've done a lot of these, this being the, the biggest, you know, coming here, giving it my all, giving everything I knew about it, doing what I had to do. And like you said, walking away with wins. So at this point I feel like this competition is just like, it just symbolizes the end of a chapter, and the beginning of a new one.

[00:24:45] Andrea: I'm really hoping that Unchained will go on to be a successful and profitable business moving forward. And now, let's hear from our last team, Outmore Living:

[00:24:50] Kevin: We got great feedback from a lot of the judges, both positive and negative. So a lot of the judges said very great things about us, [00:25:00] told us we were on the right path and just keep at it. Some of the negative stuff was largely around, you know, business model, different approaches we could take there, some of our go-to-market strategy. Nothing that we haven't heard before, we haven't talked about before, so it was largely feedback we've gotten at different points or thought of ourselves. And at the end of the day, Alex and I feel really confident about our strategy. The team of advisors and investors we've put around us feel really confident about our strategy.

[00:25:30] Alex: We're creating a new category so, you know, the typical like, investor heuristic is like, is it like defensible and does it offer some competitive advantages? Is this the right team to go build on the product? Is solving this problem worth it? We have to do all of those things and we have to convince people and help them see like, a future that doesn't exist, right? And it's hard for Kevin and I to make that real and we've been thinking about this every day for a year and so I, [00:26:00] I think when we're introducing an entirely new category, something that doesn't exist, there's that additional hurdle, that for some judges, and some investors and potential people, customers there, they get it right away. They love it, they see it. And others, for whatever reason, maybe we didn't do a good enough job of explaining it, maybe they just don't particularly enjoy outdoor furniture, outdoor living, whatever it may be, whatever the reason is, didn't see it. And I don't think Kevin and I appreciated necessarily the challenge of introducing a new category, right? Like someone who's never even heard of this idea whatsoever, doesn't exist in the world, that like sort of ramps up the difficulty a even more.

[00:26:38] Kevin: There was some feedback that I think was related to just like a lack of knowledge with our industry, which is expected. Like there aren't really that many furniture startups. And so even within the consumer niche, like, sector of the judges, there weren't that many, if any, that have interacted with furniture, right? So like there's that barrier we have to overcome, but I think that also we got some great feedback from some of the women judges that were in our first round [00:27:00] like around design certain preferences there that ended up being super helpful for us. It would've been great to win, but I didn't leave it like thinking. Oh my God, we should have won that thing. I left it thinking we could have won it, and there was also a lot of great co companies there, so, yeah.

[00:27:20] Alex: I don't think there's any way to come out of this, like worse off. You are forced to refine your story. And prepare in such a way that makes you understand your business better. You have the opportunity to have a life changing night, like Zaymo, you could meet your next lead investor. All of these sorts of things. I, I mean, I'd be lying if I said that like, it wasn't like a pretty like emotional... it really, it stung to like, not even move on to the semi-finals. Right. Like, we were planning and preparing and, and trying our best to do that. I think in general it's a matter of getting over like a fear of like rejection that is super necessary to build the thick skin, persistence, some might call hardheaded stubbornness [00:28:00] that it takes to like be an entrepreneur and change the way the world is to some extent. And the reason that's tough it is because, you know, this is an idea that Kevin and I have put our stake in the ground and said, we think this is such a good idea, and we've put so much effort into it that we are going all in on this. We want to devote the next decade plus our life's work to making this idea reality. And so when you're that vulnerable to then be told implicitly, not explicitly, but being told implicitly, like, these other ideas we think are better than the one that you are hitching your wagon to, it's a little scary. But now since then, it's like, okay, onto the next, now we're just gonna go build a company. Right. Would it have been amazing if we were a finalist and, and won? Absolutely. Does it change the chances of success that Kevin and I believe we have? No.

[00:28:50] Andrea: Rejection is part of the journey and knowing how to deal with it is super important to keep moving forward. I think that RBPC really showed us that journey. [00:29:00] It seems like all our entrepreneurs are doing good regardless of how far they made it into the competition. And they all agree that even if they didn't win anything, the experience taught them a lot. It’s been great seeing everything behind the scenes from both the competitor’s side and the judge’s side. Mitch it’s been especially great to hear your perspective too.

[00:29:25] Mitch: This has been an awesome opportunity to get to know our teams, to get to know you as a co-host, to get to know the Rice team, judges and staff. And I hope you all as listeners have learned or gotten a more intimate understanding of what it takes to succeed at these business plan competitions and in venture capital as both a heavily represented founder and an underrepresented founder. And I think it's important to remember regardless of if things may be difficult for you as an underrepresented founder. [00:30:00] It is so important to continue trying business, especially small businesses are an extremely great way to build generational wealth and capital and to be able to support a family and also your employees and really grow America. So regardless of how hard it is, I hope you learn some specific nuggets to help make things a little bit easier and that you continue to try because if you continue to try, you're going to be better. You're gonna make everybody else better around you, and I'm rooting for you.

[00:30:42] Andrea: Couldn’t have said that better myself. That's such a lovely way to end the last episode of the This is Small Business: NEXT Generation. I learned so much and I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without you by my side Mitch, so thanks for being here! And why don’t you take it away and give us your big three takeaways:

[00:31:00] Mitch: One. Be gritty and patient. Use every resource that you have at your disposal. It's gonna take everything that you got. And if you're an underrepresented founder, you can't get frustrated by the rooms that you're not going to. It's not gonna be easy for you to walk into. Yeah, it can be frustrating, but you have resources too, and never forget that.
Two. If you're even showing up in those rooms, you have your own talent and so don't isolate yourself. Continue to rely on a network, and I would also say get some co-founders. Being a founder is a very lonely experience and there's a lot going on, so having a co-founder who can watch your back is really helpful.
Three. Judges find it hard probably to really rank charisma on a sheet of paper. But charisma is really important when you're a founder. Like you have to be a person that people see themselves in you, [00:32:00] like you are a person of the people. You inspire them, they want to hang out with you, they want to be your friend. They wanna support you and help get you to the next level. You have to build a business that people wanna rally behind.

[00:32:15] Andrea: Every episode of this miniseries has important lessons learned and takeaways, so make sure to go back and give them all a listen. And if you want to continue this journey of learning and leveling up, make sure to subscribe and stay up to date with our regular This is Small Business episodes.

And with that, we’d love to hear your stories wherever you are in your journey. Whether you're about to start your own business, in the process of it, or maybe even getting ready to pitch your business in a pitch competition. Reach out to us at thisissmallbusiness@amazon.com to tell us what you're up to. Or let me know what you think of the episode by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts – it’s easier if you do it through your phone. And if you liked what you heard -- I hope you'll share us with anyone else who needs to hear this!

[00:33:00] If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, and I hope you are if you’re listening to This is Small Business. Or maybe you already have your small business up and running and you’re ready for the next step. A super valuable resource that can help you is the Amazon Small Business Academy where you can find the help you need to take your small business from concept to launch and beyond. Take the free self-assessment on the Amazon Small Business Academy site at www.smallbusiness.amazon.

This is Small Business: Next Generation is brought to you by Amazon with technical and story production by JAR Audio. I’m one of your hosts, Andrea Marquez –

Mitch: And I'm your co-host, Mitch Gilbert.

Andrea: Hasta luego and thanks for listening! [00:33:36]

Next Generation: We Win Some, We Lose Some

Aug 1, 2023

Learn about standing out to potential investors.

[00:00:00] Alex: There is no path. And so it's gonna be a kind of somewhat terrifying adventure at every step.

Sloane: I think I could have brought a little bit more energy in the pitch today,

Bilal: I feel happy, you know, for it to be complete now, you know, there's nothing left that I could have done. We gave it our all, so.

[00:00:20] Andrea: Hi, and welcome to “This is Small Business: NEXT Generation” - a miniseries brought to you by Amazon, where we follow 4 student teams behind the scenes throughout the Rice University Business Plan Competition. You’ll hear all about their challenges, hopes, and fears as they prepare to pitch. And by the end of every episode, we’ll be pointing out key takeaways that will help you wherever you are on your business journey. I’m one of your hosts – Andrea Marquez.

[00:00:46] Mitch: And I'm your co-host Mitch Gilbert, co-founder of Oya Femtech Apparel, and ex-Rice business plan, competition competitor, and winner.

[00:00:53] Andrea: We’ve made it to the final day of the Rice Business Plan Competition. Today we’ll be finding out who made it past the semi-finals [00:01:00] and who won the finals, so we’ve got a lot to cover. But first, let's recap what went down so far.

[00:01:09] Mitch: So on the last episode, we found out that DIA and Active Surfaces are gonna go on to compete in the semi-finals and Active Surfaces stumbled upon a high school friend of theirs with a business called Tierra Climate that's also competing in the semi-finals. So a lot of things, and also sadness because not everyone advances to the semifinals.

[00:01:28] Andrea: But Unchained and Outmore Living still have a chance to win the finals because everyone who didn’t make it to the semi-finals gets to compete in a wildcard round. The winner of that round goes on to compete in the finals.

[00:01:42] Mitch: So, Andrea, I know you watched the semi-finals and wild card round pitches. Wanna give us a little rundown on how our teams did?

[00:01:48] Andrea: Of course! One thing that I noticed and that we also talked about in previous episodes is that some of our teams actually showcased their product. Active surfaces did that with their product and one of the judges said that they were impressed when they showed their four inch by four inch square. [00:02:00] And Outmore Living showcased their product as well. Here we are in the room during their pitch. As a reminder, some of the audio is LIVE and on the go in auditoriums or pitch classrooms so excuse some of the audio.

[00:02:16] Alex: I'll direct your attention as Kevin moves over to the left so you guys can see the actual chair. He'll walk you through it. But we set out to design the world's most comfortable outdoor living experience. And the mental model we use is your car seat heaters in premium heated outdoor furniture. So what Kevin's holding there is what we call the power bar. This is a 3D printed prototype.

[00:02:37] Mitch: You have to showcase your product live, especially if it is some sort of physical good, whether that be food, fashion and the case of Active Surfaces, solar panels. I actually see some founders who are very technical. Like their products are like softwares. Sometimes they lose investors because investors don't know what they're talking about. [00:03:00] So the more that you can actually make your solution practical and in their face, the easier it will be for investors to understand where you're coming from. And I would say even if you don't have a physical good, I would say you need to have examples of like your user interface on the screen or like if you have an app, like what does it look like for someone to use your app, because that sets you apart from the competition who may only be an idea. Is there anything else that stood out to you, Andrea?

[00:03:30] Andrea: Yeah, DIA didn't get any comments on their presentation skills, and I noticed that they incorporated a lot of what the judges previously talked about into the presentation like how they plan on getting their product approved by the FDA and how long that process is expected to be. There was still some confusion on the actual product though. Here’s an interaction with one of the judges and Sloane during feedback.

[00:03:55] Judge: So you're selling a service or a device? If you're selling a device, is it reusable or is it a good. It's consumable.

Sloane: This device is reusable. This is a single use strip. For the saliva, [00:04:00] because it's a much larger quantity of sample. For the wearable, we've extended the lifetime of the electrode to about two weeks.

[00:04:10] Mitch: Clear and concise. Okay, and what about Unchained?

[00:04:15] Andrea: Unchained was great, but unfortunately....

[00:04:20] Bilal: We didn't get through our full presentation in time versus yesterday. We actually made it. We got through our full presentation, but we still didn't make it through semifinals. But the feedback that we received from judges this time was good. But we also have to see what, what came into an account of like the point system. So we feel good about what we presented today. We just ran out of our time. So that's, that's, that's the only, I guess, downside. But like we presented, well, we felt like we got our point across.

[00:04:45] Mitch: Sometimes you wanna implement all the feedback you're given, which results in a longer presentation, which might have been the case here, but I think that that longer it going over was more of a symptom of them not having a strong advisor in the first place. So had they were able to meet with an advisor before their pitch, [00:05:00] they would've gotten a lot of the feedback they already had gotten. So it's easier in each round if you can kind of trench the feedback so that way you can really digest it and get it together. That's why before every pitch I did, I would always try and meet with people or former judges in those pitch competitions, or just ask people who were involved to give me feedback.

[00:05:30] Andrea: Yea, having an advisor definitely help as you’ve talked to us about in your own experience. So up next is the moment of truth… we’ll get to hear who made it to the finals. But first a quick message!

[00:05:45] HOST (Andrea): You're listening to This is Small Business Next Generation, brought to you by Amazon. I’m one of your hosts, Andrea Marquez, and along with Mitch Gilbert, we’re introducing you to the world of business plan competitions and learning about how to best pitch your business in a way that attracts investment, in the case of the Rice Business Plan Competition, teams are competing to win up to $350K towards their small business startups.

[00:06:00] Did you know that nearly 60% of products sold in Amazon's store are from independent sellers - most of which are small and medium-sized businesses? If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or an early-stage small business owner, there are many resources that Amazon offers to help you succeed and grow. One of those resources is the Amazon Small Business Academy where you can find the help you need to take your small business from concept to launch and beyond. You can strengthen your skills at no cost with live and on demand trainings, Q&As, events, and even find more This is Small Business Next Generation content. If you don’t know where to start, you can take the free self-assessment on the Amazon Small Business Academy site at www.smallbusiness.amazon.

[00:06:50] Andrea: We’re back… now let’s hear who made it to the finals… drumroll please!

[00:07:00] Presenter: The first of the seven companies to present the finals is Tierra Climate.

The second of the companies that will present in the finals is Zaymo.

The third presenter is Sygne Solutions.

So the fourth company that we'll present this afternoon is FluxWorks.

The fifth team is Pathways.

The six team that will present is Boston Quantum.

The final presenter is at Atma Leather.

[00:07:35] Andrea: Okay so...none of our teams made it as the final 7, but fear not, this does not mean our teams can’t win some of the many awards presented during the awards ceremony. And we did hear a familiar name in that list of finalists: Tierra Climate. On our previous episode, we found out that one of the founders of Tierra Climate went to high school with Shiv from Active Surfaces. And getting to talk to both of them was great. Given their background, we wanted to check in with both teams to see how they feel about the results.

[00:08:00] Shiv: We put our best foot forward in the semi, so I'm sad we didn't make it, but I think it's like good note to end on. I think at that point it's just, uh, the balls fall where they fall. But I'm optimistic that we can keep moving forward.

[00:08:16] Khalid: Yeah, definitely disappointed, but excited to keep building.

[00:08:18] Shiv: During the first feedback session, one of the judges came up to us and said, I own commercial buildings. It builds DFW and Houston, and I can't put solar on it today. How can we work together? So I think having people like that, that actually own assets that want to work with us kind of validates our idea and also builds potential future partnerships. So I think that's what I'm excited about, working with people like that.

[00:08:37] Andrea @ RBPC: How do you feel about the finalists? One being someone we know?

[00:08:40] Shiv: I think Tierra Climate for sure deserves to be there. It's nice to see our friends and family make it all the way up.

[00:08:48] Andrea: On our last episode, we introduced you to Jacob Mansfield the CEO and one of the co-founders of Tierra Climate. After finalists were announced, I managed to talk to his co-founder Emma as well.

[00:09:00] Emma: My name's Emma Konet. I'm co-founder and CTO of Tierra Climate.

[00:09:00] Andrea @ RBPC: How do you feel right now?

[00:09:02] Emma: We're just really grateful for the opportunity to be here. To be at my home turf representing Rice and honestly, just meeting all these amazing people are so smart and like, so driven and I feel like we've made friends here, so it's been really great to be here.

[00:09:15] Jacob: I felt like kind of a weight has been lifted off. Yeah. I think throughout this whole process we have a fairly esoteric problem and solution. And so I'm glad that it resonated with some people here and hopefully they see the, the gravity of our vision. But I think something that actually Shiv told me a couple days ago was regardless of really the outcome of this, you know, the, the strength of your own business and you know, you know what you're gonna build well beyond this competition regardless of if you're in the finals or whether or not, you don't even make it through the prelims.

[00:09:44] Andrea: That’s a nice moment to have among friends. Next, we checked in with our second semi-finalist: DIA.

[00:09:50] Andrea @ RBPC: What are things that you think you'll be doing differently moving forward?

[00:09:52] Sloane: I think I could have brought a little bit more energy in the pitch today, which is always, you know, something that I can work on whenever pitching. But other than that, we, we have a strong company and I don't, I don't think we need to change all that much other than just, you know, continuing to work.

[00:10:00] Andrea: Even though they didn’t make it to finals, I love hearing the confidence in their vision. We also checked in with Unchained and Outmore Living after finalists were announced. They both participated in the wildcard round where they had to pitch again for a chance to be one of the finalists, but did not make it either. This is Bilal from Unchained.

[00:10:26] Bilal: I feel happy for it to be complete now. There's nothing left that I could have done. So I feel like I, I gave it my all. So like, I feel like I was just waiting for, you know, that final decision and, or the resolution to, you know, to the end of the competition. I'm still hopeful for like, the banquet. Cause I, I was able to connect with a lot of outside people, like venture funds and different things like that, that were really interested in what we were doing. And you know, there's a couple of other prizes that we saw that we qualified for. So we still have high hopes but glad to have competed, participated, and you know, we gave it our all.

[00:11:00] Andrea: And lastly, this is what Alex from Outmore Living had to say. At this point, Kevin was on a flight to Paris to celebrate his honeymoon.

[00:11:05] Alex: We're leaving this feeling like super motivated. We had some really good feedback, some things to think about, we're kind of, not pivoting, but we're moving a couple things that we had further on the roadmap, we're bringing them forward based off of all the feedback we've gotten from everyone. So we have this entire ecosystem of products we want to build, and it's more like reshuffling what we're gonna build when, bringing this forward so that, I mean, that's invaluable. Like, that's that's amazing.

[00:11:35] Andrea @ RBPC: Is there anything that you would've done differently?

[00:11:38] Alex: You can't only look back and like, oh, what could have been? So, no, I don't, Kevin, and I don't have any regrets. I mean, it's, it's honestly been such a great exercise to like force us to really, really, really dig deep and really work out our business plan in a way that wasn't as complete before that. So no, absolutely not. Just the act of preparing for this itself is worth it.

[00:12:00] Andrea: So, a reminder that, just because our teams have been eliminated doesn't mean they're going home with no money. Some teams have the opportunity to win other prizes even if they don’t make it to the final round or win the grand prize, so there’s still hope for our teams. Okay, since we know a little bit about who Tierra Climate is, I think it's only fair that we introduce some of the other finalists. I had a chance to check in with them before they gave their final pitch right outside the auditorium. I had a bit more time with some than others. Here's a quick intro to Zaymo:

[00:12:30] Zaymo: My name's Danny. We do interactive emails for e-commerce stores called Zaymo. Hey, and I am Santi. And I'm Chris. We are stoked. Very, very excited.

Andrea: Next is Pathways:

Leise - Pathways: I'm Leise.

Kritika - Pathways: I'm Kritika,

Alex - Pathways: and I'm Alex.

Leise - Pathways: We're building software for architects and real estate developers that help them reduce the carbon of the materials they use in new constructions and retrofits.

Andrea @ RBPC: How do you feel right now as one of the finalists?

[00:13:00] Kritika - Pathways: Oh, oh, it's overwhelming, but I have confidence in our team and I'm sure that we'll bring it home.

Alex - Pathways: Yeah, it's really exciting. I mean, throughout this weekend, you know, they started at the beginning of it saying, you're gonna get a lot of feedback. It's going to be an opportunity to learn and grow. And I admittedly was like, okay. But it's been kind of crazy over the last 48 hours how our pitch has really evolved to reflect that. And I think we're way stronger than we walked in. And I'm excited to see what we're able to do this afternoon.

Kritika - Pathways: This is my passion and I've been building it for a very long time, researching on the subject for a very long time. I can't wait to get our hands on some amount of money so we can actually implement what our vision is.

Andrea: And next is Sygne Solutions.

Dana - Sygne Solutions: I'm Dana Vazquez, the Chief commercial officer and co-founder at Sygne Solutions where we forever eliminate forever chemicals.

Subash - Sygne Solutions: Subash Kannan, CEO and co-founder of Sygne Solutions We are disruptive, scalable, and serve noble cost. Very investor grade at this point. Honored, happy that the message is resonating through, especially the problem statement, what we are having. So it's a big noble cause. So it's a great disruptive product. So we are honored.

[00:14:00] Andrea: Now let's check in with the Wildcard round winner, Atma Leather.

Jinali Mody - Atma Leather: Hi, I'm Jinali. I'm the founder of Atma Leather. We're a material science company that is creating a plant-based leather alternative from banana crop waste. We feel great. We're very, very excited. We definitely have gone through a lot of ups and downs in the last two days, we didn't make it through to the semis and then we did the wildcard and we got through the wildcard. So it’s been a lot of learning, a lot of feedback, a lot of great people that have helped us get here. So everything's changed since round one, most of our slides, how we pitch, what we pitch, the order of what we do, everything has, has gone through a lot of changes. And so, we're happy to say that the feedback really, really paid off. The future goal is to scale this material, so we're excited to get there.

[00:14:50] Andrea: We're getting so close to figuring out who's winning that grand prize, but first remember when we said that some teams can win awards even if they don't make it to the finals? Well one of our teams was awarded a nice chunk of money. You’re about to hear the moment in the final banquet where they announce it. At this point in time we’re all in a huge room at a hotel where there’s endless of rows of tables full of competitors, judges, investors, organizers, volunteers, and more. This is a presenter from the New York Climate Ventures.

[00:15:20] Presenter: New York Climate Ventures is pleased to be here and, helping with the Rice Business Planning competition with Prize. Uh, we invest in early-stage companies with a focus on decarbonization. There were a number of companies that were deserving of this prize here tonight. And in a world where you're working toward decarbonizing everything and electrifying everything you need all of the above approach. Our winner this year is Active Surfaces from MIT.

[00:15:50] Andrea: Active Surfaces won 25,000 dollars from the New Climate Ventures Sustainable Investment Prize. And that's not all, remember that elevator pitch competition that happened on the first day? [00:16:00] Well, there were separate winners for several categories and there was some good news for Active surfaces there as well.

[00:16:10] Speaker: in the energy of clean tech sustainability category. The winner is active surfaces from MIT.

[00:16:15] Andrea: Sooo that's another 500 dollars from the elevator pitch competition. So they did leave with some money from the competition. And even though our teams didn’t make it to the first three spots, let’s hear who did. In third place, with an award of 50K dollars…

Speaker: So without further ado, the third-place team winner is Zaymo.

Andrea: And the second-place overall winner who gets to leave with 100,000 dollars is...

Speaker: Sygne's Solutions from Rice University.

Andrea: And finally for the grand prize of $350K...

Speaker: The winner of the grand prize is Fluxworks from Texas A&M.

[00:17:00] Bryton Praslicka: My name is Bryton Praslicka PhD as of two days ago. And my business name is FluxWorks. I don't know if for certain we can say that we're the best team with the best technology, but I can say for certain we're the most grateful team. just wanna thank, like, the Lord, thank our mentors and I'm just thrilled I can say that and, um, how we currently feel. It rhymes with schmo, overwhelmed.

[00:17:25] Andrea: WOW. Since I was there in person, I can tell you the energy was wild. People flocking to the winners as if it where the end of the Super Bowl. Mitch, you were a finalist in the past. Do you remember how that felt for you?

[00:17:38] Mitch: I was surprised, but also focused. I had a whole strategy, man. I had an, email chain, people were connected on the email chain. I was emailing my professors and like my advisors and like moving forward every round. So we had a whole team. It was a team effort, so it's probably not a surprise that we advanced to the finals, but at the time I was like, okay, this was a surprise and I felt nice, but then I was like, oh my gosh, I have so much work to do.

[00:18:00] Andrea: And of course, we checked in with our very own Active Surfaces after the awards ceremony since they also won a few prizes tonight.

[00:18:12] Shiv: We came here because we cared about climate change. And winning the one climate associated prize makes me feel that people that care about our sector care about us.

[00:18:22] Richard: Out of all the ones that we won in terms of the sponsored prizes, that's the one that I'm glad we won the most because it's actually a climate venture capital firm validating our technology, right? It hits more from a more validation standpoint of someone who like looks at climate every day, uh, and then it's like, we believe in you and we'll sponsor that. So I'm happy about that, definitely. And, and we actually, out of all the, the sponsored people, we talk to them the most throughout this competition as well. I think we got the most progress for our business in four days than we've had in general, just, just because of the density and the amount of like people who've contributed to like, helping us improve.

[00:19:00] Andrea: And Active Surfaces actually had another pitch competition that they were going to only two days right after the Rice Business Plan Competition was over.

[00:19:08] Shiv: I feel even more ready than I would've been otherwise. All the feedback is helping us polish that deck too.

[00:19:13] Andrea: What a day Mitch, I kinda want to join a pitch competition now because, it looks super stressful, but also very rewarding and even… fun.

[00:19:22] Mitch: Yeah, I would say that to be good at a pitch competition, you need to watch how other competitors competed and the ones that won what they did differently than others. I would also say practice, practice, practice. Practice with people who do not care about your vertical. Practice with people who don't like you. Practice with people who are racist. Practice with people who are sexist. Practice with people who love you. Practice with people who understand your vertical or what the problem that is that you're trying to solve, and then I would say practice with an actual venture capitalist who cares about you, even though you may be underrepresented, and I think that will really help take you to the next level.

[00:20:00] Andrea: That is definitely something important. And we’ve got one more episode left where we’ll be checking in with some of the judges from the competition a few weeks after the competition to dig into why the teams that won, won and why our teams didn’t make it to the finals.

[00:20:16] Mitch: We’ll also check in with our four teams, like what are they up to? How are their businesses doing? I'm so excited to hear all about it.

[00:20:22] Andrea: With that, we’ve been on a long learning journey here, so let’s go through our key takeaways. And even though our teams didn’t place in the top 7, this doesn’t mean we didn’t learn super beneficial lessons that anyone can use on their journey. Like:

Mitch: 1. Find the right investor. So, there's a difference between angel investors and venture capital, and both of those groups have different verticals that they invest in and they invest differently. So finding the right investors is super important.
Andrea: Two. Be open to judge feedback and try to implement what works and what you can speak to confidently into the presentation, [00:21:00] but also pick and choose wisely or you can run the risk of not finishing on time like Unchained in their final wildcard round.
Mitch: Three. If you won, understand why. If you lost, understand why. Look at other pitches, ask questions. Figure out where the weaknesses are and adjust accordingly. Aside from money, that is what these competitions are for, is to really improve your business model. I would also say look for other judges who could help you and explain like how you can improve your pitch.

[00:21:30] Andrea: On the next episode, we’ll be digging into some of the “WHYs” behind the results of our teams. So make sure to give it a listen to get a full view of what you can do to prepare your business.

[00:21:40] Mitch: Sometimes it's about the competition itself and not your business. Like it's really not even personal.

[00:21:45] Andrea: Yea! Like, remember that competition we told you about that Active Surfaces had to go to two days after Rice? Well… they won FIRST PLACE.

[00:21:55] Mitch: Crazy. So keep that in mind that every competition is different. Every judging group is different. And don't get discouraged if you don't win. [00:22:00] But then at the same time, it's okay to get a little angry. Let that fuel burn your fire to do better. This is a very cutthroat audience and I think, again, know who you're pitching to. It's not even getting discouraged or frustrated. It's being intentional about knowing your audience.

[00:22:20] Andrea: We’d love to hear your stories wherever you are in your journey. Whether you're about to start your own business, in the process of it, or maybe even getting ready to pitch your business in a pitch competition. Reach out to us at thisissmallbusiness@amazon.com to tell us what you're up to. Or let me know what you think of the episode by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts – it’s easier if you do it through your phone. And if you liked what you heard -- I hope you'll share us with anyone else who needs to hear this!

If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, and I hope you are if you’re listening to This is Small Business. Or maybe you already have your small business up and running and you’re ready for the next step. A super valuable resource that can help you is the Amazon Small Business Academy where you can find the help you need to take your small business from concept to launch and beyond. Take the free self-assessment on the Amazon Small Business Academy site at www.smallbusiness.amazon.

This is Small Business: Next Generation is brought to you by Amazon with technical and story production by JAR Audio. I’m one of your hosts, Andrea Marquez –

Mitch: And I'm Mitch Gilbert.

Andrea: Hasta luego and thanks for listening! [00:23:24]

Next Generation: The First Eliminations

Jul 25, 2023

Learn about articulating risks and opportunities.

[00:00:00] Alex: It's a rollercoaster of emotions.

Julio: What if I am wrong? What if I miss something?

Sloane: Nobody knows my business better than I do, and I'm allowed to be there and I I should be taking up space in that room.

Richard: Nobody else was doing it right. I think that's the big thing that really pushed me to do it

Alex: I believe to the core that we're gonna be a successful billion-dollar company.

Shiv: And I think that's why we wanna win.

Peter: It's a very courageous act to do. It takes a lot of guts. It's a good thing. And they're, they're overcoming a lot out there.

Andrea: Hi, and welcome to This is Small Business: NEXT Generation - a miniseries brought to you by Amazon, where we follow 4 student teams behind the scenes throughout the Rice University Business Plan Competition. You’ll hear all about their challenges, hopes, and fears as they prepare to pitch. And by the end of every episode, we’ll be pointing out key takeaways that will help you wherever you are on your business journey. I’m one of your hosts – Andrea Marquez.

[00:01:00] Mitch: And I'm your co-host Mitch Gilbert, co-founder of Oya Femtech Apparel and an ex-rice business plan competition competitor.

[00:01:05] Andrea: We’ve made it through day one of the competition and I think it’s safe to say that the feedback from the first day was helpful, but it was also…

[00:01:15] Mitch: Brutally honest, and it's hard because venture capitalists are not nice people. At the same time, though, it was very detailed, which is really what a lot of the founders needed.

[00:01:27] Andrea: Yeah, but at least we made it to the second day, where the teams will get to go through the first round of pitching and find out if they’ll be making it to the semi-finals. We’ll also be hearing from other competitors.

[00:01:38] Mitch: But first we'll go check in with our teams after they go through their first round of pitching, which consists of a 15-minute pitch and then a 15-minute q and a with the judges, and then a 15-minute feedback round, which sounds stressful.

[00:01:52] Andrea: It certainly does. And after that, you’ll get to know who’s actually going to make it through to the semi-final round and how they feel after the announcements. [00:02:00] But first, we sat down with Peter Rodriguez, the Dean of the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University, to hear some of his thoughts about the Rice Business Plan competition:

[00:02:13] Peter: I think it got started just because we had some entrepreneurial faculty who thought they would teach the business of launching a business. I think business schools so much focuses on leading a business or being in an existing business, but the act of starting a business is really different. It's, it's going it alone. It's being a founder, it's taking a leap that's much harder, and that's not an easy thing to teach. And so getting people over that hump, actually encouraging them to take what they know and really test it from the get-go, go from zero to one as they say was a grill gap and they wanted to close the gap. So they got started. And little by little, like all good things, they found collaborators, people who wanted the same, and it really blossomed.

Andrea @ RBPC: Why do you think as a business owner, someone, especially an early-stage business owner, [00:03:00] should try to be part of this competition?

[00:03:05] Peter: It's the learning environment, which I think is both frightening. I mean, it's a competition. It's really like the NCAA Tournament of Business startup competitions, and so you feel that pressure and if you're a business owner or a founder, pressure needs to bring out the best in you. You need to find a way to get the nerves down and just be who you are. So much of what you see out there, brilliant people. You have PhDs, brilliant minds. They don't still have the courage to sort of speak it. This is what I'm about, this is what I'm trying to do. No one's done it before, they haven't done it this well, but I'm going to do it. That, that's gutsy.

And then you have people on the other side who are really there to sort of, you know, engage in the old steel sharpened steel process and say, well, is that really a good idea? How good is it? What about this did you think about? And the more you go through that, you know, the more you get bruised a little bit, the stronger you become. [00:04:00] And by the end you find a couple of firms that are like, this is ready to go. You're gonna go out there and crush it.

Mitch @ RBPC: I've been in pitch competitions where judges can be very biased, and it's just like conversations in the back room and there are almost no checks and balances to help make it more equitable. Whereas these teams, like every round, I felt like my business got so much better between the first round to the end of the competition. Whereas I've been in competitions where there were no female judges. Regardless of whether I had followed the rubric, they weren't actually really judging me against the rubric, and so being here and seeing judges following rubrics, like, I, I just think that's commendable. I don't know what the answer to the problem is, but seeing it from this side has been cool.

[00:04:44] Peter: A lot of what the deficit is for underrepresented groups is, if you've never talked to an investor before, you don't know how they think. And what you really wanna learn is what are they really thinking? You think they might be wondering about the product or the idea. They're really thinking things like, can I make money off of that? [00:05:00] What would it take? How far away are you? How do you deal with this number one risk. And if you can get to that in about four or five minutes, you can cut out a lot of pieces. And you're so much more compelling that way. It's also important to know you don't have to have every problem solved. Most of them are thinking, well, if we can solve 70% of the problems, I think I can figure out what we can do on the remaining 30 and we can coach through that because they know from experience nobody has a hundred percent of the problem solved. You'd be in business right now so they know they've got work to do, but it's that experience and if they don't give you good detailed feedback. If they don't give you insight into what was going on in their mind when they were judging you, then you really haven't gained from it.

We do a survey to ask the pitching teams, how many people did you meet, who you think could help you in the future. And one of our metrics is, can we make that number go up so that every team comes out and can say at least seven people I met. [00:06:00] Can help me make my business better in the future. Because the worst thing we could have is that students and their teams come here and they think, yeah, that didn't really help me, that didn't advance. We're learning a little bit every year, and I just came back from a lunch. We had about 40 of the advisors from the different universities so that we always get together and talk about what's working, what's not working, how do we make it better, and, we're not really that competitive. We try to steal ideas from each other to make our competitions better. And our goal is just to stay, you know the best or as best as we can be.

[00:06:30] Andrea: And with that, let's get into how our contestants feel after the first round of pitching, starting with DIA.

Mitch @ RBPC: So between yesterday and today, do you feel like your business got better?

[00:06:42] Sloane: I feel like our communication specifically about our business got better. I think that especially as a female CEO, you have to run a very thin line between being approachable and being relatable. And being strong. And I think that I was able to grow as a leader [00:07:00] in walking that line. But also being able to go in there and say that these judges are all extremely smart. But, they spend a few hours with my business and their opinions are valuable, but nobody knows my business better than I do, and I'm allowed to be there and I I should be taking up space in that room.

[00:07:20] Julio: Just sitting down with Sloan made the difference just where we could have improved what she needed from me cuz honestly, I botched a lot of it. I took responsibility and she took responsibility for trying to make me fit into another mold and we just reworked the whole thing together as a team and that allowed us, plus the sleep, to do a great pitch. I really think it was as good as it could be. I'm so proud of Sloan. She, she took all the questions. It was amazing.

Mitch @ RBPC: So how are you feeling about this afternoon?

[00:07:50] Sloane: I'm feeling excited. Yeah. I feel like it's another chance for Julio and I to, to grow, improve our business again. And I feel like you, you have to, especially as a startup founder, you're never gonna be perfect. [00:08:00] Yeah. So you have to have an attitude of constant improvement. And you know, it's like you're not gonna nail every single workout, but like the workouts that you don't nail, they still make you stronger. It's been a really wonderful competition and I feel like the partners that Rice has brought in and the level of how they do things here is something I've never seen before.

[00:08:18] Andrea: That’s awesome to hear. Sounds like they’re feeling pretty good. Let’s check in with Outmore Living.

[00:08:25] Kevin: Yeah. So some of the feedback we got yesterday was that we waited too long to bring the product into the actual pitch and presentation. So the biggest change that Alex and I made as we headed into today was we brought that up to the front. So we kicked it off with the problem and then brought in the solution, explained the product, and then kind of got into how we got there, the past, present, and future. And so that was a shift and honestly, Alex and I only practiced it a couple times going into today, so we were very happy with how it ended up going.

[00:08:52] Alex: We changed no content. All I said to him was, dude, let's just think mental thoughts before. Concise and deliberate. Concise and deliberate, concise and deliberate. [00:09:00] And then we ran it again, and we somehow knocked three minutes off of the presentation with changing no content, just from having like that concise and deliberate mindset going into it ended up in three minutes and a better presentation.

Andrea @ RBPC: What are some of the things that were the hardest for your team to work on when it came to pitching your idea?

[00:09:00] Alex: Yeah. It's a combination of wanting to display and showcase how deeply we understand the technology, the go-to-market strategy, who are we gonna sell it to, how are we gonna sell it, but not burying that in a pile of details to the point where it becomes uncon consumable. And Kevin and I could get up there and I think if we were asked to talk as long as we can, we'd be well over an hour about Outmore, incredibly detailed, right? We can get down to very specific things. So I think it's taking what Kevin and I know, [00:10:00] and then presenting it in the right balance of detail to show that we're, we know what we're talking about, we're the right team to go solve it. But at a high enough level that the person who's never experienced it before can understand it, comprehend it, not get lost from slide to slide, and then ultimately walk away seeing the same vision that Kevin and I have every day. So it's a, it's, it's striking that right balance.

Andrea @ RBPC: How do you feel about the semi-finals coming up?

[00:10:30] Kevin: I feel excited, going into the elevator pitch, that was probably my most nervous feeling. You have nothing behind you. You have a minute, and you have to be perfect. When you have the actual pitches, you don't have to be perfect. You can kind of explain your way through a slide. And so, even going in today, I was way less nervous. And then as we think about finding out if we make the semi-finals, I'm more excited than anything else. If we get it, we'll be extremely excited. But if we don't, we also know we lost to some great teams. [00:11:00] So, at this point, it's just really excitement.

Andrea @ RBPC: Why do you think you should win?

[00:11:05] Alex: There is a reason why I am with a wife and three kids going all in on this idea. For some people that is a, a terrifying proposition, but from the moment I heard, Kevin and I talk about, I wish our seats were heated. This idea has captivated me. I've tried to run away from it. At first, I was like, okay, yeah, surely this exists. And then it continued to follow with me, I believe to the deepest core that we are sitting on a billion-dollar idea to the size of another Austin Company of Yeti, and, and I believe we are the most investible idea here. And Kevin and I will, with a combination of our team, our characteristics, our personalities, resilience, the idea that we have, [00:12:00] and our ability to humble ourselves and say, look, this is our best idea. If the market doesn't like it, we're gonna adapt. Take that approach. I, I believe to the core that we're gonna be a successful billion-dollar company.

[00:12:15] Andrea: And now let's check in with Unchained:

[00:12:18] Bilal: So far the competition has been like amazing. Being an entrepreneur is a journey that not many understand. And typically like, you being an entrepreneur, you're an anomaly in the general sense of like the world. But then when you come to spaces like this where everyone's an entrepreneur, everyone's working on something, everybody around understands the struggles of an entrepreneur. You kind of feel at home. So I feel like the main thing this competition has done has provided a home for, you know, innovators. And that's the main takeaway so far is like, this is a home for people who think like me and working towards things that, that I'm working towards.

Mitch @ RBPC: You're coming off of a high, so you just had your pitch How you feeling?

[00:12:56] Bilal: I feel great. You know, I feel amazing. You know, I feel like LeBron after Game seven right now, [00:13:00] but game seven is tomorrow, so, you know, we'll, stay tuned for that, you know what I'm saying? But honestly, coming off of yesterday, so we had a practice pitch round where we received a lot of good feedback. That feedback kind of shaped how I went into my 60 second pitch at the end of the day. And after that 60 second pitch, a lot of people came up to me, whether that be investors or judges. They resonated with the problem solving and the work we were doing. me and the team last night, we stayed up late. We, you know, worked out the kinks and then today, today, like we went room and we presented what was true to us, and we just let the slides be the evidence. You know, we wanted to really captivate the audience to let them know that like we were the ones who are uniquely built solve this problem because we this issue and we're currently working every day and making our life's work to actually get this done.

Mitch @ RBPC: How would you say your perspective changed between yesterday and today?

[00:13:52] Bilal: Prior to this, I've been like traveling to different conferences, speaking to HR leaders about our product and pitching it. And so after pitching something so repetitively, [00:14:00] it's hard to really find your faults or where you're overdoing things because you're used to doing it in a certain way and so what yesterday did for me was like, put me in an uncomfortable situation. So yesterday taught me to focus on the delivery and let the work speak for itself and I don't have to overexplain the and so today that's how I went into it. It's like, make sure anybody in the room can understand what exactly doing and let them read slides and ask the questions afterwards instead of trying to oversell what I had on screen.

Mitch @ RBPC: As a fellow founder of color, we don't typically get to operate in these spaces. Sometimes people judge us before we even get feedback. Like the idea is there, the passion is there. The intelligence there is all those things. But like because we weren't raised amongst certain types of investors or to see the way that they communicate or they think, we don't always get the benefit of the doubt. And so when I saw that you were able to hear that and then evolve, it makes me really happy that you were able to grow in that moment, because that is entrepreneurship. [00:15:00] So what are you most looking forward about tomorrow?

[00:15:05] Bilal: Besides winning, really just, I feel like this competition for us, like especially where we are in our journey, is just like a milestone of independence in our journey. You know, we've worked this hard to get this far. And we finally got the opportunity we're looking for, for funding and the only thing standing in the way is our performance and our ability, which I feel like our team has prepared for. So really, I'm excited about the opportunity to perform.

[00:15:27] Andrea: And finally, here’s Active surfaces:

[00:15:30] Shiv: We got some really good feedback from the judges yesterday and we wanted to maintain the story flow, but we wanted to capture some of the feedback they got about: where we are today, what differentiates our IP, what does our technology look like in practice? So we added some visuals, added some numbers, and I think it really answered a lot of the questions during the q and a today.

Mitch @ RBPC: So what were some key learnings as a pitcher that you had from yesterday that you were able to apply today?

[00:15:57] Khalid: I'm Khalid McCaskill and I'm with Active Services. I am working on customer discovery, [00:16:00] so in the market, talking to customers, hunting pain points, trying to figure out how we can make a product that people want. I think the most important thing is about regulating my breathing. You know, making sure I can deliver the message to people in the audience. I think we have a great product. think we have a great idea and have faith in the guys we're gonna execute it so just, giving out that vision and uh, having confidence in doing it. And so that's kind of what I was focused on most today.

Andrea @ RBPC: Tell me about that from your perspective, seeing your team pitching.

[00:16:30] Richard: I have, like stress, just watching them. Like both Shiv and Khalid MBAs their first year so like even just the lead up like I have a nine to five kind of doing this. And then like we do it late at night, like odd hours that it stresses me out so much. but then I also want them to really do well. And so in this competition, I think I feel kind of like a coach and maybe almost like a startup mom, like funneling them around, like setting up the presentation, making sure all the things work. [00:17:00] But today, uh, just, them doing the first round, uh, was the best I've seen the presentation. Overall, I'm very proud of the two of them. I think a lot of CTOs probably can't say this, but I don't think I needed to be up there.

Andrea @ RBPC: And how do you feel right now?

[00:17:15] Shiv: A mix of things. I'm like excited from the pitch, nervous from how it went, curious to know how, like what's gonna happen next. But overall, I think pretty content, I think we put our best foot forward.

[00:17:25] Khalid: I'm a little bit nervous, right. You always wanna advance to the next round and, uh, looking forward to feedback later today. I think we have it in about an hour. But yeah, a lot of things to work on. A lot of questions that we're gonna try to answer tomorrow and the semi-final or the wild card round, and so a lot of work to do.

[00:17:36] Andrea: I'm loving all this excitement, but it does make it difficult to try and guess who the judges might pick. Coming up next is the moment everyone's been waiting for: Who's going to make it to the semi-finals? Stay tuned.

[00:17:50] HOST (Andrea): You're listening to This is Small Business Next Generation, brought to you by Amazon. I’m one of your hosts, Andrea Marquez, and along with Mitch Gilbert, we’re introducing you [00:18:00] to the world of business plan competitions and learning about how to best pitch your business in a way that attracts investment, in the case of the Rice Business Plan Competition, teams are competing to win up to $350K towards their small business startups.

Did you know that nearly 60% of products sold in Amazon's store are from independent sellers - most of which are small and medium-sized businesses? If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or an early-stage small business owner, there are many resources that Amazon offers to help you succeed and grow. One of those resources is the Amazon Small Business Academy where you can find the help you need to take your small business from concept to launch and beyond. You can strengthen your skills at no cost with live and on demand trainings, Q&As, events, and even find more This is Small Business Next Generation content. If you don’t know where to start, you can take the free self-assessment on the Amazon Small Business Academy site at www.smallbusiness.amazon.

[00:18:58] Andrea: And now, let’s find out which of our teams make it to the semifinals.

[00:19:00] Mitch: Drumroll please!

[00:19:07] Brad: So our first is Air Seal from Wash U in St. Louis.

Tierra Climate from right here at Rice University.

Boston Quantum from MIT

Dia, also known as E-sentience from Duke.

Arch Pet Food from the University of Chicago.

Julie: Pathways at Harvard University

Inzipio

Pediatric Therapeutics, University of Arkansas,

Zaymo, Brigham Young.

Last certainly not least, Active Surfaces, MIT

[00:19:52] Andrea: Dia and Active Surfaces made it through! But don't rule out Unchained and Outmore Living just yet because...

[00:20:00] Brad: Every team is still in contention and has the potential to go on to the final round tomorrow afternoon.

[00:20:07] Andrea: How? Because one team that can advance to the finals is gonna be chosen from a round called the wildcard round.

[00:20:15] Alex: I think there's 27 teams that did not advance out of their first round and tomorrow, while the semi-finals are going on there's a wild card. So there'll be seven finalists. Six teams will come from the semi-finals, and that seventh team will come from this wild card. So one of 27 teams tomorrow will rise from the ashes and come out of nowhere into the wild card round. Kevin and I will get our best shot tomorrow we see what happens.

[00:20:42] Andrea: So even though only two of the four teams we are following made it to the semi-finals. There’s still hope that Unchained and Outmore Living might make it to the finals. Here’s what Alex and Kevin from Outmore Living had to say:

[00:20:55] Alex: I mean, there's no sugar coating it. It's a, it's a huge disappointment. [00:21:00] Kevin and I thought we did well enough to move on to the semi-finals. But at the end of the day, it doesn't change what we believe in the business. We reviewed the judge's feedback and a lot of people love, loved it, right? Extremely high remarks, comments, like best concept yet. And then there were others that frankly rated us fairly low. And, and, and it's a little bit surprising we didn't expect it, of course. They had fair comments. And we find it's a lot is, is people either get it or they don't. And it's, it's kind of, it kind of splits that way. But tomorrow there's still the chance with the wild card round. We actually at the Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition last December at UT, we also didn't win our bracket. We were the wild card and we went on to win the whole thing in the finals. So never say never.

[00:21:47] Kevin: I'd say I also feel a little bit disappointed. I would say, you know, Alex, I put a lot of work into this. We felt confident going into it. We think we put our best for forward. You know, all of the feedback we've gotten over the past year and a half, [00:22:00] we've analyzed it. We've figured out is that the right path forward? And we chose our business model because we think we have the best one. That being said, it's, it's good feedback. It's good to hear, but when you have a split amount of feedback where, you know, half the judges are saying, this is great, and then half are saying that they don't like it for a certain reason. You kind of have to follow your gut and at the end of the day, we're at a point where we're getting ready to launch. We feel confident in our plan. And so it's just heads down from this point forward. And so, despite everything that's happened, I'm still optimistic.

[00:22:33] Alex: And I would just say, this is another example that it's a rollercoaster. Like it's, it's, it's a rollercoaster for emotions. Starting a small business, starting a startup adventure, running your own business is certainly a rollercoaster. Kevin and I, you know, luckily have co-founders cuz it, it'd be hard on your own to, to try to weather all of it, but the highs are high and the lows are low and it happens, right. So it, it definitely is one of those situations where it's not for the faint of heart.

[00:23:00] Andrea: Yeah, I'm sure going through this alone would've been a lot more difficult. Here’s what our semi-finalists had to say, starting with Sloane and Julio from Dia:

[00:23:12] Sloane: We're jazzed. I, we got some really good feedback. So you never wanna count your chickens before they hatch cuz there are a lot of strong teams, but it's, it's very, it's very different like thinking you may have a chance and then seeing it flash across the screen.

[00:23:27] Julio: Oh, it was great. You know, like, as much as you wanna say, I'm confident, I'm a hundred percent right there in the moment your stomach always, always just turns a little bit and you're like, what if I am wrong? What if I miss something? But just see the validation's fantastic.

[00:23:42] Sloane: Our feedback session ended early because people said, you, you did a really great job. We, we see it. And there, there are some, there are some things presentation wise of me trying to be a little bit louder that I think we can work on, but I think a, a good night's sleep as, as we have established, apparently I'm a person [00:24:00] that just needs a lot of sleep to function and just going into it with an open mind of let's improve on the last one. But also just gratitude for being here and having fun while doing it. Because I think today, whenever we were really just like nailing the pitch and in sync, we were having fun.

[00:24:15] Andrea: Sleep is definitely important. And here’s Shiv, Richard, and Khalid from Active Surfaces:

[00:24:22] Shiv: We're excited and we, we were on the edge of our seat cuz we were the last name to be called. So we're just there with our heart beating, just waiting until the last name, recognizing whose names are in our group or not. It was nerve-wracking.

[00:24:33] Richard: Yeah, so we went last in, in all of the, the pitches. So like, I'm mentally going through when they're announcing, I was like, were they in our section? Were they in our section? couldn't even remember, went through a few and then finally at the end, ended up with good news.

[00:24:45] Khalid: Super relieved. We made it. Can't believe they called us last.

[00:24:50] Shiv: We're just excited. We're nervous and excited all at the same time.

[00:24:55] Andrea: And wait, there's more. One of the teams that also made it to the semi-finals was....

[00:25:00] Brad: Tierra Climate from right here at Rice University.

[00:25:05] Andrea: And it turns out the CEO and founder of Tierra Climate and Shiv from Active Surfaces...

[00:25:12] Shiv: …go all the way back to high school, early debate days.

[00:25:18] Andrea: And now they're together again in this pitch competition, what a small world! Let's quickly introduce Tierra Climate and Jacob, the CEO and Founder:

[00:25:23] Jacob: I'm Jacob from Tierra Climate. Our mission is to unlock a pathway to a net zero future in the electricity sector. So we're looking to help support battery development by creating a one of a kind carbon offset product. And then also helping batteries not only make money from carbon emissions reductions, but also operationalize and improve their operations through time.

Andrea @ RBPC: Did you know that you were both gonna be here?

[00:25:45] Shiv: We found out after it was announced. I didn't know the name of your company was Tierra Climate. So I was going through to see if I knew anyone, and then randomly we, we were getting dinner and then we came out that we were both going and we were super excited about it.

[00:25:56] Jacob: Yeah, it's, it's pretty insane. we both went to a public high school in the suburbs of Houston, [00:26:00] and then I actually did my undergrad here at Rice. So it's really awesome to be back here. Shiv was actually a year younger than, than everyone. He actually skipped a grade. he's super smart and so, uh, I think we might have had maybe math or science together. And then from there we both were interested in current events and speech and debate.

And that's really where I think our friendship really blossomed, cuz we were going pre practically every weekend to some far flung high school in the Houston area, competing, giving speeches about things that most people probably don't care about. But we were just really passionate about current events, politics, and what was going on in the world, which it's cool to think that our careers are now taking a mission in line with that kind of general interest that we had early on.

[00:26:38] Shiv: And then towards the end of that debate journey, we were the only two in our high school to qualify for debate nationals. And we flew to Indianapolis, shared a hotel room, enjoyed that competition. And now, like 11 years later, we shared a hotel room here at near Rice University to compete at this business plan competition.

Andrea @ RBPC: So is there a future where you might be working together?

[00:26:55] Jacob: Potentially, yeah. I wouldn't rule it out so,

[00:27:00] Shiv: There was actually funny feedback that we got during, after my pitch, someone asked me if we deploy too much solar, then won't you like, have too much like intermittent energy on the grid. And my answer should have been one of my friends Jacob, is working on this awesome startup solving that exact problem. So it's funny that we're both solving the problem in different ways.

Andrea @ RBPC: If you both make it to the finals, you'll be competing against each other. How does that feel?

[00:27:22] Jacob: I feel pretty good about it. I mean, it's funny, I don't think we, we have ever competed before.

[00:27:28] Shiv: I'm glad that in the semis right now that we didn't compete against each other because I wanna make sure that if we do both make it, we take the top two spots.

[00:27:35] Jacob: I'm looking forward to hopefully the prospect of being in finals together. I think that'd be a really cool thing to come full circle.

[00:27:40] Shiv: It would be nice if we don't make it, at least to support Tierra climate in their journey

[00:27:45] Jacob: And active surfaces too.

[00:27:48] Andrea: That’s sweet, I loved the dynamic between these two competitors and the back story.

[00:27:52] Mitch: Yeah, having friends as a founder is so important because, no one fully understands what it's like to go through as a founder at the same time as you, [00:28:00] unless it's another founder going through similar experiences at the same time as you. And the world is big, there's a lot of money. Everybody gets to win and especially in a rice plan competition, there's like six or seven winners. So it's important to make friends out of experiences like these who you can call just to gut check if you're crazy. I did that just yesterday and it made me feel much better.

[00:28:23] Andrea: And now I'm also excited to see how Tierra Climate is gonna do in the competition and of course what's gonna happen if one of them doesn't make it to the finals.

[00:28:30] Mitch: Yeah, that's harsh. I'm not sure either, but the deeper we get into the competition, the more intense and focused it gets. So I think a lot of it is just gonna depend on how the founders handle the pressure.

[00:28:45] Andrea: Right like now Outmore Living and Unchained are competing against each other and 25 other teams to try and get a spot in the finals. And I'm curious to see if Dia, Active Surface, AND Tierra Climate make it to the finals.

[00:29:00] Mitch: And who's gonna win that grand prize of $350,000? Will it be one of our teams? I hope it is. We're praying. We're praying.

[00:29:08] Andrea: We'll find out in our next episode! So, until then here are some key takeaways from today:

Mitch: One. We heard from one of the judges, uh, while watching our teams pitch that you don't have to have every problem solved. And that's important because, one, you're a startup, so you don't even know every problem that you're gonna encounter but for those that you don't have answers to, it's important to be honest about that. And then mention places where you could use help and therefore you allow investors opportunities to come and support you. So it's important, I think, as I mentioned before, to one, talk about your risks and what mitigation strategies you can handle, but then also opportunities where you need help and you may not fully know the answer and then your investors can come in and support you. That type of clarity [00:30:00] and communication abilities is really valued by investors.
Andrea: Two. Pressure and stress is a normal part in entrepreneurship, but as Peter said, pressure has to bring out the best in you, especially at a pitch competition like Rice. Because you have to be ON for three days and it can be exhausting.
Mitch: Three. It’s important to take the feedback while keeping the ball rolling. I had a really hard time just taking all the feedback and then being able to put it into a pitch just once I had to practice. So again, I was the person waking up super early in the morning with anxiety, practicing, practicing, practicing to make sure I got through all the feedback because the feedback. It's helpful, but you can't let that make you stumble when communicating with judges because remember, it's a performance, so do what you gotta do to get ready. But feedback shouldn't make you stutter or fumble the ball when you have to be on and creating a performance.

[00:31:00] Andrea: We’d love to hear your stories wherever you are in your journey. Whether you're about to start your own business, in the process of it, or maybe even getting ready to pitch your business in a pitch competition. Reach out to us at thisissmallbusiness@amazon.com to tell us what you're up to. Or let me know what you think of the episode by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts – it’s easier if you do it through your phone. And if you liked what you heard -- I hope you'll share us with anyone else who needs to hear this!

This is Small Business: Next Generation is brought to you by Amazon with technical and story production by JAR Audio. . [00:32:00] I’m one of your hosts, Andrea Marquez –

Mitch: And I'm Mitch Gilbert.

Andrea: Hasta luego and thanks for listening! [00:32:14]

Next Generation: The Practice Pitch (Navigating Nerves and Feedback)

Jul 18, 2023

Learn about strengthening your elevator pitch.

[00:00:02] Peter Rodriguez (Welcome Announcement): What you take part in tonight can absolutely change your life.

Shiv: Your heart's pounding you, your voice cracks a little bit

Julio: Do not throw the towel. I won't let you.

Sloane: I am not throwing in the towel.

Peter Rodriguez (Welcome Announcement): What you do here tonight can absolutely change the world, and it's really rare that you get to say that.

Bilal: I didn't go in there planning to do a perfect pitch.

Khalid: Executing is of course nerve-wracking, but definitely heart pumping.

Shiv: Once you get on stage and you have the muscle memory of practice, it kind of flows away,

Brad Richards: Sell yourself. Sell your team. Sell your product. Sell your idea. Sell, sell, sell.

[00:00:40] Andrea: Hi, and welcome to “This is Small Business: NEXT Generation” - a miniseries brought to you by Amazon, where we follow 4 student teams behind the scenes throughout the Rice University Business Plan Competition. You’ll hear all about their challenges, hopes, and fears as they prepare to pitch. And by the end of every episode, we’ll be pointing out key takeaways [00:01:00] that will help you wherever you are on your business journey. I’m one of your hosts – Andrea Marquez.

[00:01:06] Mitch: And I'm Mitch Gilbert, co-founder of Oya Fem Tech Apparel and an Ex-Rice business plan competition competitor.

[00:01:12] Andrea: Mitch, we finally made it to the competition. How is this for you?

[00:01:15] Mitch: Intense, exhausting, educational, all of the above. I don't know, but I'm excited.

[00:01:20] Andrea: Same here. When we walked in, I was feeling the nerves and the tension and I’m not even competing! So, to recap, the first day of the competition is mainly just a practice round for the competitors. And throughout the competition, the competitors will have a couple of chances to win other prizes and one of the ways they could do that is through the elevator pitch competition which also takes place today. But first, let’s join the rooms where our teams will be having their practice rounds and checking out the feedback they receive starting with DIA. As a reminder, DIA is aiming to revolutionize the healthcare industry by bringing at home clinical grade lab testing right to the patient’s home. [00:02:00] They transform healthcare testing by using saliva instead of blood.”

In today’s episode you will hear a difference in audio because a lot of this was captured on the go with competitors, or live in auditoriums or big classrooms. So please excuse some of the audio.

[00:02:20] Sloane: Hey everybody. My name's Sloan Tilley. I'm the CEO and co-founder of DIA Previously Sentience.

Julio: I'm Julio Fredin. I'm the Chief Science Officer and also co-founder.

[00:02:30] Sloane: And we're excited to talk to you today about how DIA's game changing technology is going to disrupt the at-home biomarker monitoring system. Save the US healthcare system, millions of dollars and potentially millions of lives.

[00:02:43] Andrea: Ok so starting strong. With a bold product but there’s something about this product that Sloane and Julio haven’t been able to avoid. People unfairly associate Sloane to Elizabeth Holmes, former CEO of Theranos, [00:03:00] an infamous health tech company whose business model was based on the idea of running blood tests that required only a finger pinprick and a small amount of blood. As a result, Holmes is currently serving an 11-year term in federal prison. Quite a comparison to make right? Here’s Julio.

[00:03:20] Julio: I'm gonna drop the T word a little bit because it's, it's one thing that we always have to fight against you know, the whole Theranos debacle and how that sent women in entrepreneurship and hard hard tech entrepreneurship back 20 years, right? So we're fighting to get us back to where we were. And one of that is just letting people know like, look, we're not gonna give you like this, this ridiculousness about one droplet of autogenous fluid giving you all the data of all the things. Okay, that's ridiculous. But there's some very cool things we can do with the, with microfluidic and electrochemistry that we're excited to do and are still going to change lives, right?

[00:03:53] Sloane: She set female, particularly female science entrepreneurs back two decades. And I have had people [00:04:00] look straight in my face and be like, well, you remind me of her. I'm just like, uh, well, the difference there is that I have two master's degrees. I wish personally that it wasn't a thing that I had to overcome because it does feel somewhat unfair, but it's reality.

[00:04:15] Andrea: And now let’s go back to the room to listen to some of the feedback they received. These were all in person, in the rooms, so you might note a change in audio.

[00:04:25] Judges: I don't think you should mention this, but you should be aware of that Theranos is in the room when it comes to chemical sensor companies. I've lived this, like, they created incredible problems like in the financing community. It's a problem though, because, I mean, what, you know, if you can do a lot of different tests, it's, I'm sure you've heard that before. It's a cloud, you know, it really is.

Sloane: Every single pitch.

Judges: Be prepared for a question on that, and, you know, it just sounds too good to be true. I don't know what the answer is gonna be, but there's gonna be a question about that.

[00:04:55] Mitch: Recency bias is real.

Andrea: Can you tell me what recency bias is, in your own words?

[00:05:00] Mitch: So based on my understanding of recency bias, it's when people overemphasize the importance of recent experiences or latest information when thinking about future events. And so because Elizabeth Holmes was the most recent and famous woman in Biosciences, it makes sense that people are comparing Sloan to her even if their ideas are very different.

[00:05:25] Andrea: So yeah, the judges picked up on the Theranos thing -- but that's not the only feedback Julio and Sloane received

[00:05:32] Judges: Most people, most investors, especially in a business plan, competition setting, they want to know that their money is in good hands. And part of that is -a big part of it is like, okay, I trust this person with money. This person's an adult, you know, blah, blah, blah. They know what their business. And how do you convey that? It's like part of its subtle, part of it's not so subtle.

[00:05:55] Judges: So you got a lot of great technical stuff. I'm gonna give you some presentation. Counsel, come forward. [00:06:00] You actually started behind the desk. It's a, it's a conversation and the more personal you can make it, the less presentationing, the more you're gonna connect with great state in terms of how you deliver. And we're all gonna be honest. So, if you keep rocking back and forth, I'm going to come up there and staple your damn feet for the floor. I'm serious because she's trying to get points across and I see you moving and human nature is, if you see something moving, it's going to kill you.

Julio: Makes sense.

Judges: Right. So I keep looking over this way.

Julio: I'm not kill you. I know I'm big, but it's okay.

Judges: No matter it's the way we're wired. I'm losing track of what she's talking about because you're moving. So, Plant your feet. Okay? Don't play with your beard, don't play with your pockets. You're an executive in the firm, deliver that way.

Judges: And I would say people are generally, especially technologists, are not natural presenters. It takes a lot of practice to get comfortable with it. You froze there for a minute.

Julio: Yeah.

[00:07:00] Judges: It happens to everyone. Mm-hmm. I would come up with some sort of device that you feel comfortable with to kind of get past the pause and I would try to like not memorize completely.

[00:07:10] Andrea: Here’s more of the conversation that Mitch had with DIA after the feedback round…

Mitch @ Event: Okay. So you're killing it on market opportunity, everyone seems to be feeling like they, they understand why your solution will help do that. Competitive differentiation you could get better at.

Julio: So we need to talk more about the tech cuz that's our competitive differentiator.

Sloane: The conundrum that we're in is that your, your presentation style is the weakest, but that's also where we need to come across with the competitive advantage. We need to go simpler.

Julio: They want us to go with competitive advantage, so I need to talk about our actual competitors. I need to like explain very simply what they do and why it sucks compared to us.

[00:07:50] Andrea: Ok so the big things for Dia based on that round were: Making their competitive differentiator very clear. To name or to not name past women in the space. [00:08:00] And of course, presentation skills. We’ll see how this develops. Now, let's catch up with Unchained. As a reminder, Unchained is a platform, that aims to advance early talent recruiting methods by strengthening the connection between Diverse Early talent and all size corporations.

[00:08:20] Bilal: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Bilal Issifou.

Nasir: I am Nasir Jones,

Bilal: And we are the founders of Unchained Inc. A talent platform develops specifically for employers interested in engaging in hiring diverse early talent. So before I start, I want you to imagine you're a college student.

It's your freshman and sophomore year, and you're looking to find your first internship. You go to school career services, you don't succeed, you apply to hundreds online job platforms. You don't find your internship. And by the grace of God, you land your first internship, which prompts you to realize your full potential and inspires you and a classmate to build a platform to help other companies connect with students, just like you. [00:09:00] Now, in only two and a half years, we've been able to reach over 15,000 early time professionals.

[00:09:10] Andrea: And then there was some feedback…

[00:09:12] Judges: you should highlight sort of the value proposition for your clients and how, how you're, I guess you're helping them extend their budget by accessing a greater data pool of, of candidates.

Judges: Since you are looking at underrepresented communities, getting them into organizations, one of the KPIs I think you're gonna want to find as you start to scale is actually the retention of those people in those organizations. Mm-hmm. That is with, you talk about recruiting, so hiring that's paramount. This is very important for y'all.

Judges: The filter, the AI that you talked about, um, you talked about your screening. Yes. Right. I think it'd be important to help us understand if there's any, uh, intellectual property behind that. In other words, if there's any, anything unique that's defensible or patented, behind that technology and maybe some information about [00:10:00] a little more how it works and, and how y'all developed it.

Judges: You can't tell a long-winded story. There's a word that I can use called coaching. It means clear and concise, right? Everything you say, everything you drive across has to feel that way. When you started out, you started out going through the things that you have accomplished, which was slide three. Immediately after saying, hey, this is what we are. You should have said, this is what we are. This is the problem we solve here is the value proposition to companies. Here is the value proposition to students. Here are the ambassadors and how all of that connects together. Really, really be comfortable with that story and be able to articulate it very quickly.

Revisit your slides. There's way too much information on the slides. Okay. Way too much information. Like, it's easy if you just have three or four bullets. Each slide should have a specific purpose. [00:11:00] The problem, the solution, the technology, the market, the finance.

I want to talk about TAM. Total addressable market is the total amount if you capture the entire world's market of dollars going into your pocket. So where do those dollars come from? The decision maker here probably is someone in HR. These are HR dollars spent for specifically recruiting. And this is probably the most important portion of this entire deck you are presenting to investors.

[00:11:30] Andrea: And I'm sure you're wondering how they might've felt after receiving all this feedback...

[00:11:35] Bilal: I think it was a productive practice session. From a high-performance standpoint, like that wasn't our best performance or best pitch. But from a practicality standpoint, like it did go the way I wanted it to because I wanted an uncomfortable situation that like allowed us to see our faults because we look at this information 24/7, we understand that we're ingrained in it. So like it's hard for us to see what others don't see.

[00:12:00] Nasir: I believe it didn't display our best ability of understanding our market, our scope, our technology, and how, more so our understanding of just recruiting in general. But I do believe it displayed a chance for us to be able to really learn from others. Maybe some people in our space, maybe some people have different skill sets, and just really dive into the presentation itself. And find out what needs to be fixed, adjusted, and just maybe switched around.

Andrea @ event: What are the top three things you're gonna go back and work on for tomorrow.

Bilal: Simplicity on the slides, clarity on value proposition, and confidence in market and financials.

[00:12:40] Andrea: To recap some of the feedback they got: 1. Showing a clear value proposition, 2. Explaining how they will retain clients as they scale, 3. Talking about the intellectual property behind their AI, 4. Being clear about the structure of their uncapped safe, [00:13:00] 5. Talking about the total addressable market, and 6. Presentation skills.

And if like me, this was your first time hearing the term, uncapped safe, here’s a little explainer: In the context of investments, the term "uncapped safe" refers to a type of financial agreement that allows investors to invest money in a company or startup in exchange for a future return.

[00:13:24] Mitch: An uncapped safe is not a very popular venture capital investment vehicle. It means that an investor can invest in your company and benefit from the company growing without any predetermined limits on how much their investment can grow. Investors don't like that though because they have to report numbers back to their investors or their gps, and so they want to see limits so that way they can kind of calculate what their investment opportunity could turn into. So an uncapped safe is definitely an investment vehicle, but it's not very popular.

[00:14:00] Andrea: Phew… that’s a lot. Let’s take a breather. Coming up we’re checking in with Active Surfaces.

[00:14:10] HOST (Andrea): You're listening to This is Small Business Next Generation, brought to you by Amazon. I’m one of your hosts, Andrea Marquez, and along with Mitch Gilbert, we’re introducing you to the world of business plan competitions and learning about how to best pitch your business in a way that attracts investment, in the case of the Rice Business Plan Competition, teams are competing to win up to $350K towards their small business startups.

Did you know that nearly 60% of products sold in Amazon's store are from independent sellers - most of which are small and medium-sized businesses? If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or an early-stage small business owner, there are many resources that Amazon offers to help you succeed and grow. One of those resources is the Amazon Small Business Academy where you can find the help you need to take your small business from concept to launch and beyond. [00:15:00] You can strengthen your skills at no cost with live and on demand trainings, Q&As, events, and even find more This is Small Business Next Generation content. If you don’t know where to start, you can take the free self-assessment on the Amazon Small Business Academy site at www.smallbusiness.amazon.

[00:15:20] Andrea: Alright, we’re back… let’s listen in on the feedback that Active Surfaces got after their practice pitch. As a reminder, Active surfaces is a thin film, solar technology spinning out of MIT aiming to make solar anywhere.

Shiv: So we are Active Surfaces, and we are reimagining solar. My name is Shiv and I'm in charge of business development.

Khalid: My name is Khalid and I'm lead in customer discovery.

Shiv: We envision a future where you can have lightweight, low cost, flexible power for any surface.

[00:15:50] Andrea: And here's what judges had to say…

[00:15:54] Judges: To me in this presentation, you got a lot of hype going on, which is really exciting to see, [00:16:00] and certainly potential is huge. But I like to know at the beginning, where are you in this process? What are the specific performance metrics that you compare and then start building out, you know, tell me how long it's gonna take to get there. The market. I, I believe all of that. But the starting point doesn't give me the platform. I need to think through and, and I wanna see what your revenue projection looks like for three years out and four years out or something, which is where I'm gonna see as an investor, the return coming back to me.

[00:16:35] Judges: I definitely look at any of the businesses through people, processes, technology or the supply chain as the fourth pillar. So if you can think from these buckets and be like amazing people, which is show technology, you definitely talk about, but then you have to go into the details of the risk part of it. You understand there is a risk of scaling. Mm-hmm. That's why you're asking the money to de-risk it. Yeah. [00:17:00] But do talk about how you'll be like, is it you need better process engineers? Do you need better processing? And optimization technologies that don't exist today, or you're after them, do they already exist and you just need the money to get access, or do you need to develop those in the whole scalability piece effect? Is material science an issue or not? Is supply chain an issue or not? The moment you capture or touch upon these points and how you're risking using investors money mm-hmm. Then your story, it's, it's already an amazing story by, you're not trying to be just a feedback as in the moment you do that, then it's a slam dunk.

[00:17:38] Andrea: Sooo, let's find out how Active Surfaces felt after receiving all that feedback...

Khalid: I think it went well. I think of room to grow and uh, you know, 24 hours before we go again or 20 hours we go again.

Shiv: I'm also impressed how quickly the judges were able to dissect the important parts of the presentation, the questions they have, give us feedback that was meaningful all within the span of 15 minutes. So I'm glad that we're able, we're able to incorporate that before tomorrow.

[00:18:00] Khalid: Shiv did a great job, um, leading the team and closing it out and, uh, let's do better tomorrow. You know?

Shiv: We're gonna update the slides to make sure it has less numbers in the beginning that appear to be a problem. People need to believe that we can actually scale up the technology and we have ways to do that, but it's not being conveyed enough in the deck, I think. And I think there is concern or questions about how the technology works, and we don't want that to wait until the q and a. We want them to believe that technology works.

[00:18:33] Andrea: So here’s a summary of the feedback: Interesting enough with this team, they didn’t get feedback on their presentation skills. What we did hear was 1. What are their performance metrics that show how long it’ll take to get them to where they want to be and where are they now? 2. What does their revenue projection look like in the next 3 to 5 years? 3. What are their risks and challenges? 4. And what is it that they need to make this happen apart from money? [00:19:00] Does that tech exist or is building it part of getting the desired result?

These are hard questions to answer but it sounds like that’s something the team is prepared to do. Let’s see how Outmore Living is doing. As a reminder Outmore Living is re-imagining the future of your outdoor spaces. So their furniture is battery powered, heated outdoor furniture.

[00:19:25] Kevin: Good afternoon everyone. My name is Kevin Long, co-founder and CEO of Outmore Living, and I'm excited today to talk to y'all about our company's goal to reimagine the future of outdoor spaces.

[00:19:32] Andrea: And here's some of the feedback Kevin and Alex received from the judges:

[00:19:36] Judges: I think you should show the product first, talk about this is why it's different and here's how we got here.

Judges: On that note, maybe mentioning car seat warmers could be a good analogy. So that can help put people on: is this something that sells? Yes, it does. Especially in cars.

Judges: I was left with the presentation not feeling anything. And I think that, you know, when you're in the, the CPG category and your working with consumer products. [00:20:00] Like I look at this and this is a beautiful chair and I just didn't feel anything in the presentations. The way you can bridge that gap either by putting people in the chair or you know, maybe taking out some of the, the analytical component at the beginning. Okay. Will be really helpful.

[00:20:16] Judges: So one other thing I thought about, and I hate for companies to be focused on the exit because you know, you really should focus on customer acquisition and growth, but you know, there's really two options for a next move. You can either get acquired or you can go public. Getting acquired is much easier than going public. Mm-hmm. So, you know, if I'm thinking about it from. You know, an acquisition perspective, who would be your target acquirers? Cause there's so many people that already have chairs that look like this. So incremental value is really only the heating element, not the, the chair.

[00:20:48] Andrea: And we got to speak them right after to hear their thoughts on it.

[00:20:52] Kevin: I think it went pretty well. I mean, we definitely got some feedback that we'll iterate into our next pitch, but overall, I mean, I could see like a lot of excitement from some of the judges. [00:21:00] One of the cool things when we explain our product is you get to see people's like eyes light up and definitely felt that from some of 'em. There wasn't anything that Alex and I can't adjust to tonight. So I think we'll have a long night, but we will, we'll make the changes we need to make to be successful tomorrow.

[00:21:18] Alex: Kevin and I were a little bit long on time, so we'll have to kind of be more concise. A lot of great feedback. It's always interesting hearing what people want teased out a little bit more, or didn't quite capture in the presentation. It's, it's great because Kevin and I have said these words so many times that we kind of forget what a, a set of completely fresh eyes may not pick up on in our presentation.

[00:21:42] Andrea: Ok so recap! It sounds here like Kevin and Alex didn’t actually get as much feedback compared to other teams. But here is what was said: 1. Showing the product first is key, 2. Thinking of an analogy everyone can relate to so that they care more about the product and why it matters, and 3. Thinking about their exit strategy. [00:22:00] Mitch, that was a lot we got through today.

[00:22:06] Mitch: It is. These are some jam-packed days and we're not even done yet. After following our teams through the practice rounds, we finally made it to the end of the day and now to the elevator pitches.

Andrea: 60 seconds to really show who you are and what you’ve got to offer.

Samantha Lewis: What can you say and what's gonna hook us quickly enough to get us to a next meeting?

[00:22:27] Andrea: So, let's hear our team's 60 second elevator pitches...

[00:22:33] Shiv: I'm Shiv from Active Services and we're re-imagining solar. Who here has seen a solar panel? They're around yay big, weigh 50 to 60 pounds, and they're encased in thick glass. Why? They're heavy and flexible. Cas silicon is a ceramic and it's fragile, but what if you thought about solar differently? What if you could click, put solar on any surface and make it active? That's what we do. Our MIT developed technology makes solar panels 120 times lighter. They're thinner than a human hair. [00:23:00] Our beachhead market of commercial warehousing only has 3% of rooftop PV today. That's 300 billion in market potential. Just because it can't handle the weight of solar. Our team is the one to unlock this capability. We are coming from MIT, we have industry leading advisors, we're a part of the best climate tech accelerators in the program, and we have industry researchers helping us. If you can envision a future where any surface is active, then join us.

[00:23:32] Bilal: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Beal Issifou, founder of Unchained Inc. And we are a talent platform, specifically built for companies seeking to engage diverse early career professionals. So I want you to imagine you're a campus recruiter who's eager about recruiting diverse talent. You currently spend your budget on career services and online job platforms, but the issue is 60% of students never visit career services. Of the 40% that do only 14% find it helpful. [00:24:00] 75% of online resumes never make it to a recruiter and amongst diverse candidates, this disparity is higher because 6% of black professionals reported that they didn't secure an internship. 7.9% Hispanic students haven't secured an internship in comparison to 74% of of white early career professionals. We built this platform to help employers connect with more high quality, diverse candidates than other solutions. We do this through our hybrid recruiting model that pairs our platform with in-person engagements to deliver direct qualified candidates to, to companies that seek them. In only two and a half years, we've reached over 15,000 early career professionals. We've worked with 14 Fortune 500 companies, and we've helped over 300 students get connected with corporations interested in them. At Unchained Inc, we make every day a career fair. Thank you.

[00:25:00] Kevin: By a show of hands, how many people here have spent a night sitting around a fire with family and friends? No need to raise your hand on this one, but think about it. How many of those nights ended early because it was too cold outside? The reality is fires bring people together, but they don't necessarily keep you warm. Good evening, everybody. My name is Kevin Long, co-founder and CEO of Outmore Living. At Outmore, we believe time spent outdoors is time best spent. Yet 80% of consumers are dissatisfied with their outdoor living spaces, claiming the outdoor furniture is too expensive for its seasonal usage. Outmore living is determined to change that. Born around a fire on a crestfallen night. A simple offhanded comment, I wish our seats were heated, led to a two-year journey that has culminated in us launching the world's first battery powered, heated outdoor furniture. Our patent pending technology and design will forever change the outdoor living industry from backyards to rooftops. We're excited to be leading with our mission to help people connect and be out more. Thank you. [00:26:00]

[00:26:08] Sloane: I woke up this morning to a text from my best friends. She's going through I V F and she's not responding normally, so her doctor has asked her to come in every single day to get her blood drawn to have her monitored. She's a patent attorney, doesn't really have time for that, and also doesn't feel very well while she's going through all this hormone treatment. And I unfortunately know what that's like. I could have avoided two major surgeries if my biomarkers could have been monitored at home after I got hit by a car on my bike, that's why I invented the DIA device. My name's Sloane Tilley and we have a patent pending electrochemical non-invasive sensor. It works with sweat or saliva, and to date, we've already measured hormones, metabolites, neurotransmitters, and electrolytes. We have a team made of myself who I will graduate from Duke Business School actually this weekend, so I'm missing it for y'all. You're welcome. [00:27:00] Along with Electro Chemist and an engineer, if you wanna come get a baseline of your hydration status before we start drinking that delicious wine, come see us. But you probably won't beat the Navy Seals that I was drinking with these past three days at Soft Week. Cheers.

[00:27:20] Andrea: Okay, now we've covered everything that happened on our first day and I'm feeling excited for the next two days. But also really nervous to see what happens and who's going to win. This is just the practice round, we'll be really getting into the competition on the second day where we'll find out if some of our teams make it to semi-finals and hopefully the finals as well. So, the drama is just starting. I mean, now the teams have less than a day to incorporate the feedback they received and change up their pitches for the first round of pitching.

[00:27:52] Mitch: Yeah, and each competitor really needs to know what's do they need, right? So they either they get a good night's rest [00:28:00] or they let the anxiety fuel them and they're up studying super early. I'm definitely in the ladder camp, but either which way, I do not envy them right now.

[00:28:10] Andrea: And since this episode was filled with a ton of helpful feedback from the judges, here are some of the key takeaways from today's episode, and we do mean key, because there was too much info on today’s episode:

Mitch: One. Let's start with presentation skills, because it's one of the most important parts of a pitch competition. It was mentioned a lot by judges because judges want to be wowed and impressed and moved almost like they're seeing Ariana Grande perform for them on stage. So, when we were talking to our teams, we emphasized the importance of being confident, taking up space, not hiding behind a desk, not stuttering, making sure your lines are delivered smoothly. And it was a really great practice round because that's the only way that you're gonna get better and be able to flow seamlessly from one thought to the next.
[00:29:00] Andrea: And make your presentation slides as clear, and concise as possible. Less words are better sometimes.
Andrea: Two. Showing a clear value proposition. What makes you different? Unique? How do you stand out among the competition? Why should investors want to be involved with YOU instead of someone else doing something similar?
Mitch: It's also really important that our teams talk about their total addressable market, or TAM for short. TAM refers to the maximum number of people who could have demand for your product, and the closer you can get it to a billion dollars, the sexier it sounds for venture capitalists because they know that you're not gonna necessarily hit that billion dollars, but they really want the growth and earning potential to work. And so there are a lot of amazing businesses that will do well, but are not necessarily venture backable businesses because their tam cannot, they cannot scale the business enough in order to like really reach a TAM of a billion dollars. So something to think about.
[00:30:00] Mitch: Three. Roadmaps. Communicating where you are, where you're going and how you'll get there as clearly as possible is one of the most important things that you should be able to do as someone pitching at a pitch competition. And also, once you have investment, being able to communicate when you hit roadblocks and where you wanna go, and how do you need help. These skill sets may seem maybe not the most important but that is a prerequisite skill for having any level of investor. They want monthly updates, quarterly updates, yearly updates, and being able to describe your road roadmap and your roadblocks and challenges is, has been really important for me being able to rally my investors behind me.
Andrea: And speaking of that ride, don’t forget about making clear what the structure of their future investments will look like.
Andrea: Four. What’s the risk? What will the challenges look like? How will you mitigate them? It can’t all be rose-colored glasses.
[00:31:00] Mitch: And risk might potentially be one of the key things that investors consider when making the decision of investing or not. And I wouldn't even just say whether it's risky, but more like the founders of ability to recognize risk and come up with mitigation plans. And so when Oya pitched that rice, we had a whole slide that was just dedicated to risks and what our mitigation strategies for all of those risks would be. Investors expect you to get put on your butt, but the more planning that you have flushed out, the more that they feel confident that you're gonna be able to handle whatever life throws at you.

Andrea: We’d love to hear your stories wherever you are in your journey. Whether you're about to start your own business, in the process of it, or maybe even getting ready to pitch your business in a pitch competition. Reach out to us at thisissmallbusiness@amazon.com to tell us what you're up to. Or let me know what you think of the episode by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts – it’s easier if you do it through your phone. And if you liked what you heard -- I hope you'll share us with anyone else who needs to hear this!

[00:32:00] If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, and I hope you are if you’re listening to This is Small Business. Or maybe you already have your small business up and running and you’re ready for the next step. A super valuable resource that can help you is the Amazon Small Business Academy where you can find the help you need to take your small business from concept to launch and beyond. Take the free self-assessment on the Amazon Small Business Academy site at www.smallbusiness.amazon.

This is Small Business: Next Generation is brought to you by Amazon with technical and story production by JAR Audio. I’m one of your hosts, Andrea Marquez –

Mitch: And I'm Mitch Gilbert.

Andrea: Hasta luego and thanks for listening! [00:32:42]

Next Generation: Balancing Act

Jul 11, 2023

Learn about planning and preparation for pitching your business.

[00:00:05] Bilal: It came fast cause I don't know what it's like, dang, this is the week.

Richard: Now it's like becoming more real that we're going be there in a few days.

Sloane: It's so easy whenever you have so many balls in the air to get overwhelmed and, and start looking down the road of how am I gonna get all these things done?

Alex Duncan: We’re not just there to tell them what they want to hear.

Richard: You'll probably get like a hundred nos before you get a yes.

Sloane: I fully believe that we're the team to be able to, to disrupt this market.

Shiv: We need to make sure we bring our A game.

Bilal: I feel like everybody's gonna be side eyeing each other when they walk into the building. It’s like, oh, this is the, this. Oh, you're the, yeah, it's gonna be real intense.

Sloane: But I think that it's important to go into it and still not take it too seriously.

Richard: It's pure chaos. It just feels like pure chaos.

Shiv: I think that stress is a good thing because I think it, it is gonna push us to work even harder for the next couple days. So we're grateful for it.

Andrea: Hi, and welcome to “This is Small Business: NEXT Generation” - a miniseries brought to you by Amazon, [00:01:00] where we follow 4 student teams behind the scenes throughout the Rice University Business Plan Competition. You’ll hear all about their challenges, hopes, and fears as they prepare to pitch. And by the end of every episode, we’ll be pointing out key takeaways that will help you wherever you are on your business journey. I’m one of your hosts – Andrea Marquez.

[00:01:18] Mitch: And I'm your co-host Mitch Gilbert, co-founder of Oya and an ex-Rice Business plan competition winner.

[00:01:24] Andrea: So by now, we understand how the competition will unfold and have met the four teams we will be following through this journey. Today, we wanted to check in and see how our teams are doing just a few days before the competition. The closer we get to the competition, the more nervous I get and I'm not even competing! So I can't imagine what it's like for the competitors.

[00:01:45] Mitch: I think everything was a blur at that phase of my life. There were so many forces and stakeholders and actors, and they're probably in competition season, so it's not exactly like this is the only competition. It's like they have competitions on competitions [00:02:00] and they're probably not sleeping that much in general, so everything's happening at one time and you're just really, you're just holding onto the wheel trying to survive.

[00:02:09] Andrea: And on top of needing to prepare to pitch their hearts out, these teams are still running a business. So they've got a lot going on and a lot that could happen that can affect their pitch. Like seriously, some of the teams are doing some really cool - but time-consuming – things. Before we get into that, I found out that the competitors receive anonymous feedback from the judges on their pitches before they even get to Rice in person. Here’s Bilal from Unchained explaining how he's been feeling lately and the feedback process.

[00:02:42] Bilal: I'm at a point where it's just like uncertainty is the only thing I'm worried about right now. Cause it's like, I'm excited for the opportunity. I don't really like to psych myself out with worry because I'm an over thinker, so as soon as I start worrying about one thing, I'm gonna worry about like three more things. I like to just keep a,a clear scope of like, okay, you know, this is the target, this is the goal. This is the week. [00:03:00] Let's, let's make it through the week. Take it day by day.

So like the cool thing about the competition is like when we had our final business plan submissions. So essentially, I guess like the judges do preliminary review of the content you shared and like they sent back feedback. So they give you obviously the good feedback. Areas of improvement and things that they had questions about. So that you could change, either make adjustments to your deck or be prepared to answer those questions during the competition. So it was that, that I wasn't expecting. So it was like one of those good surprises.

They were really impressed with the traction that we've been able to make thus far. They really understood, like the space that we were in and like the work that we were doing. So like on the positive side, like everything that I believed was a strength to, like our business was a strength to them. And then on the other end like the gist of it was like, like it was hard for them to follow because there was a lot of different things that were going on and into account. So like when I'm. I guess delivering it. My job is to make sure everything is clear cut and like the information on the slides is just supporting [00:04:00] versus like the actual supplemental, like the actual details themselves so.

Over the weekend and like early last week, I had like that, you know, that weird feeling of anxiety. It's like, it's like when things are getting closer and you know you're prepping, but you don't know how much more prep you need type of thing. I was stuck in that weird like, I guess creative funk where I'm like, do I have it all? Am I good? Do I need to do anything else but receiving like the, the judge email yesterday where it was feedback. It was like, okay, something. Cause I'm just sitting here like, okay, time is ticking. Like it's time to get things on with like, am I ready? Did I miss anything? But I'll take it back to sports where it's like game day, you have to dress up and you know, it's game day like that. I'm in that mood now where it's like, all right, I'm ready.

[00:04:41] Andrea: Bilal sounds pumped. And hopefully he is able to go in with the right edits based on judge’s feedback because Unchained has a lot on the line according to Bilal.

[00:04:52] Bilal: I win this competition. My conversations with other VCs are gonna be a lot different because, you know, I've raised some form of capital. So for me, this is a stake of independence for my company. [00:05:00] Saying that, hey, we may not go to conventional route of, you know, going to the accelerator and giving X amount of the company or, you know, going to a VC and kind of like giving away all your rights type of thing.

[00:05:11] Andrea: Mitch how important is it for a business to raise capital at this part of their journey?

[00:05:17] Mitch: I think it depends on the type of business you have. There are certain business models where you don't necessarily need as much capital and you can kind of hit the ground running and you can sell finance and get your own nine to five and some people would argue that's a great way to go because you can grow at your own pace, you don't have so many stakeholders or investors. But I think for a team like, Active Surfaces, it makes a lot of sense, right? Because it's something you need to manufacture. It requires a lot of R and D. It's like heavy industrial. Even Dia, like you need to be able to spin a significant amount of capital in just building these devices. [00:06:00] But I think the amount that of capital that's a requirement varies based on like your r and d needs and what you need to get to go to market.

[00:06:09] Andrea: And I wanna quickly go back to something else Bilal said: that pitching to a client isn’t like pitching to an investor. Mitch, could you tell us a little bit more about that from your experience?

[00:06:20] Mitch: My philosophy is when everyone talks to you, they should feel emotional, like emotionally, like amped up, like they got something from the conversation. I think I read that Presidents win based off of the beer test, like, would you go drink a beer with them? People's ability to see themselves hanging out with you is very important, whether they are an investor or a customer. I think our direct-to-consumer business is a little bit different than like say a B2B or like retail business because retail, I have a longer lead time. I can talk to you. I have a, a buyer. I've built all this relationship, et cetera, [00:07:00] versus like direct to consumer is where I'm trying to like build that camaraderie through social media.

And then that's different than an investor where it's like I'm trying to build that relationship and that camaraderie through a pitch deck and through rounds where you've given me feedback and hopefully you feel like I've grown. And so I think my ultimate goal is the same with all of those stakeholders, but the way I build it is different depending upon the stakeholder.

[00:07:28] Andrea: That makes a lot of sense. I'm sure I heard about the beer test a while back, and I'm curious to see how the teams make the judges and investors feel when they're pitching their ideas. So I also wanted to hear what some of the other teams felt about the feedback they received. Let’s check in with Outmore Living and see how they've been feeling as the competition approaches:

[00:07:48] Kevin Long: I would say overall we're both probably really excited. So on my end, I graduated on Friday. I just had my parents and in-laws in town that left yesterday. So it's been really busy, [00:08:00] both prepping for graduation, graduating and now getting ready for Rice. And then, on another personal front, my wife and I’s honeymoon is May 13th. So it's the Saturday of Rice we leave for Paris and we already talked to the judges before, cuz if we do make the finals we have to go first cuz I have get in a car to drive back to Austin to catch a flight. And a little insight into my wife and I’s dynamics, I'm not that nervous about it, but she's very nervous about it, me missing the flight.

[00:08:32] Alex Duncan: And if, as if that wasn't enough on the Outmore team, just under two weeks ago, April 27th, my wife and I welcomed a new baby girl, our third child into the world. She's doing great. Mom's doing great. Sleep is overrated. And so that that has thrown, you know, just a, just an exciting wrench into Kevin and I’s like ability to prepare and coordinate and find time.

[00:08:56] Andrea: That sounds like a lot to juggle.

[00:09:00] Mitch: Yeah, I really admire entrepreneurs who have systems and those that have really strong teams. And when I see certain founders really being successful, they have so many systems for things and they're not the ones doing everything. That being said, there are a lot of founders who do everything. You make the decision as a founder of like, what type of lifestyle is it that you wanna live? I enjoy working hard, I enjoy growing. I also enjoy working with a very solid team where you can delegate.

[00:09:35] Andrea: And just like Bilal, Alex and Kevin also received anonymous feedback from the judges, but their reaction to it was slightly different.

[00:09:42] Alex Duncan: It's so valuable, right? To get that. But one of the things Kevin and I struggle with is specifically to Outmore’s, you know, we see this as a pretty blue ocean, right? And there's a lot of dependent paths that Outmore can take in the future. And the more people we talk to about this, some of them have very valid [00:10:00] potential business models for Outmore like that they think would be best that Kevin and I usually have deliberated, right. Licensing, partnering with others, you know, all these sorts of like, ideas that Kevin and I have discussed ad nauseam for a lot of 'em. And if there's that disagreement on like the best business model. That sort of like high level disagreement on the best business model going forward. Then sometimes the subsequent feedback is not as helpful as it would be otherwise. But in terms of like the specifics of like, this is what I want to see here. This is more detail. Spell this out more. I'm confused by this. That specific feedback is, immensely valuable as Kevin and I prepare.

[00:10:44] Kevin Long: The only thing worse than making the wrong decision is not making a decision. And so, you know, what we've done as we've built our business model and gotten ready to launch in the market is put our heads down on this is the right path forward, but also give us optionality to pivot if we get [00:11:00] in the market and find out, hey, you know, the customer we thought was the biggest, isn't the biggest, and this is a bigger opportunity. Or the actual product, the way that we're bringing it to market has a bigger opportunity if we do X. So I think it's important to, at a certain point, draw a line in the sand and, and just go forward, but also give yourself optionality to pivot if you make the wrong mistake.

[00:11:20] Alex Duncan: We're not just there to tell them what they want to hear. Right. This is Kevin and I portraying our plan to how to, how to make Outmore a billion-dollar company. And invariably there's gonna be, there's gonna be differing opinions on that.

[00:11:32] Kevin Long: When you're creating a product that's in a market that largely doesn't exist yet, you're like building the market essentially. It may be to some judges or, or advisors simpler to just license our tech or partner with other groups. Sure. But we, for us to really go after what we think could be a billion-dollar opportunity, it, it would be to create a brand.

And we want to at least try with that first. And if we find out that's un undoable, then we'll pivot. But we think the opportunity is big enough to go after.

[00:12:00] Andrea: Okay so Alex and Kevin raise an interesting point here. Feedback from other experienced people is invaluable but what do you do if you feel like the feedback isn’t as helpful as you expected it to be? Will you get penalized for not implementing the feedback given to you? So I decided to ask Heath Butler, one of the judges at the competition about the feedback they give to the competitors.

[00:12:20] Heath Butler: Feedback's so critical and really good feedback could be so valuable, but you want to make sure you're being thoughtful and supportive. Once I've seen the pitch and then I see that company again in a subsequent round, I'm really impressed with those that make major changes to their deck based on the feedback they've received. Whether I give it to 'em or I've overheard somebody else give 'em that feedback. That helps me understand that they're coachable and that's a great sign to most investors. We want to make sure that we are working with someone that will apply the feedback. It's also important though that judges don't penalize teams unnecessarily [00:13:00] when they disagree or don't take their feedback. As investors, we're not always right, and it was just a suggestion based on our experience of what we believe.

[00:13:10] Andrea: Coachability is something that Mitra, another judge at the competition talked about as well.

[00:13:16] Mitra: Coachability is that incredibly important intangible characteristic of a team where they can listen to thoughtful feedback, evaluate it, sift through it, and figure out what to apply to their strategy going forward and what they shouldn't. It is the opposite of arrogance. It is a willingness to listen and pivot when needed for the betterment of the company.

[00:13:47] Andrea: So, in a situation where you know what’s best for your company, or at least you think you do, especially because it’s your baby and you know it inside and out… how do you balance this coachability with knowing what’s right. [00:14:00] Mitch, what are your thoughts on balancing this based on your experience with Oya?

[00:14:05] Mitch: I have wonderful investors. No one really explicitly tells me what to do or yells at me. Sometimes they express disappointment, but that's normally when I was moderately off the rails, not like about my decisions about the business. And sometimes they'll give me feedback and I'll be like, I don't wanna listen to this. And sometimes that feedback will come back almost a year later, and bite me in the butt and they'll just be like, I'm happy you came to this decision. And that's something that's happening right now. And I would say whether you wanna listen to that feedback or not should be influenced by whether you want that specific person's money or not. And I think sometimes founders get so obsessed with just like money, but like there's a relationship connected with it. But for me, [00:15:00] I would say I'm probably a really coachable founder and my investors really appreciate that, but that's because I was really intentional about the people I brought onto my cap table and making sure that those are people I wanted to listen to.

[00:15:09] Andrea: And do you have any advice for people who might be struggling to reject feedback politely?

[00:15:16] Mitch: I think underrepresented founders actually get in a trap of trying to sound so polite all the time. And that's not how you win and that's not what winners are focused on. I read a book from Kobe's personal trainer about what it takes to go from good to like unstoppable and a lot of winners are not looking at people around them for answers. They are going based off of their gut. They are using their own data. They are grinding it out. They are leading people around them. They are pushing people, taking as much data as they can, and finding the people who they wanna listen to. When you look at people who are like just groundbreakingly innovative. They don't care. Don't get me wrong, being coachable is really important, but I've seen what I do my own coaching and I'm showing up with my own data and being like, these are all the ways that I suck. Can you help me get better at this? That is received very well, and that's very different than being like, I'm in my ego. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't wanna listen to you, X, Y, and Z. [00:17:00] I'm not saying go in that direction, but if you feel like you're, going in a direction, and you're winning, and you are pulling in the people who excite you, and you are passionate about that, then why do you care If you're polite, and maybe that's controversial.

[00:17:18] HOST (Andrea): You're listening to This is Small Business Next Generation, brought to you by Amazon. I’m one of your hosts, Andrea Marquez, and along with Mitch Gilbert, we’re introducing you to the world of business plan competitions and learning about how to best pitch your business in a way that attracts investment, in the case of the Rice Business Plan Competition, teams are competing to win up to $350K towards their small business startups.

Did you know that nearly 60% of products sold in Amazon's store are from independent sellers - most of which are small and medium-sized businesses? If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or an early-stage small business owner, there are many resources that Amazon offers to help you succeed and grow. [00:18:00] One of those resources is the Amazon Small Business Academy where you can find the help you need to take your small business from concept to launch and beyond. You can strengthen your skills at no cost with live and on demand trainings, Q&As, events, and even find more This is Small Business Next Generation content. If you don’t know where to start, you can take the free self-assessment on the Amazon Small Business Academy site at www.smallbusiness.amazon.

[00:18:24] Andrea: Okay, now up next, let’s check in with Dia!

[00:18:28] Sloane: I am attending Special Operation Forces week down in Tampa, Florida. So demoing our technology and meeting some high up CEOs in special ops, but I'll fly to Houston on Thursday morning. It's a combination of excited and nervous. It's going straight from this conference week into the business plan. I do not have as much time to practice or hone the pitch as I would like, but this was a really exciting opportunity to potentially go ahead and get on some contracts. So as, as a startup founder, [00:19:00] you make it happen. And I think that regardless of what happens in the competition aspect, we've been able to really hone our business plan, gotten a lot of really good feedback. So even if it stops now the experience has been really valuable, so trying to focus on that positive.

[00:19:15] Julio: You can tell there's a lot of judges technical background, which is great they're making very technical questions which it's always to me a good sign. Means there's sophisticated investors who have seen at startups like us and they have reasonable concerns this is a saturated space and there's there's plenty of failed, startups to talk about, so they have valid concerns and this gives us a very good chance to sort of like, stand out from the crowd and explain why what we're doing is different and better than what people done before and, and how we're benefiting from all that knowledge of prior startups that failed to sort of like take us over the edge. They have some sophistication and that means that it's gonna be way more interesting when we're up in front pitching and they have questions. Well, that's just gonna let us shine.

[00:20:00] Sloane: I need to get the deck finished. So that's, that's one part that I'm stressing about. We, we are taking this seriously. I mean, we're a very lean team. We're, we're three co-founders. And so really the day is, is what fire needs to be put out right now. In some ways it's going to be harder to pitch as two people because if I get off my script a little bit, I can sort of bring myself back because I've done this pitch, not this exact pitch, but I know my slides, I sort of know the talking points, but switching off between two people and having those two different cadences and still being able to engage your audience and tell a story. I think that that just makes it a lot harder. Like you're creating this story and you're taking the audience along with you, but then you also need to be in sync with another person and that adds a whole other dimension to it.

I've had to get a lot of coaching and practice also in making the pitch more relatable, making it more dynamic. And so I think that what Rice has done in sort of forcing us to do this, because we probably, once again, limited amount of hours, [00:21:00] probably wouldn't have done it. I think we've all had a lot of improvement in sort of our communication of what our vision of this business is, and also being able to answer succinctly in a way that we're conveying what we mean, but we're not just like overloading people with information because as scientists and engineers, that's what you like to do. You like to be like, oh, you wanna know more? Like I'm going to give you all the data.

[00:21:27] Julio: At this point you did, you either did the work or you didn't. And your competition either did the work or they didn't. And you have to be able to trust yourself and your team and your work and realize that, look, if it's enough, it's enough. I'm gonna do my best. If it's not, well congratulations to the guy that did even more work, did it even better. It's not on my hands like what was up to me, I did as best could. I'm gonna respect that by trusting myself.

[00:21:52] Andrea: Sloan and Julio are also both scientists and their product is pretty complex. They both said that they had to work on their communication because they didn’t want to overload the judges [00:22:00] and investors with information but they also want to make sure they understand their product. So Mitch, how did you balance that?

[00:22:09] Mitch: Well, I think that is part of your job as a founder raising capital. Recently I was on a panel with one, an with an investor, and he straight up like, I don't expect you to be normal. I don't expect you to do normal things. I expect you to be extraordinary, I expect you to make magic happen. And those are what you find investors for. And if you're struggling to make magic, then you're gonna find it hard to find investors. Steve Jobs was able to explain an iPhone with like five slides and just having the iPhone in his hand and talking about a broad vision. There are many examples of technical founders who have explained very complicated physical products by actually coming in and like showing innovation, showing things,

showing packaging, like just putting like ideas together [00:23:00] in a way that's easy for people to follow, but then also bakes into this bigger vision. If you're struggling with that, I would say maybe that's where you need some coaching to help you be able to tell that story.

[00:23:18] Andrea: And now, last but definitely not least. Let’s see how Active Surfaces is doing.

[00:23:22] Shiv: We're super excited and nervous at the same time, which is a crazy feeling. Because we, like we've been spending hours and hours talking through the deck, thinking about how to tell this story properly. But at the same time, we're excited to go, like, see the other competitors, see the judges. We got feedback yesterday from some of the judges for our business plan. So it is like a lot of information trying to process all at the same time.

[00:23:47] Richard: It just feels like pure chaos. because you're still trying to build a business in addition to doing the business plan competition. So like, we were in Milan last week actually trying to do like, like actual business. [00:24:00] And we'd do like 12-hour days and get back and be like, we gotta do this presentation. Um, and then we flew back and I've been a little jet lagged and the whole day has just been trying to polish, trying to get feedback, trying to, to do it.

[00:24:15] Shiv: So we have to do a lot of prep to make sure when the judges ask me really tough, really technical questions that we're ready to, to provide all the right answers. Some of the main section of the feedback some of the strengths they saw and some of the, the gaps that they want to see closed. So we see a lot of good pathways for success. But at the same time, the feedback had a lot of things that we need to work on, which is good. Cause we need to hear these things and we need to work on them actively. Like what are our exit strategies? And those are some deep questions.

[00:24:40] Richard: It's a weird question to be asked or a comment to have for exit, especially because, we operate in the built environment. We operate in building infrastructure. The average exit timeline for startups in that zone right now is like 10 to 12 years. It's so long that like, it's, hard to even have certainty on what that's gonna look like.

[00:25:00] Shiv: How do we get pilots on board in the next two years? Who are those people? What is our strategy to get them? How do we get the technology vetted before then? How much funding do you need to get there? And a lot of those questions we have answers to. But maybe the learning from that is like, how do we tell the story in a way where people walk away, like just understanding what they need to understand as opposed to leaving with questions. And I think that goes down to the storytelling piece.

[00:25:28] Richard: It's a lot of pressure too because now that the competition's public, some people have looked us up and like see that we're in the business plan competition. And some - I really hope this doesn't happen, but if it, we have like a lot of pressure to do well, I think. And I think some of it's contingent on like people working with us to some extent.

[00:25:47] Shiv: As we prepare for this, I have to keep reminding myself that regardless of what happens, in the grand scheme of like building a multi-year business, this is just like one of the many steps that we need to do to get there. So if this goes well, that's great. If it doesn't go well, [00:26:00] then it's okay and we'll continue thriving and surviving. Getting every judge to like you or every VC to invest in you. Like that's not really the goal. It's okay if some of the judges don't believe us, or it's okay if some of the VCs don't invest in us, cuz you only need so many people around the table.

[00:26:16] Andrea: You know, Richard brought up a good point about how public the competition is and how investors might be basing their opinions of your company based on how well you perform there. What are your thoughts on that Mitch?

[00:26:28] Mitch: Pictures are very public. These live forever, and I have an interesting anecdote, like I once did a pitch competition at SoFi Stadium like they brought me in, in retrospect as a diversity candidate because they didn't have any women and it was a sports business plan competition, which is awkward cuz then you think to yourself, there are no women in sports in la, no startups. That's not even statistically likely. They only had one woman judge out of like five, six judges, [00:27:00] and they had pre-selected who the winner was gonna be before the pitch competition even started. But I didn't know any of that. And so, I went in and I just pitched the best I could pitch, and I did a really great job and it made things very uncomfortable for everybody involved and they got booed.

And I cried and it was terrible. And I was like, wow. I had never felt that way on stage, but it happened to me. And even to this day, I continue to meet people who met me through that pitch competition and they're like, they did you really terribly. And I'm like, I know. And it's, and it's uncomfortable because that's not how you wanna be remembered. But at the same

time, I gave a memorable performance, and I had even last week, somebody reached out about a potential partnership, which is like a business that's doing like seven figures. And they saw the pitch and they were like, we're thinking about partnering with you, like da, da, da, da, da. And so, [00:28:00] It is public, but you do the best that you can do and just know that you cannot always control how judges wanna see you or treat you, especially if you're underrepresented. But that doesn't mean that the people in the audience won't have favorable impressions of you.

[00:28:17] Andrea: Shiv and Richard also said that the feedback they got was asking about their exit strategy. And Richard pointed out that it’s a little difficult to plan something that probably won’t happen for another 10 to 12 years. And maybe they never plan on exiting the company. It’s crazy to me that they have to consider something like this right now.

[00:28:37] Mitch: If you wanna venture backed, business and extra strategy is important again, versus a business model where you own all your equity and or maybe you want a lot of control over the business. I think. It's as if most things are venture capital. You kind of lick your finger and put it in the wind and it is your best guess for what would make the most sense. [00:29:00] I think having businesses with clear exit strategies probably get invested in more though.

[00:29:03] Andrea: And that’s all our teams! It sounds like they’re already gaining a lot from the RBPC, buuut I really hope some of them at least get some money.

[00:29:15] Mitch: I'm rooting for everybody to win. I think we have a lovely bunch of humans and their ideas sound great. It's very diverse. I think we did a great job picking our candidates and I hope they definitely win money. I hope they take takeaways. I hope they grow from this experience and I hope Texas is good to them.

[00:29:34] Andrea: And we’re just getting started! In a few days our competitors will finally be pitching in front of the judges. And I can’t wait to hear what they’ve all come up with!

[00:29:42] Mitch: I've never seen a competition in person, so I'm excited just to see what that looks like.

[00:29:47] Andrea: On our next episode, we’ll be attending the first day of the Rice Business Plan Competition talking to the teams there, the judges, and the organizers. And we’ll finally get to hear everyone’s full 15-minute and 60-second pitches. [00:30:00] I’m so excited! But until then, here are some of the key takeaways that we’ve learned today.

1. Mitch: One. So when you're pitching to a customer, whether that be B2B or direct to consumer, they have different foci and they're really focused on how the product will make them feel. Versus pitching to an investor who's really focused on how this is gonna help them make money and get them to an exit. And so it's important to think about all of those, their drivers and how they're different. And do storytelling and practicing with a partner to help you get the different pitches.

2. Andrea: Two. Startups with clear exit strategies in their pitches might have a better time fundraising because investors understand immediately how they will get their money back. So this is something to consider including in your business plan even if it’s further down the road.

3. Mitch: Three. I think when you're coaching, when you're practicing pitching, it's very important that you're looking at your feedback and your rubric, [00:31:00] and you are trying to hit as many of those categories out of the park on your rubric as you possibly can, given all the feedback that you have. Practice, pitching with people who've been through experiences like this before and people who don't like you who've also had experiences like this before. And I think that's how you get stronger.

[00:31:20] Andrea: Mitch. I’m feeling good about where our teams are so far. Especially their mindsets going into this.

[00:31:25] Mitch: Excited to see our company's pitch and evolve.

[00:31:30] Andrea: We’d love to hear your stories wherever you are in your journey. Whether you're about to start your own business, in the process of it, or maybe even getting ready to pitch your business in a pitch competition. Reach out to us at thisissmallbusiness@amazon.com to tell us what you're up to. Or let me know what you think of the episode by leaving a

review on Apple Podcasts – it’s easier if you do it through your phone. And if you liked what you heard -- I hope you'll share us with anyone else who needs to hear this!

This is Small Business: Next Generation is brought to you by Amazon with technical and story production by JAR Audio. I’m one of your hosts, Andrea Marquez –

Mitch: And I'm Mitch Gilbert.

Andrea: Hasta luego and thanks for listening! [00:32:35]

Next Generation: Unveiling the Contenders (part two)

Jul 4, 2023

Meet our next two teams: Active Surfaces and Dia.

[00:00:04] Sloan: I'm gonna be honest and say I'm feeling a little bit nervous ahead of Rice going into it. I didn't know how big of a deal this competition was, but the caliber of the other companies that are represented is amazing.

[00:00:16] Shiv: And it's also about telling that story, right? Because we need to pitch it slightly differently to, to truly unlock or to really show people that we can unlock that level of market potential.

[00:00:24] Richard: It's one thing giving a 20-minute presentation that includes a lot of well thought financials. It's another thing trying to distill all of that down into just a minute or two.

[00:00:34] Shiv: And we're spending so many hours thinking about this and modeling things and estimating things and having to summarize all of those hours and hours of work into a couple minutes at most it needs to be very thoughtful and we're trying to be as thoughtful as possible.

[00:00:50] Andrea: Hi, and welcome to “This is Small Business: NEXT Generation” - a miniseries brought to you by Amazon, where we follow 4 student teams behind the scenes as they try to win the Rice Business Plan Competition. [00:01:00] You’ll hear all about their challenges, hopes, and fears as they prepare to pitch. And if you’re a This is Small Business listener, you know that I love pointing out all the key takeaways by the end of each episode and I’ll be doing the same here! I’m one of your hosts – Andrea Marquez.

[00:01:18] Mitch: And I'm your co-host, Mitch Gilbert, the CEO and co-founder of Oya femtech Apparel, and a former Rice Business Plan competitor.

[00:01:25] Andrea: So far, we’ve talked about the prize money AKA 350 thousand dollars at stake that could totally change the game for your business. No pressure.

[00:01:35] Mitch: And we also explain how the competition works. The competition gets a practice round on the first day where they get feedback from the judges and then they go through three rounds of pitching eliminations over the course of the next two days. No pressure again.

[00:01:48] Andrea: On our last episode we introduced you to two of our four teams, Unchained and Outmore Living and in this episode, we’ll be looking at our two other contenders: Active Surfaces and DIA. [00:02:00] But first I was curious to see what might turn some of the judges away from voting for our competitors. Because I think it’s equally important to know what not to do when you’re trying to get someone to invest in your business via pitching.

[00:02:15] Pilar: I think having a overall vision for your company and for a overall roadmap for your product is important. But what I, I don't expect you to spend too much time on is expansion, right? Sometimes you'll listen to a pitch and they're already sharing their plan to, you know, go global and we wanna do, you know, we wanna start here and then we're gonna go to this state and then this country.

And, and it's, it's great that they have that vision, but what we wanna see as investors and as judges is that you have a solid strategy early on to accomplish your goals in one, you know, specific area and then expand as it makes sense and, [00:03:00] and not just jump around too many places without truly understanding the user and getting that user feedback to, you know, tweak your product and figure out, you know, different features for it and then expand. So sometimes I think founders get a little ahead of themselves and that can hurt the pitch versus helping.

[00:03:22] Andrea: After hearing Pilar say this, I had A LOT of questions because you’d think investors would want to know how well your company is going to do in the long run right? And that’s actually one of the things that Mitra, another Judge at the Rice Business Plan Competition is keeping an eye out for:

[00:03:40] Mitra: Investability. Is this a company into which I and other investors are willing to put our money? And Investability really comes down to four key things. Is this the right product at the right time? Is it being delivered by the right team? And do they have the right backing. Each one of those really unpacks to a lot underneath it, [00:04:00] but each one is critical to success. And without any one of those four, it's not investible. Second of all, I wanna know that this is a product or a service and a company that can both scale and grow massively across the country, and that can get to some sort of an exit within the next five to 10 years. We prefer five years, but 10 years is certainly sometimes what we see.

[00:04:28] Andrea: So, Mitch, what do you think? What exactly should you be focusing on when you’re planning your roadmap to make it more appealing to investors? Does the information you choose to include in your roadmap depend on the investors/judges you present to?

[00:04:42] Mitch: So investors are not customers, right? So now that I have been in business, I have a slightly more nuanced version. So investors just wanna see that you have a plan and that you're aware of where certain things can trip you up. And where you may need help. [00:05:00] And then they also wanna see that you have a budget where you can allocate money towards all these different parts of your plan, regardless of whether your business is actually executed in that fashion or not, because they expect a lot of things to pivot into change in real life. I would say, um, looking back in my initial roadmap, what I wish I would've included, Were the people in the skillsets that I needed in order to execute all pieces of my roadmap. Uh, I have a problem where I can do almost anything. Like literally, if you told me to get a rocket and like I worked at like SpaceX and like get it to Mars, fine. And I'm a hard enough worker that like, I'll figure it out. Whereas most employees do not work like that, or most people are not like that. And so I wish that I would've been more intentional about thinking who I needed on my team to execute each piece of my roadmap, because not everyone is like myself.

[00:06:00] Andrea: And in a competition like the Rice Business Plan Competition, where the judges and investors may be looking for different things, how do you create a pitch that's going to appeal to them all? Do you do research the judges beforehand in order to better know how to pitch to them?

[00:06:15] Mitch: I once read on LinkedIn, a, a pretty successful founder posted. I didn't realize as a CEO that I'd be responsible for making so many pitch decks. So you have pitch decks that you give to your investors, pitch decks that you give to customers, pitch decks that you give to employees, partners, B2B partners, et cetera. So you may be the same person or the same startup, but the way you communicate. Is going to be different to all of these groups and the faster that you realize that the more successful you are going to be as a startup. And so we did our due diligence. Who is in the room? We knew that there was a lot of oil money. [00:07:00] And so we took all of that feedback in when thinking about how we were going to create a memorable pitch. And I said, I'm, I really pray that all of our founders are doing the same.

[00:07:08] Andrea: Okay, now that we have a better grasp on the competition and what some of the judges are looking for, let’s meet our teams, starting with Active Surfaces!

[00:07:18] Shiv: This is Shiv from Active Surfaces. We're an early-stage spinout that's re-imagining the way we think about solar with our groundbreaking ultra-thin film, flexible solar technology, our IP developed here at M-I-T can unlock terawatts of solar energy by making any surface active in a way never before possible. Our team is led by Richard, who's an M I T PhD graduate and an expert in energy innovation. He actually invented a lot of the tech that goes into what we're making. Khalid an MBA candidate, MIT, and who's also gonna be pitching with me in Houston is leading the development of our go-to-market strategy, trying to figure out how do we get this to the world.

[00:08:00] And I'm Shiv an MS MBA student here with over five years of experience in the energy sector at Exxon and the DOE. My job is all about sales. How do I get the right investors on board? How do I get the customers excited about this and how do I get the right team members to come out and help us build the future?

Our main concern right now that's like on my mind is striking the right balance between conveying the huge potential of this technology and focusing on a strategic beachhead market. Because we believe that this can actually revolutionize solar. It can change the way we think about it. Any surface can be solar. So if you have something that's a hundred times lighter than the solar panels we know, and you can make it flexible, then what does that unlock? What are our go-to market? What are our sales channels? And the way we're trying to solve this is through a ton of customer discovery. Khalid is hard at work. Organizing meetings with the REITs, real estate investment trust, solar installers, large asset owners, and deepening our understanding of how this works. [00:09:00] What is the sales channel? What are their pain points? How can we add unique value and solve the problems they're experiencing in the field today? That's the only way to truly understand this, is to talk to these people and have conversations, and that's what we're focusing on.

Our game plan is twofold. First, we're gonna focus on perfecting our pitch. We're gonna revamp the slide deck, understand all the general pieces that go into it. Getting mentorship from all the awesome professors and mentors that have offered to spend their valuable time guiding people like us, just because they believe in the vision too. And second, our game plan is to make the most of this opportunity. There's gonna be an awesome community of people here. There's gonna be investors in the crowd. There's gonna be other awesome founders working on cool problems that we wanna connect with. Cause this is an ecosystem. And if we can help each other succeed, we can help build the future together.

[00:09:48] Andrea: Okay, so Shiv said that their main concern is:

[00:09:56] Shiv: …striking the right balance between conveying the huge potential of this technology and focusing on a strategic beachhead market.

[00:10:00] Andrea: Mitch, can you tell me what beachhead means?

[00:10:08] Mitch: It’s a term that comes from war, like the Battle of Normandy, and this idea that if you can capture the beach, you can capture the island. And so you'll send a lot of people and soldiers to die, but you'll capture that beach and then from there you'll be able to advance as a military.

[00:10:30] Andrea: That’s so interesting. When you were pitching Oya to the judges at the Rice Business Plan Competition, how were you able to do that?

[00:10:36] Mitch: Being an underrepresented founder who's woman presenting, we already know that judges are more likely to ask us questions around implementation and about risks as opposed to big picture. So I think it's good that his brain is going this direction because he is an underrepresented founder, and that is where a lot of underrepresented founders get tripped up.

[00:11:00] I think you do though, have to say big numbers at the front to make that sexy. And so what I would say is RPBC gives you a framework. So they're like, these are all the slides that you need to have in your pitch, and I think it's making sure that you have a slide that addresses each of the sections that it says that you need to have in the pitch. So you have a slide that talks about big potential, et cetera, and gives a really big, investors love the number billion, so like the more billions you can put in the deck around your target market, it's great. But then you also have a very detailed and yet simple to understand slides speaking on how you'll capture your beachhead and how you'll grow.

[00:11:45] Andrea: And I also really like how they’re approaching the competition – that they’re looking forward to meeting the other competitors because then even if they lose, they still benefited from meeting other founders that could help them along their own journey. This is something that Detara Williams, co-founder of Darlyng & Co. [00:12:00] mentions on episode 15 of This is Small Business. She gives a lot of advice on funding your small business and pitching. One of the things she advises everyone to do in a pitch competition is network because then, even if you lose, you still walk out of the competition with something.

[00:12:18] Mitch: I think that's critical. You can meet investors, you can meet advisors, you can meet potential partners, and so it's really important. It's exhausting because it's multiple days where you're in a different city, but that you're on and that you're receptive to all of the energy that people want to give you.

[00:12:40] Andrea: I’m so excited to see what Active Surfaces pitch is gonna sound like but for now… let’s meet DIA.

[00:12:45] HOST (Andrea): You're listening to This is Small Business Next Generation, brought to you by Amazon. I’m one of your hosts, Andrea Marquez, and along with Mitch Gilbert, we’re introducing you to the world of business plan competitions and learning about how to best pitch your business in a way that attracts investment, [00:13:00] in the case of the Rice Business Plan Competition, teams are competing to win up to $350K towards their small business startups.

Did you know that nearly 60% of products sold in Amazon's store are from independent sellers - most of which are small and medium-sized businesses? If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or an early-stage small business owner, there are many resources that Amazon offers to help you succeed and grow. One of those resources is the Amazon Small Business Academy where you can find the help you need to take your small business from concept to launch and beyond. You can strengthen your skills at no cost with live and on demand trainings, Q&As, events, and even find more This is Small Business Next Generation content. If you don’t know where to start, you can take the free self-assessment on the Amazon Small Business Academy site at www.smallbusiness.amazon.

[00:13:56] Sloan: DIA aims to revolutionize the realm of healthcare by making point of care non-invasive sensors [00:14:00] that measure many molecules crucial to mental and physical health through saliva and sweat. Currently, my co-founder, Julio and I, are hard at work building out our pitch deck in order to try to not bore you in Houston in a few weeks. Rice is a little different for us from other pitch events we've done because it's the first time that Julio and I are pitching together and because the Rice pitch event is a lot longer, 15 minutes from the other events I've done. On the one hand, this is great because it allows us to share more about what makes DIA's technology truly capable of disrupting the biomarker testing market, but it's also a lot more content to keep track of and prep ahead of the competition.

Currently I'm in the process of writing out our script, which I never follow exactly, but it's always really good to have in mind for longer presentations. I actually sometimes record myself practicing and play it back to myself on my runs just to help me get it in my head. While I'm a scientist by training, I've spent the past six years working in scaling and startup tech companies and will graduate with my global executive MBA from Duke in May. [00:15:00] So at DIA, while I understand our science. My role is really to handle the business end of things, financials, strategy, operations, and Julio handles the chemistry. Julio is an absolute brilliant electric chemist, currently finishing his PhD jointly between Tech de Monterey, and Mexico and Purdue.

We also have a third co-founder, Fernando, who is an engineer handling the mechanics, electronics, and app integration with both Julio and I being trained as scientists, the feedback that we usually get about our pitches is that we are too technical, so I'm definitely worried that our Rice presentation might lean that way as well. We are working with a lot of our advisors and mentors to sharpen up our presentation into a true pitch that hopefully investors will find compelling.

[00:15:43] Andrea: This is exciting. So DIA is doing two things right. Consulting mentors and practicing. I love that she’s recording herself as she practices, that’s such a good tip!

[00:15:55] Mitch: I think it's important to practice at other pitch plan competitions [00:16:00] before you get to Rice, because if rice is your first competition, it can be really intimidating. You're like all these people, all these competitors, there's a lot going on, lots of critical feedback. So it's important to get some reps under your belt. And I would say it's even more important not to practice by yourself or like recording like yes, we did that at some point to make sure that we had lighting and all of that stuff, right? But I practiced in front of people. I practiced in front of people who didn't like me. I practiced in front of people who were advocates. I practiced in people who weren't interested in investing in my vertical. I've practiced in front of people who have succeeded at what I wanted to do before. And so getting all those different types of feedback really helped me create a compelling case. And I would say in between rounds. At Rice specifically, I went through all the feedback in the notes and the day of right after my pitch, and then I would try to implement as many of them as I could, and then I got more feedback to change everything. And then the next morning I practice again [00:17:00] with the notes and updates that we had, and then I kept practicing until I felt like I had something good going into that day of competition.

[00:17:10] Andrea: I am a little worried about their pitches being too technical because they sound like complicated products. Explaining it is super important but making sure you’re able to deliver it in a way that’s easy to understand and interesting is even more important, right. It doesn’t matter how good your product is if you can’t explain it well. Here’s what Pilar, one of the RBPC judges, had to say about delivering your pitch:

[00:17:35] Pilar: A lot of times you're nervous and you're trying to quickly go through your slides that you don't want to just sound, you know, monotone and just kind of going through the motions. You really wanna show the judges, Hey, this is something that I really care about, that I'm passionate about, that I'm dedicated to. And you really wanna let your personality show through that pitch, it really makes a difference.

[00:18:00] Andrea: I think when it comes to technical and complicated products like DIA’s it’s difficult to do that. So can you talk to me about your experience of integrating your personal story to the Oya story so that it resonates with more people?

[00:18:12] Mitch: Yeah, I really resonate with Dia, not just because they too have a complicated product, but also, Sloan is an underrepresented founder and so is Julio. And when you're underrepresented, it's easy for investors to get lost in the gray areas. So it's really important that what you're communicating emotionally resonates with the audience that you're talking to, and that they're able to somehow find truth into what you're saying. And so while working on my Rice Pitch, it was very

important to me every round to take in the feedback to understand what exactly were judges hearing and what they were not hearing. And so that way I was able to recalibrate every round and get a lot more effective. [00:19:00] I was also embarrassed to really talk about my story. When we first started rice. I was like, yeah, yeast infections, nebulous and like add all these statistics. And by the end I was like my own story and it required a lot of bravery for me, but it again helped me better emotionally connect with judges.

[00:19:20] Andrea: That’s great advice Mitch. So the Rice Business Plan Competition also has a 60 second elevator pitch in addition to the 15-minute pitch. And that's a huge difference in time. So what's the difference between them. And as a competitor, how do you make sure you're including enough information in both pitches while respecting the time given to you?

[00:19:45] Mitch: Yeah, I think it's cuz the judges are looking for different things and as a founder, that's part of your job. The purpose between those two pitches and their length though are very different. So the 60 second pitch is, as a founder, can you succinctly [00:20:00] explain how you're different and how can you carry the energy of a room? And so that's really a test to be like, can you be an Ariana Grande? Like, will people listen to you? And I think that's the 60 second pitch. The 15-minute pitch is a lot more in the nuts and bolts and is really trying to understand how does your business work? Do you understand the risks? Do you have the right team in place to mitigate those risks? And also that's where you start getting feedback on your actual business model from the judges and around areas that you can improve. So I think both of them are very helpful.

[00:20:37] Andrea: And do you have any advice on how our competitors should handle each pitch?

[00:20:42] Mitch: Yeah, 60 seconds. You just wanna sound fun, like, you wanna sound intriguing, right? Like you wanna create some sort of like emotional response where someone's like, oh, I remember this person. And that's so important when you only have 60 seconds. So like, could you clearly articulate the idea? Were you memorable? [00:21:00] Are you differentiated? And can you somehow defend your differentiation? As for the 15-minute pitch, I think that's where it's really important for you to look at the rubric and actually make sure that you're answering all the questions. Sometimes people just kind of go off and do their own things, and it's like that's why you have a rubric to begin with. I also think it's important that you look at... you may not be able to see competitor decks, but you can see other decks of people who've done well in the past or some of the pitches that have won at Rice, and see if you can find their decks and things like that on the internet, because that's a proven model.

[00:21:38] Andrea: Okay so, Mitch I’ve got a little surprise, wanna know what it is?

[00:21:43] Mitch: What is it?

[00:21:45] Andrea: Sloane gave a little sneak peak into their pitch!

[00:21:50] Mitch: Yay. I'm excited to hear it.

[00:22:52] Andrea: Same! Here it is:

[00:21:54] Sloane: I'm not gonna do the full 15-minute pitch, but maybe give you a little bit of the intro teaser so that you'll be excited to tune in for the real thing.

[00:22:00] So, hey everybody, my name's Sloan Tilly, and I'm the CEO and co-founder of Dia. I'm excited to be here with you today with my co-founder and chief Scientific Officer, Julio Freden to talk to you about how DIA's non-invasive sensing technology will disrupt the at-home biomarker monitoring market to save the US healthcare system, millions of dollars and potentially millions of lives.

The origin story of DIA is a personal one, it begins about seven years ago when I was a thriving PhD student at UNC Chapel Hill, who is discovering my love and talent for the sport of triathlon. Unfortunately, while on a training ride, I was struck by a car on my bike and wheeled out of the hospital on my 23rd birthday with life-changing injuries. Over the following weeks. As I was shuttled to countless doctor's appointments to have yet another blood draw for a biomarker test, I realized something with the clinical lab testing industry was broken. [00:23:00] My health depended on my loved ones, fulfilling an unreasonable burden to be available at all times, to transport me to appointments.

While my healing was interrupted from the toll of having to test outside the home, yet I was lucky. I was only monitored for two months. For the over 100 million Americans living with a chronic condition, this burden is a reality that's lived over years. And despite the United States spending the highest percentage of GDP on healthcare of any nation, with over 75% of that spending totally totaling 1.5 trillion going towards caring for chronic conditions, the prevalence of and death rates from chronic health conditions continue to increase.

Now, the Covid 19 pandemic was a tragedy that all of us wish could be undone. However, it forced an acceleration of telehealth in a way that is primed to the market for a complete revolution of remote patient monitoring. Currently, doctors can monitor their patient's blood oxygenation, blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, and even heart rhythm. [00:24:00] From the convenience and comfort of the patient's own home, the data is accurate and securely handled, resulting in lower healthcare costs, better communication between physicians and patients. And ultimately better health outcomes. However, the only biochemical marker that we are able to monitor remotely is glucose, and we've been doing that since 1999.

So in those many jarring trips back and forth between various doctor's appointments, I wondered why, if it's well known, that many health conditions require frequent monitoring of biochemical markers. And doctors make adjustments to care plans based on these data. Why are we still unable to measure biomarkers at home? This is what we're aiming to change.

This is the DIA solution, and so I'm gonna leave it there on that cliffhanger.

[00:24:55] Andrea: That was great! And it was such a heartwarming story.

[00:25:00] Mitch: Yeah, it seems like a very great introduction. I'd definitely still want to understand how she's going to explain the complicated parts of her business in a way that also emotionally resonates. And, I'm excited to see how it all comes together and to see her pitch person.

[00:25:17] Andrea: I’m excited to see how they deal with it all! Make sure to subscribe and follow us on This is Small Business Next Generation, to see how the different teams we follow perform as the pressure mounts. Will they buckle under the pressure? Will life get in the way of them winning? How will they make the most of their time there? And if you’re a regular listener of This is Small Business, you know I can’t leave without going through some key takeaways from today’s episode:

Andrea: One. Having an overall vision for your company is important. But don’t spend too much time on the expansion part of it. First think about the solid strategy in place that will help you accomplish your goals in the building phase. Investment in research in development is key here too.
[00:26:00] Mitch: Two Investability. We spoke to Mitra a little earlier and she gave us her framework for investors and startups and their ability to answer these questions. And those questions were one, is this the right product at the right time? Two, is it being delivered by the right team? Three, do they have the right backing? And four, is this a product or service, company that can both scale and grow massively across the country, and that can get into some sort of an exit within the next five or 10 years. So according to Mitra, each of those things really impacts a lot underneath it, but every single one of them are critical for success. And without any of the four, that business is not investible according to her framework.
Mitch: Three. Balancing explaining your product and all of the finances can definitely get really tricky. I would say make sure there's someone on your team who can really help you prepare. I wouldn't say that that's an area to wing it. Find someone who has some business modeling or financial modeling experience and to create a model where you feel comfortable [00:27:00] with great returns, medium returns and lower than expected returns.
And then as far as explaining your product, I would say it is very important to be working with a coach and to be receptive to feedback, because sometimes you're gonna get feedback that you suck. And that's really important.
Andrea: Four. Make sure you try to make connections in any pitch competition you compete in. These competitors are on the same path you’re on. So, having a community of entrepreneurs that can help each other out is super important in the often-lonely journey of building a business. And if your team doesn’t win one of the grand prizes, you can also win in other ways… maybe it’s by meeting a key investor that will help you raise the money you need.

[00:27:45] Andrea: We’d love to hear your stories wherever you are in your journey. Whether you're about to start your own business, in the process of it, or maybe even getting ready to pitch your business in a pitch competition. Reach out to us at thisissmallbusiness@amazon.com to tell us what you're up to. Or let me know what you think of the episode by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts [00:28:00] – it’s easier if you do it through your phone. And if you liked what you heard -- I hope you'll share us with anyone else who needs to hear this!

This is Small Business: Next Generation is brought to you by Amazon with technical and story production by JAR Audio. I’m one of your hosts, Andrea Marquez –

[00:28:43] Mitch: And I'm Mitch Gilbert.

[00:28:45] Andrea: Hasta luego and thanks for listening! [00:28:50]

Next Generation: Unveiling the Contenders (part one)

Jun 27, 2023

Meet our first two teams: Outmore Living and Unchained.

[00:00:04] Pilar: What am I looking for in a winning pitch?

[00:00:06] Mitra: We're really looking for investible ideas that we personally will put our money into. That's what's going to win. So if it's too small an idea, it's really your personal hobby, or if it's a classroom project that isn't really ready to scale, neither one of those is gonna work.

[00:00:22] Pilar: Sometimes I think founders get a little ahead of themselves and that can hurt the pitch versus helping.

[00:00:28] Kevin: What's our game plan? Of course, it's to win.

[00:00:32] Bilal: And so, the main focus right now is honing in on what's true to us, what our secret sauce is.

[00:00:38] Kevin: We framed it up in a way that was focused on kind of here's what's broken and the opportunity that the industry's missing out on...

[00:00:44] Alex: It's almost like kind of addressing the elephant in the room, right?

[00:00:48] Bilal: If I could describe how I feel, I'd say anxious, I'm very excited to, you know, go through this journey, and excited to, to find out what I learned from it all honestly.

[00:01:00] Andrea: Hi, and welcome to “This is Small Business: NEXT Generation” - a miniseries brought to you by Amazon, where we follow 4 student teams behind the scenes throughout the Rice University Business Plan Competition. You’ll hear all about their challenges, hopes, and fears as they prepare to pitch. And if you’re a This is Small Business regular listener, you know that I love pointing out all the key takeaways by the end of each episode and I’ll be doing the same here! I’m one of your hosts – Andrea Marquez.

[00:01:26] Mitch: And I'm your co-host Mitch Gilbert, the CEO and co-founder of Oya FemTech Apparel and a former Rice Business Plan competition competitor. So you know, I'll be giving you the inside scoops on all my lessons learned and my thoughts about these competitors given that I previously placed at this pitch competition.

[00:01:43] Andrea: In our first episode, we gave you a ton of info on the Rice Business Plan Competition, like how the competitors are competing to win 350k dollars – I still get shocked by that amount every time I say it because it’s a LOT of money. And that amount of money can make quite a difference in your business.

[00:02:00] We also we gave you a glimpse into the teams we’re following throughout the competition, but in this episode, we’ll be digging deeper into two of our four teams to really understand their product, what they’ll be doing with the money, and most importantly how they plan on winning!

But before we get into that I wanted to break down how the competition will go. So, the Rice Business Plan Competition is made up of three rounds and three days. On the first day the competitors get the opportunity to participate in a practice round! They present their pitch in 15 minutes and then get 15 minutes of super helpful feedback from the judges. Here's what Mitra Miller, an angle investor, commercial real estate investor, and one of the Rice Business Plan Competition judges has to say about that practice round:

[00:02:45] Mitra: I've been judging at the Rice Business Plan competition for 20 years now. Year after year there are some pitfalls that you see teams continually fall into. One is not going to the feedback round. [00:03:00] So the Rice Business Plan competition has an amazing opportunity for teams to fly in and go to a feedback round with judges like me and a bunch of others of us who volunteer our time to listen to your pitch and give you some free feedback before you actually start the competition. It is invaluable, and I can tell you that some of the other volunteers who come and do that are incredibly impressive CEOs, investors, people with names that if you look them up, you're gonna be absolutely gobsmacked that they're there doing that, and yet that's how they give back. So make sure you take advantage of that opportunity and listen to them.

[00:03:40] Andrea: Taking feedback in general is always important, especially as you build a business. Mitch, could you tell us about your experience with the feedback round? Did you end up needing to completely change your pitch or did you just have to tweak a few things here and there?

[00:03:57] Mitch: Well, Rice Business Plan competition is one of the only competitions [00:04:00] where you get such extensive feedback around, and I think by doing that, they really help startups grow. So whether you place or not, your pitch and your business will improve because you get so much feedback. But it is grueling. So we had an advisor and so what our pitch looked like at the beginning versus the end, like we were still selling vagina pants, but what it looked like was very different. And I was so shy to talk about my own experiences with feminine health and why that was the impetus for starting Oya. And by the end, we had a picture of a crying vagina on like our second slide, and I was completely owning that narrative. So I think that the feedback were very helpful.

[00:04:45] Andrea: I love that you leaned into that. So, on the second day of the competition, the teams will go through the first round where they get to pitch for 15 minutes and then go through 20 minutes of questions and answers from the judges. AND they get another 15 mins of feedback. [00:05:00] By the end of the second day, the semi-finalists are announced. On the third day, the last two rounds take place. First, our competitors will go through the semi-final round where they present their pitch and get grilled with more Q and A’s from the judges, then the finalists get selected. And four hours after they get selected, they present their pitches for the last time in the final round. Honestly, this all sounds like a LOT! And the turnaround time to implement the feedback they receive is really short...

[00:05:30] Mitch: Which is why it's critical to have a mentor or an advisor who's been through this process, who's there with you. Like I think we were practicing right after we got the feedback day of, and then we had an evening to make the changes, and then we were practicing again at 7:00 AM because we were on LA time versus central time, which is Texas time. So we were up really early and you really only get a day, [00:06:00] and I would even say you have to be really intentional about who you're practicing in front of, because within a day you can't practice in front of everybody. And so, maybe you get one or two people, so you really wanna make sure that you're making the most out of those one or two people that you've been able to practice in front of.

[00:06:22] Andrea: Let’s get to know our teams, starting with Outmore Living.

[00:06:26] Kevin: I'm Kevin Long, co-founder and CEO of Outmore Living. At Outmore Living, we are building the most innovative and comfortable outdoor living products ever. Our first product line heated outdoor furniture launches this fall and will allow consumers to spend more time outdoors than ever before. The idea for Outmore living started Thanksgiving 2020 while sitting around a fire at my parents' home in Atlanta. Despite being wrapped in blankets and huddling around the fire, 10 minutes in, everyone wanted to go inside because they were cold. It was in that moment that it clicked to me. Fires bring people together, but they don't really keep you warm. As everyone was leaving, I blurted out. I wish our seats were heated and out more living was born.

[00:07:00] Alex: My name's Alex Duncan. I'm co-founder and COO of Outmore Living. Before getting my MBA, I spent over six years as an army officer. I was a Black Hawk helicopter pilot, an aviation officer. I met Kevin at the University of Texas McCombs in the MBA program, we were assigned to the same group in a class called New Venture Creation. It was there that Kevin brought in the idea of heated outdoor furniture, and the rest is history as they say.

Outmore is re-imagining the future of outdoor spaces. We're designing a more comfortable outdoor experience by integrating technology into premium outdoor furniture, beginning with heated outdoor chairs and sofas in a beautiful, sustainable, FSC certified teak frame. Why are we doing this? Well, because like many of you, we know that there's something different about conversing and connecting with one another outdoors, a round of fire over a meal. And we want moments like that to happen more often, and we want moments like that to not end early on account of being uncomfortable from cold. [00:08:00] In short, our mission is to help everyone be out more.

[00:08:05] Andrea: At this point in time, the teams have 2 weeks to go before they pitch their ideas at the Rice Business Plan Competition. And Kevin and Alex have been working tirelessly to find and patch up any holes in their pitch.

[00:08:16] Alex: There seems to be a disconnect between the way our pitch deck reads and the way our conversations go. We're trying to minimize that cognitive dissonance, if you will. There's some who believe that furniture is not. A super attractive investible industry, and we disagree. We don't think that's axiomatic. We propose a new type of outdoor company, and so how do we best bring people along for that journey? Tell them a story, answer their questions, address their objections in such a way that gives them no choice but to come along and, and be a part of the Outmore journey.

[00:08:47] Kevin: On the surface, our product and company is super easy to understand. Heated outdoor furniture so you can stay comfortable when it's cold outside. Who wouldn't want that? Where it gets complicated is explaining how we grow from a product to a brand with a suite of products. [00:09:00] How we build a business model that's different than all other furniture brands that have either failed or struggled with profitability. Why we are choosing an omnichannel go-to-market strategy instead of focusing on just D to C or just b2b. Finally, why our business model is so unique compared to other comparable brands and what really sets us apart? Our team knows all these answers, but it is sometimes hard to concisely explain them without over complicating a company and a vision that is at its core, just easy to understand.

[00:09:30] Alex: Our game plan is with a relentless focus on business operation tasks. For that approach them with a focus attention to detail, so is not to prolong any further than is necessary. Time is of the essence. Most importantly, it's properly order my time in light of a brand new baby, understanding what is most important and allocate my time accordingly.

Kevin has made sure to understand that. I am supposed to and need to take the time to welcome my new baby, support my wife and love on my family in this time. [00:10:00] And, and he is there to pick up any slack that, that I have to defer, in this period of time leading up to rice. And with that said, I'm going to push and push into it more and, and find and dig deep and find the energy and time and make it work in such a way that I try to do the best I can in both areas. And finally, it's to set aside time for Kevin and I to immerse ourselves in the creative active storytelling. That creative, active storytelling is also known as a pitch deck, but we need space and time to breathe, and the deck does too. And it's just a different mindset for us. It stands in the start composition to the mindset of, of operational execution, where it's. It's whack-a-mole. Knock one up, knock one down. Our engineers ask, do we like option A or option B? Our designer asks, do we like fabric C or fabric D, and we knock these tasks down. That is a different mentality than the creative space we have to curate in order to tell our story the best way we possibly can.

[00:10:55] Kevin: It's funny when you're going from zero to one with a company, your game plans and goals are constantly changing. [00:11:00] So six months ago, if you had to ask me what would be our goal, it would've been to have been accepted into the Rice Business Plan competition. But now that we've achieved that goal, it's shifted to, well, let's win this thing. and it's, it's really interesting when you're moving so fast and, and having so many wins and losses so rapidly, when you're building a company from scratch, your goals are just constantly changing. So when I think about our game plan, it's, come in, put our best foot forward, you know, meet as many potential investors, customers, whoever it may be, um, but also to win it. And that, that would be, that would be a huge accomplishment.

[00:11:35] Andrea: Wow, sounds like they’ve got a lot on their plate. The pitch competition is already an intense journey. But add to that a baby AND a launch coming soon?

[00:11:44] Mitch: Yeah. They definitely have a lot to juggle and I think you have to be intentional about... Rice, you have to pitch with two co-founders. So you have to be intentional about which co-founder you're choosing and whether they have bandwidth to even show up for practice [00:12:00] in the way that they need to get it done. I think co-founders are helpful because they can see things that you can't see and they can fill in spaces, but if your co-founder is not prepared to be in front of an audience, that can also be hurtful to you and your brand. And so when we pitched, I had four other co-founders and I was very intentional optics wise about choosing which co-founder I wanted to pitch with me. So, although I worked with one a lot more. And another one was better at marketing and another one was better at the science and understanding the product. And even finance. I chose our legal co-founder who lived in Texas.

[00:12:47] Andrea: Alex also mentioned going from Business mode to creative mode to be able to work on the pitch, is that something you struggled with when you were working on your pitch for Oya?

[00:12:55] Mitch: We were born out of business plan competition. So I didn't have that issue. [00:13:00] But I would say if you were born out of an environment where you were making sales, like I think their team comes from the military and target, so retail experience. So they're probably immediately concentrating on sales as opposed to learning how do you tell a story and how do you tell it in an engaging way with the right optics to be able to attract investors. I could see how that could require a mind state shift.

[00:13:30] Andrea: I'm excited to see what their pitch sounds like now that we have this backstory as well. Up next is Unchained.

[00:13:37] HOST (Andrea): You're listening to This is Small Business Next Generation, brought to you by Amazon. I’m one of your hosts, Andrea Marquez, and along with Mitch Gilbert, we’re introducing you to the world of business plan competitions and learning about how to best pitch your business in a way that attracts investment, in the case of the Rice Business Plan Competition, teams are competing to win up to $350K towards their small business startups.

[00:14:00] Did you know that nearly 60% of products sold in Amazon's store are from independent sellers - most of which are small and medium-sized businesses? If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or an early-stage small business owner, there are many resources that Amazon offers to help you succeed and grow. One of those resources is the Amazon Small Business Academy where you can find the help you need to take your small business from concept to launch and beyond. You can strengthen your skills at no cost with live and on demand trainings, Q&As, events, and even find more This is Small Business Next Generation content. If you don’t know where to start, you can take the free self-assessment on the Amazon Small Business Academy site at www.smallbusiness.amazon.

[00:14:40] Bilal: My name is Bilal Issifou, founder of Unchained, Inc. We are a turnkey solution that removes the bounds of geography through our technology and helps companies increase brands through our ambassadors. Unchained Inc. Is a future of work solution that combines the power of people and technology to help corporations strategically engage diverse talent. [00:15:00] There's been millions of corporations investing in diverse early talent recruitment processes. Although there have been a lot of investment in this area, engagement and retention amongst that talent has still been relatively stagnant. This reason is because career services historically doesn't really know how to engage students at a high level. In order for your company to stand out, you have to actually either invest in development, invest in engagement, or partner with a company that can grow your brand to the student side. And so that's what our solution helps companies do through our technology and through our ambassador program.

The story about how Unchained started. I was a freshman at North Carolina when I was a pre-law student. I was a very ambitious pre-law student, and this was, you know, pre remote work, pre virtual career fairs. I, I went to the in-person career fair, and went through the formalities of that, because I went to a, a primarily STEM focused school. So being a pre-law student at a STEM focus school, your career fair odds are, you know, not that high. [00:16:00] Ended up landing my first internship with the Office of Civil Rights.

And so through that experience I learned I had a passion for connecting minorities to opportunities. Now, although I didn't really specifically have a passion for like the construction industry in that sense, I reflected that, you know, I was a H B C U student who really wanted an internship bad. Yeah, the school resources wasn't my best help. I ended up finding it through outside resources, how many other students could benefit from a platform like that. And so, uh, June 19th, 2020, I essentially embarked on pretty much coming together with the idea Unchained, Inc.

And so in the beginning, Unchained Inc. was simply a Instagram page that provided career resources to a community of students. I grew the, the Instagram page to about 600 followers. From there I realized, okay, you know, [00:17:00] how do I practically turn this idea I had of this platform that connects students to opportunities? And so I put out a tweet. I was like, hey, working on this real cool project. If you're a marketing student, a computer science student that's interested, let me know. About two weeks passed by somebody finally responded and his name is Nasir Jones, who's now my CTO. and so I pitched the idea to him. He instantly fell in love with the idea as well. So it honestly became like a joint partnership at that point.

We launched the official, first version of the web platform around August 2020. And from there we were able to transfer those 600 followers that were on Instagram to our first 600 users on the web platform. It brings values to companies because companies aren't used to talking to, you know, that many students on a virtual event, let alone in person interactions. And so from there, we used the data from that first proof of concept to then in 2021 start generating early revenue by, you know, doing custom services for clients based on, you know, what we were figuring out. We were good at. [00:18:00] And so from that point on, like it was, it was a no-brainer. I ended up declining a full-time from Goldman Sachs, a year outta school. Pretty much dedicated to just building this out, building out the MVP.

[00:18:14] Andrea: This is such a cool story. This team found each other through Twitter and I really respect this passion and determination to go all in. I must say, the idea of declining a cushy job offer to start my own thing would be scary. But Unchained Inc. seems to be gaining the right kind of traction. I wonder how they’re preparing for their pitch. Especially because I imagine that this particular product might have to lean harder into explaining what makes them different and needed.

[00:18:44] Bilal: I also have a meeting with my Mentor Vic on Friday to make some last-minute adjustments to my deck. The last time me and him met I was able to make some adjustments and I submitted it for the final submission. He was impressed with it. So now it's just touching up the actual pitch itself. [00:19:00] If I could describe how I feel, I'd say anxious I'm very excited to, you know, go through this journey and excited to, to find out what I learned from it all honestly. And one of the main, one of the main things that, like I say, that kind of has been heavy on my mind about the competition itself is just like the opportunity to, you know, get that exposure in general. You know, if anything else, you know, this competition is gonna allow my team. Our product, our business to get exposure to those who may benefit from it. And so that's one of the things that's keeping me drive about the whole competition itself is the opportunity to bring exposure to the work that we're doing.

[00:19:40] Andrea: And if Unchained Inc. wins the money...

[00:19:44] Bilal: This year is all about scaling what we learned the past, uh, three years and going to market, you know, real strong this time because we grew organically through Gorilla Marketing and just our style, but this year we want to gain the funding to pair it with actual, you know, official marketing budgets, high scale, marketing campaigns, and continue to just grow the brand.

[00:20:00] Andrea: Sooo, what are your thoughts on Unchained Inc.?

[00:20:05] Mitch: I'm really excited about the problem that they're solving. There's a pressing need to get more people of color or underrepresented peoples into these larger companies, and the fact that they're building a, a supply chain or a pool of great candidates who are underrepresented, it just, it speaks to my heart. I also think that they're strong founder problem fit, so, both the founders or all of them seem very uniquely positioned to solve these problems and they're very passionate about it, and I think that that will take you very far in the startup community. Lastly, I love that they are getting advice from mentors to think about how to show up better in these competitions. Again, as I've mentioned, our rice business plan competition coach was, there's no words to even describe how helpful she was to us in navigating this process. So I think that mentor is going to be key.

[00:21:00] Andrea: And it seems like he already has a plan for what’s next. Whether they win or lose the competition they want to focus on marketing. Do you think that's a good idea?

[00:21:05] Mitch: That's a big nexus. So if they win money versus if they don't, so if they win money because they're further along, I think they need to evaluate their team. Right. What skill sets are they lacking? Marketing can be a part of the of their big budget. But I, I think marketing is just an area where you can waste a lot of money. So I think it's very important that you be clear about who you're talking to and how you wanna talk to people. And then I think your marketing dollars can be better well spent versus like they are working on their AI or their technology stack. So I think it just depends based on where they see a need on their team structure. If they don't win any money. I think there's still a lot of lessons to be gained because every round you get such intensive, critical feedback about your business and business model, and so I would be excited [00:22:00] to hear even if they don't win money, what are some of the lessons learned that they got? Cuz they may learn things about presentation and communicating and about target market or even about their abilities to scale. I think Rice is a competition regardless of whether you win or not, you definitely walk away with something.

[00:22:17] Andrea: I totally agree, being able to participate in the Rice Business Plan Competition already puts you ahead in terms of connections, and meeting advisors and investors. But winning some money is of course everyone's goal, so let's hear what Pilar, one of the judges at RBPC, looks for when they listen to these pitches.

[00:22:38] Pilar: My name is Pilar Johnson and I'm co-founder and managing partner of Debut Capital. I think because my background is as a operator first and I focus on early stages, there's a couple areas that I am always looking to see, you know, what the founders Strategy is. [00:23:00] So one is business strategy. Do they understand the market? do they have a differentiator that's gonna help them succeed in the market? And do they have short. And long-term goals basically, do they have a strong roadmap? Is this a problem, you know, that they're solving for? Is it unique to them? Have they personally experienced that problem that they're trying to solve for with the product or service? I would say one pitfall that competitors can often fall into is not having any information on the financials of it. So I think sometimes founders can focus a lot on like the marketing, which is important, or the founding team, which is also important, but you definitely wanna have at least one slide covering, even if it's high level projections for the product.

[00:24:00] Andrea: Ok so hearing this from Pilar. Mitch, do you think Unchained and Outmore living are on the right track?

[00:24:05] Mitch: Maybe because they're both really focused on sales, and so marketing really helps with capturing sales, but that's a different focus. The venture capitalists who are worried about long-term impact or long-term growth, so they're not thinking, oh, is this gonna be the hottest trend? They're thinking like, is this a company that can defend itself and grow into like a billion-dollar company?

[00:24:33] Andrea: So, based on that, I think that investibility from venture capital is going to be different from what Outmore Living and Unchained Inc. are expecting to find. And this doesn't mean that they're bad companies, it's just not what those judges are looking for.

[00:24:50] Mitch: Yeah, and I see that a lot in product-based businesses. They don't necessarily do well in venture capital because they're really focused on marketing and fads and trends. As opposed to like science [00:25:00] or like moats or patents. And so with Outmore living, wanting to do furniture. I'm not sure what patents they filed as much as like, the furniture looks cool and it's easy to transport or assemble, which is not the same thing as like, say, an investor who wants to invest in like a SaaS product.

[00:25:22] Andrea: We’ll just have to wait and see how they do in the competition and how their product resonates with judges. On our next episode, we'll be looking at our other two teams: DIA and Active Surfaces.

[00:25:32] Mitch: Yes, so excited to learn about Unchained and Outmore living and to see how they do in this competition, and also even more excited to learn about our next two competitors.

[00:25:42] Andrea: And of course, you know we can’t leave without some valuable takeaways.

Andrea: One. When building a business plan, especially thinking about it from the investor’s perspective, it’s important to think about: if and how you understand the market.
Mitch: Like, do you have a differentiator? How do you stand out?
[00:26:00] Andrea: And then what’s going to help you succeed? Is your roadmap of short- and long-term goals setting you up for sustainable growth?
Mitch: Two. Speaking of sustainable growth, how do you build on your initial product like Outmore Living? How do you show investors that you have a plan that gets you to the next step? What will that look like when it comes to your go-to-market strategy? And how will this be unique to, in comparison to other brands?
Andrea: Three. Prioritization. I think that many business owners don’t talk about how sometimes, the business part of it all is just not always top of mind.
Mitch: And I don't even understand how it could be, and maybe it means it doesn't have to be.
Andrea: Burnout is real.
Mitch: Mm. And it's important to take time to yourself or with your family like Alex is doing with his brand-new baby.
Mitch: Four. Feedback and staying in a marketing budget. Feedback, as we learned, was very critical at this competition. So all of our founders are gonna have to be intentional about taking that one day turnaround time, reading everything and making sure they have still the key points that they can implement and run with. [00:27:00]
Andrea: And then they also have to think about if they were to win, how would they use that money? How are they going to protect their business so that it grows for the next 10 years?

[00:27:14] Andrea: We’d love to hear your stories wherever you are in your journey. Whether you're about to start your own business, in the process of it, or maybe even getting ready to pitch your idea to some investors! Reach out to us at thisissmallbusiness@amazon.com to tell us what you're up to. Or let me know what you think of the episode by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts – it’s easier if you do it through your phone. And if you liked what you heard -- I hope you'll share us with anyone else who needs to hear this!

This is Small Business: Next Generation is brought to you by Amazon with technical and story production by JAR Audio. I’m one of your hosts, Andrea Marquez -

[00:28:13] Mitch: and I'm your co-host, Mitch Gilbert.

[00:28:15] Andrea: Hasta luego and thanks for listening! [00:28:22]

Next Generation: High $takes

Jun 20, 2023

Learn about attracting investment for your business.

[00:00:05] Alex: It really forces us to refine and refine and refine our story and be able to tell it in, in a very crisp, coherent, concise way that also draws you.

Competitor: This is not our first competition; we've sort of evolved over a period of time.

Bilal: And each competition, I actually got better. I feel like every competition I do, I learn something.

Competitor: And I prepped for hours, like going through the deck line by line. This is exactly the language we wanna use. This is the message that we wanna get across.

Sloane: This is space that we wanna be in and we deserve to be there just as much as you know, the next team.

Richard: I can't describe pitch competition. It's like the most stressful five minutes.

Competitor: No matter how prepared you are, sometimes when you get up there, you just get nervous or anxious like I do and can trip over your words or draw a blank.

Competitor: And I guess this was actually the first step, which was such a strong step.

Kevin Long: …now our heads are like, how great would it be if we win it?

[00:01:00] HOST (Andrea): Hi, and welcome to “This is Small Business: NEXT Generation” - a miniseries brought to you by Amazon. I’m one of your hosts – Andrea Marquez.

If you’re a regular listener of This is Small Business – you know that I’m on a “learning journey” to find out what makes a small business succeed. And one important lesson I’ve learned so far is that – at some point, it takes cash. - Dinero. Moula. Scratch… It could be a loan, some angel investors, an inheritance from your grandmother… But if you’re trying to start a small business – no matter how good your idea is – if you don’t have some access to money – you might struggle getting it off the ground.

College level business pitch competitions are a popular way for young entrepreneurs to drum up seed money. There are quite a few of these opportunities available – where new entrepreneurs can present their business plans and hope to win big. But taking part in them takes a lot of energy, confidence, and hard work. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart.

So here’s the thing: one of the “largest and richest” inter-collegiate business competitions [00:02:00] in America is called THE RICE UNIVERSITY BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION. It attracts brilliant students from all over the world. Each hopeful team pitches their business plan to a room full of judges and strangers – for a chance to win the grand prize of $350K. Money is great. And it also seems like a chance for young entrepreneurs to get good at describing their own value – and dealing with competition. As business lessons go – what could be better than that?

Maybe you’ve thought about taking part in a business pitch competition or applying to a small business accelerator program. And if you’re wondering if you have what it takes, for the next 8 episodes of this miniseries you can join us and find out. We’ll be following 4 student teams behind the scenes through the Rice Business Plan Competition. You’ll hear all about their challenges, hopes, and fears as they prepare to pitch their hearts out. Along the way – I’ll talk to organizers, judges, and past participants – to find out just what it takes to win one of the most prestigious [00:03:00] business prizes around.

And I also wanted you to hear from someone with a not only a fresh perspective, a lovely voice, and business expert insights but also from someone who happens to be a past winner of the Rice Business Plan Competition. Luckily, I found all that in Mitchella Gilbert, or Mitch. I am super excited to welcome them to This is Small Business cause I don’t think I could do this without them. They are one of the first 200 Black women to raise over $1M in venture capital and the prefect candidate to co-host This is Small Business Next Generation.

Hi Mitch!

[00:03:38] MITCH: Hey, I am so excited to be here and to be serving as your co-host.

[00:03:45] ANDREA: Me too! Ok so, I need to share your awesomeness here. Others need to know why you’re the coolest. So, Mitch attended the UCLA Anderson School of Management after earning a full scholarship to build their startup, Oya Femtech Apparel. [00:04:00] They graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in Public Policy. Oya Femtech Apparel is actually the fourth company Mitch has started. Oh – and just to top off this impressive background – they’re also a former elite athlete and Nike employee who is “obsessed” with women’s health and sportswear apparel. Hence the founding of Oya Femtech.

Mitch – I hope you know how excited I am to have you join me on This is Small Business: Next Generation. So, I’ll let you fill in our listeners on how important the Rice Business Plan Competition was for Oya Femtech.

[00:04:35] MITCH: The Rice Business Plan competition was something that was very pivotal for Oya. It helped us land our first investor, although we were virtual, it was during the pandemic, so it would be a slightly different experience being able to watch these teams compete in person. But again, I'm very pumped and just excited to be here and to be your co-host.

[00:04:54] ANDREA: Stap. I’m so excited for this. So for more context for our listeners, [00:05:00] the competition is being held on the Rice University Campus – in my home state of Texas. And Mitch and I are gonna’ be there in person to soak up the atmosphere, firsthand. Mitch, tell me, as a former participant – what’s the biggest thing you remember about the FEELING of taking part in the Rice Business Plan Competition?

[00:05:20] MITCH: Yeah, there's definitely a lot of pressure. I think the year that we did it, there were hundreds of teams, and again, it was covid, so there was no similar situation for us to have prepared for how we were going to compete. But we had the luxury of being coached by an amazing advisor who had also placed during the Rice Business Plan competition.

And so, we also had the amazing opportunity to meet advisors through the Rice Business Plan competition. And so it was just day in, day out, practice, practice, practice. I pitched with one of my co-founders. We learned a lot. We got a lot better. And I'm excited to see how these teams deal with the pressure because some people consider pressure fun, some people consider it nauseating. [00:06:00] In business plan competitions, a lot of times you're dealing with people and their perceptions, whether that be racism, sexism, or any other isms. And so it can be difficult to navigate that. So sometimes that's not just pressure, that's also like code switching and navigating how to thrive in a venture capital community where not many people look like you.

[00:06:27] Andrea: Since you already touched on the subject, what does it feel like to be a black woman-owned business in this space?

[00:06:33] Mitch: I think going throughout my career, it's felt different in different ways. I think even beyond just black woman owned business, we're also a consumer product and a consumer product in fashion and a consumer product in fashion specifically for women. And so that makes us this very unique type of entity to get venture capital. And so I think early on, [00:07:00] I sometimes found it very frustrating because I was trying to explain feminine health issues to venture capitalists who most of them are not women. So it was like they didn't necessarily understand.

I think though, surviving or in thriving in venture capital is a lot like dating in the sense that you should not talk to venture capitalists who do not like you. Like you shouldn't date people who don't like you, but like in your twenties, you don't really know better. And so a lot of people spend a lot of time talking to venture capitalists who are not necessarily interested in their vertical, interested in them as a leader, interested in the problems that they're solving. But I think once I learned that, navigating this space became a bit easier because I understood who were the type of people I should be talking to and like what were the results I needed to hit in order to resonate with those people.

[00:07:47] Andrea: And you were able to meet investors that you felt resonated with Oya and what you stand for in the Rice Business Plan Competition, right?

[00:07:55] Mitch: Yeah, that was interesting. So I met an Advisor. She stayed with us for over a year, [00:08:00] and added a tremendous value to Oya, tremendous value. She's still on my cap table and we got our first investor through Rice. I would also say though, with it being virtual and me not necessarily being able to meet people, also me not being as familiar with the culture of Texas, like I felt like there was somewhat of a gap between me and some of the investors that I was talking to. And it's interesting that you asked that, cuz recently I went to South by Southwest this year. And I actually got to start meeting some of the people who I met virtually during Rice. You know, once I had gone through a journey and learned more about venture capital and it was a very full circle moment because I do have a community in Texas that came through Rice. I just don't think that I was really able to build the bridges at the time because I didn't know how.

[00:08:52] Andrea: Overall do you think going through the Rice Business Plan competition as a competitor was worth it?

[00:08:57] Mitch: Yeah, and I think all businesses should go through [00:09:00] pitch competitions early on because you have to practice communicating your idea to people who don't know you and actually don't really wanna know you, you know, like critical feedback. And then I think for underrepresented founders, it's even more critical because starting a business requires some form of capital. So if you're going after venture capital specifically, pitch competitions are a great place because there are rules, you know, and there are rubrics around how you can talk to the venture capitalist. So it's almost like bumper lanes as you learn how to start building a business and communicating about that business, and then getting advisors who can then help you take that business to the next level.

[00:09:45] ANDREA: And can we talk about the PRIZE MONEY? Up to $350K is not small change – especially for a startup. What could winning that kind of money mean to business owners at this stage of their journey?

[00:10:00] MITCH: It can mean a lot of different things. What it does mean very much depends upon your plan and how long you've been working in your business, right? So like, a lot of early-stage startups, sputter, like they're testing everything. A million dollars in venture capital sounds like a big number because there's a lot of zeros, but it's actually really not that much money. Like if you think about what you can test with a million dollars, you can run that on a couple of ad campaigns and some influencers. And if you're not careful with that money, then you could find yourself in a deficit because you didn't necessarily hit the milestones that you were supposed to hit.

Conversely, if you're a really smart and scrappy founder and more than likely this is the second or third iteration of your business, so you have a better idea of like what steps you need to take to hit your milestones. That 350,000 can definitely mean a lot, but I would say it probably averages somewhere in the middle, and it's probably like your first employee [00:11:00] and maybe some ad campaigns in testing.

And I think you'll see in the competition that different founders and startups have different access to capital. So I think in my year we were competing against some European startups who had been given like grants by the government. Like some of them had been given grants between 500,000 to like a million dollars. And so I'm building this in my backyard slash business school dusty apartment with my roommate versus you've already had a chance to test out so many things because you've been given that runway and so I think it can be difficult from a judging perspective because what's $300,000 to a company that's already raised a million versus what's $300,000 to a company that doesn't have anything? Or what's 300,000 to a company that may not have anything but they have family who's gonna invest on top of that?

[00:11:55] ANDREA: To learn more about how the competition works, we reached out to Catherine Santamaria and Brad Burke – [00:12:00] they’re two of the key organizers of the Rice Business Plan Competition.

[00:12:05] Catherine Santamaria: This is the 23rd year of the Rice Business Plan Competition. It started as a smaller regional event 23 years ago, and has grown to an international, very well-funded, impactful competition that we are excited about each year and can't wait for the next 23 years.

[00:12:30] Brad Burke: This year we were pleased that we had over 450 completed applications. And from those, we have invited 42 universities to compete in person at Rice. That represents 37 different universities and six countries. The teams that we invite come to Rice University in Houston for three days of the competition that'll take place on May 11th through 13.

[00:12:52] Catherine Santamaria: Each of the startups goes through a number of pitching rounds, and from there we determine which startups advance through the competition. [00:13:00] In each round of the full pitches, the startups are in front of a group of judges, anywhere from 20 to 45 judges. Those judges hear the pitch of the startups in that flight, and then the judges rank the startups they have seen in order of best opportunity for investment or best investment potential on down to worst investment potential. The startups that score the best from their pitches and from the rankings from the judges will advance through the competition. Ultimately, the judges are looking for startups with excellent investment potential. They are choosing the startups to advance based on who they would like to invest in, where they would like to put their money if this were a business decision.

[00:13:53] Brad Burke: Rice Competition kicks off on Thursday with an elevator pitch [00:14:00] competition, so all 42 teams have 60 seconds to give their elevator pitch, but then the real rounds begin on Friday and those rounds are by industry sector. The top 15 teams advance from the first round into the semi-finals on Saturday based on the judges’ votes. And then over lunch on Saturday, the votes are tallied again, and the top seven teams advance to the final round. So the teams compete for three rounds

The Grand Prize is an investment of $350,000. The second-place team wins $100,000 investment, and the third-place team wins a $50,000 investment. In addition to those prizes for the top finalists, there are a number of other investment prizes. In total, we have over 1.5 million in prizes, [00:15:00] and there are in total about 75 different prizes available at the competition.

[00:15:24] Andrea: Wow, that’s pretty amazing. Mitch, what are some other things that you will specifically be watching for this year? Especially from the perspective of someone who has gone through this and is further down in their own business journey.

[00:15:35] Mitch: Yeah. When you invest in early-stage startups, typically you're investing in the founders. And their ability to tackle challenges. So because we were virtual and it was a different environment, I'm excited to see how these founders deal with the pressure of being on stage. Again, some people thrive, some people get nauseous. So I, I think that's important. I also am curious to see how founders are going to be tackling the current economic climate. [00:16:00] So you see startups in like clean energy or that deal with infrastructure at given Biden’s infrastructure plan doing really well, whereas some startups, like most other startups are struggling to raise capital in this environment. And so I'm curious to see their plans around that. And then lastly, I'm really interested in diversity. Like, I'm interested to see what that looks like. I think my year almost everybody who won or placed was an app. So I'd be curious to see what are the new types of ideas coming from all over the world and what are the best of the best founders look like? And hopefully they look diverse.

[00:16:45] Andrea: These are all really important things that we need to keep an eye on. I'm wondering if you have any lessons learned from competing in the Rice Business Plan Competition. Because honestly, I think that's just as -- or even more valuable than winning money.

[00:17:00] Mitch: I think Rice was a really interesting time for me because it taught me to say the words vagina. Like before Rice, I was very reticent to talk about it. And my Rice advisor made me put an actual vagina on a slide and then put tears on it. And for more context, my startup, Oya Fem Tech apparel, is essentially the Under Armor of vaginas. And so we make super technical apparel sportswear for women that fights issues like yeast infections, UTIs, boob sweat, boob rash, all the fun stuff, and this came out of my own personal struggles as an athlete dealing with reoccurring yeast infections and just being really interested in fashion and living in leggings and realizing that there were ways that we could optimize women's sportswear.

But before I even came to Rice, I would not say the word vagina. I would not talk about my experience. I would just be like, there is this numerical problem. And Rice was the first time where I got really explicit [00:18:00] and learned about problems versus solution. And as I continue my career and like work on ads, that problem solution language is really critical. For example, we ran just recently, ran a whole bunch of ads and we tested different creatives, funny comedic versus like hero energy or whatever. But the problem, solution language really resonated with potential customers because it was just simple. And that was a really big key learning that I got from the competition.

[00:18:30] Andrea: That actually just came up in one of This is Small Business's bonus episodes where I talked to vetrepreneur Matt Butler and he said that the biggest hurdle for early stage or aspiring entrepreneurs isn't money, it's actually figuring out the problem they're trying to solve and knowing how to communicate that.

[00:18:50] Mitch: Yes, and that takes testing, and money can help you do that. But there's a lot of ways that you can also do that without money, especially if you're going through these business plan competitions or you're at a university [00:19:00] and you can do surveys and all these things. But finding out what problem you want to solve and who I would add to that, who you want to solve that problem for is a very big hurdle and I think. It's something that continues to impact startups because as they scale and they wanna grow, who are the new people who they wanna solve problems for? And that's a very tricky tightrope.

[00:19:23] Andrea: Valuable insights to have going into this. OK – so there’s 42 teams competing from a variety of backgrounds and different business “verticals” or categories. There are some fascinating digital tech innovation companies and sustainability companies… the list is impressive.

[00:19:40] Mitch: Yeah, but we can't focus on all of them and so we are going to focus on four of them that have a diverse array of experiences and products and problems that they're solving. And then what that will allow our listeners or audiences to do is get more deep, and better understand stories [00:20:00] and like what does it look like to be a small business owner going through this pitch competition? And hopefully because we are selecting four companies that are diverse, our listeners will be able to find someone that they really identify with and so they'll be able to take away some lessons learned there too.

[00:20:15] ANDREA: So if you’re a small business owner listening right now – maybe you’re part of the Amazon small business seller community, or you’re one of our regular listeners – the teams we’re talking to are definitely gonna resonate with you. Coming up – we’ll hear from some of the students who are competing.

[00:20:30] HOST (Andrea): You're listening to This is Small Business Next Generation, brought to you by Amazon. I’m one of your hosts, Andrea Marquez, and along with Mitch Gilbert, we’re introducing you to the world of business plan competitions and learning about how to best pitch your business in a way that attracts investment, in the case of the Rice Business Plan Competition, teams are competing to win up to $350K towards their small business startups.

Did you know that nearly 60% of products sold in Amazon's store are from independent sellers - most of which are small and medium-sized businesses? [00:21:00] If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or an early-stage small business owner, there are many resources that Amazon offers to help you succeed and grow. One of those resources is the Amazon Small Business Academy where you can find the help you need to take your small business from concept to launch and beyond. You can strengthen your skills at no cost with live and on demand trainings, Q&As, events, and even find more This is Small Business content. If you don’t know where to start, you can take the free self-assessment on the Amazon Small Business Academy site at www.smallbusiness.amazon.

[00:21:40] ANDREA: Ok Mitch, so let’s pretend I’m a judge at the Rice Business Plan Competition – how would you describe OYA to me?

[00:21:48] MITCH: Yeah, so Oya is the under arm of vaginas. We make patent pending sportswear that fights all the fun, feminine health issues like yeast infections, UTIs, material vaginosis, and boob rash. [00:22:00] Women are fighting issues like yeast infections, UTIs, bacterial vaginosis, that our sportswear is making worse. And if you think about it, it makes sense because women's sportswear doesn't breathe and it doesn't absorb moisture, which is problematic because women leak, meaning that the sportswear that we're wearing is kind of like a garbage bag and then if you keep adding to that, what happens with a garbage bag when you leave it in your kitchen when it's hot? All sorts of bad things, but for women athletes or women who wear sportswear, it's even worse because like a garbage bag, then we get sweaty. It's leading to all these different bacteria, it's throwing off our ecosystem, and no one likes unhappy vaginas, and so Oya is putting a stop to that with very cute, amazing sportswear. We've sold out two collections already this year. We are going into extended sizing and it's just been a really wild journey and we are excited to support feminine health.

[00:23:00] ANDREA: So, you’ve been practicing this pitch for a while. What did it take for you to get to the point of being able to “pitch” your business smoothly?

[00:23:08] MITCH: It's practice. It's a lot of practice, and I think being an underrepresented founder, it's not just practice, because if you're an underrepresented founder, what that means is sometimes you get shut out of rooms where people don't want to hear from people like you. Whether that be because they do not have people in their network that look like you, whether they don't typically invest in problems that you are solving like feminine health or FinTech, like Oya, so for me specifically, I had to get practice learning how to talk to someone who saw over my head. When Oya’s in a pitch competition, it always goes into overtime because the woman's always arguing until she's blue in the face because she gets it. She understands what a yeast infection is, and I'm talking to her face to face. But men, a lot of times, [00:24:00] whether they don't understand the severity of these issues or they don't understand why it's important, what I've learned is that I need to talk to them through the language of sports. So Oya has done really well with male athletes, because they understand what it's like to have sweaty crotches. And how uncomfortable that can be and how that can inhibit their performance. And so that was something that I had to learn through practice and talking to advisors who were very explicit so that way I could talk to investors who were seeing over me and then bring them down to a level where we could talk face to face.

[00:24:35] Andrea: So that means that you have to tailor your pitch depending on who you’re pitching to -- to make sure that they fully understand the problem that you're trying to solve, even if it doesn't affect them directly.

[00:24:46] Mitch: Yeah. And so it's interesting like as we see these startups who are gonna compete, it'll be interesting to see how much customer education is gonna play into their journey. [00:25:00] So earlier you were talking about how, uh, the first question that startups have to answer is, what is the problem that they wanna fight? And then who is the problem that they wanna fight for? And back to that money question around like $360,000. If your product requires a lot of education, then how are you strategic around who you're going to touch first? Right. Like who requires the least education? And Oya is an interesting case point because women athletes, some of them are wearing four pairs of spandex when they get their period because they have to wear white. And so they don't wanna be embarrassed on television. So they're very aware that they're getting yeast infections on all sorts of negative health complications from their sportswear, but they don't have other options, so they're not sure what to do about it. So for Oya, that may be a lower hanging fruit customer because she's more aware of the problem and it will be less expensive to convert her. Versus a customer who once she learns of the solution, [00:26:00] it makes sense to her. But that may require like 10, 15 touch points to get her up to speed on how her body's doing and how she can improve how her body functions with sportswear. And so as we look at our four businesses and go deep, I'm very curious to see how they wanna tackle customer acquisition and customer education.

[00:26:22] Andrea: Speaking of how our startups will be tackling customer education, let’s meet our four teams. And in no particular order, let’s start with Outmore Living.

[00:26:32] Kevin Long: I'm Kevin Long, co-founder and CEO of Outmore Living, um, Outmore we are re-imagining the future of your outdoor spaces. So our first product line, which launches this September, is battery powered, heated outdoor furniture. It’s patent pending and our hope is that by launching this product we can enable year-round comfort with people's outdoor living spaces for the first time. We think our product line is going to completely revolutionize the outdoor space. And from there we hope to build an ecosystem of products that do just that.

[00:27:00] HOST (Andrea): Kevin's co-founder is Alex Duncan, he's the COO of Outmore living. And here's what Alex says they plan to do with the money that they might win.

[00:27:10] Alex Duncan: I mean, other than a, a very nice dinner that night. You know, you have like combinatorial explosion of the number of paths that can happen out of something like winning the Rice competition. The number of things and doors that it could open both for us from a actual, like accelerating the business, accelerating the roadmap, funding perspective to who do we get introduced to as an investor? Who can we get introduced to that's able to open more doors for us? It's, it's hard to predict, but I know they're all going in the same direction with it which is exceedingly positive.

[00:27:40] Sloane: I'm Sloan Tilley. I'm the CEO and co-founder of, Dia. Dia is aiming to revolutionize the healthcare industry by bringing at home clinical grade lab testing right to the patient's home. We transform healthcare testing by using saliva instead of blood. And enable patients to truly have biomarkers tested on a daily frequency to inform better healthcare decisions [00:28:00] and improve healthcare access.

[00:28:04] HOST (Andrea): Julio Fredin is Sloane's co-founder. He's a Ph.D. candidate at Tecnologico de Monterrey and Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. He's also the CSO of Dia. And Dia also has a third co-founder: Fernando Webb, the CTO. Okay, now that you're filled in on what Dia does, let's hear what they'll be doing with the money that they might win from Rice.

[00:28:25] Sloane: We would probably really try to bring on a second scientist to help Julio accelerate rate of development. And then, just building out our lab space, so paying for the time at CUNY on those really expensive instruments. And then, some of the best materials so trying out different deposition techniques as far as different coatings for electrodes.

[00:28:46] Bilal: My name is Bilal Issifou, founder of Unchained, Inc. We are a turnkey solution that removes the bounds of geography through our technology and helps companies increase brands through our ambassadors. Unchained Inc. Is a future of work solution that combines the power of people and technology [00:29:00] to help corporations strategically engage diverse talent. There's been millions of corporations investing in diverse early talent recruitment processes. Although there have been a lot of investment in this area, engagement and retention amongst that talent has still been relatively stagnant. This reason is because career services historically doesn't really know how to engage students at a high level. In order for your company to stand out, you have to actually either invest in development, invest in engagement, or partner with a company that can grow your brand to the the student side. And so that's what our solution helps companies do through our technology and through our ambassador program.

This year is all about scaling what we learned the past, uh, three years and going to market, you know, real strong this time because we grew organically through Gurilla Marketing and just our style, but this year we want to gain the funding to pair it with actual, you know, official marketing budgets, high scale, marketing campaigns, and continue to just grow the brand.

[00:30:00] Shiv: We are Active Surfaces and I'm Shiv, and we are a thin film, solar technology spinning out of M-I-T. So the idea behind active services is that solar has had the same form factor, so it's been the same shape, the same weight, uh, the same kind of design and like the way you implement it in the field for almost 50 years. So there has to be a better way with all the technology innovations, with all the material innovations, how can we make solar anywhere? And that's what we're trying to do.

[00:30:30] HOST (Andrea): Shiv's co-founder is Richard Swartwout, he's the CTO of Active Surfaces and he's also the one that's been working on the technology behind their product for -- in Shiv's words -- forever.

[00:30:42] Shiv: The more I think about the competition, the more I realize it's less about whatever place we get and more about the journey of figuring out our business plan and the process, talking to the mentors that we're gonna get connected with, getting the feedback from everyone and improving our goal. And at the end of the day, like bringing this thing to the world. [00:31:00] Like that's why we're here, that's why we're even doing a business. So winning to me is getting the connections, getting the advice, getting the mentorship to actually make Active Surfaces successful. And if we could do that, then that's a win.

[00:31:12] ANDREA (to Mitch): OOOOO this is good. Mitch? Thoughts? Thoughts?

[00:31:17] MITCH: Yeah, no, this is really exciting. That's a variety of problems. I think deep tech, health, [00:34:00] community and recruiting. I'm excited to see how all of these founders are going to talk about their businesses and also how they grow and evolve throughout the competition, and hopefully everyone leaves in a stronger place with some money. So I'm excited to hear more about these businesses.

[00:31:42] ANDREA: So I was curious about how applications were evaluated and spoke to Brad Burke, one of the competition organizers.

[00:31:50] BRAD BURKE: When we’re evaluating the applications, we look at several factors. One is we want to make sure that the company is addressing a big problem that’s easy to understand. Second is that there will be customers that will be willing to pay for their solution. [00:32:00] Third is that they have a solution that’s better than competition and fourth, that this competitive advantage would be sustainable. That their differentiation would exist for a long time. And lastly, we look at the team. And we want a strong team with a strong background that can successfully launch this company and make it successful.

[00:32:20] ANDREA: Those are clear, strong, differentiating points. I can’t wait to see where these 4 teams we’re following will go in terms of streamlining – and really PITCHING their business plans in detail. Because remember, they might all win a little something, or none of them might. Who knows.

[00:32:40] MITCH: Yeah, because it's one thing to practice pitching a business or write down amongst yourselves. It's another thing to do that on a stage in front of a field of judges who are looking for reasons to eliminate you. And then again, if you're an underrepresented founder against a backdrop of judges where people are looking to not listen to you. [00:33:00] And it's interesting because pitching, it's a skill and it's not just talking about your business. Like a good pitch should make people feel invigorated. It should feel like a music concert. So it's, it'll be cool to see not only how they streamline, but also how they bring the energy.

[00:33:17] HOST (Andrea): The fun, drama and valuable learnings are just getting started. On our next episode, we’ll be getting close and personal with two of our teams so make sure to subscribe and follow us on This is Small Business Next Generation, to see how the different teams we follow perform as the pressure mounts.

[00:33:34] MITCH: It's gonna be tough. There's gonna be a lot of teams. But I think there's also hope. Like if you can bring the energy and you can explain what you wanna do and really walk someone through how you can make a lot of money, I'm sure you'll find a lot of fans. So I'm excited to see this competition.

[00:33:50] HOST (Andrea): And if you’re a regular This is Small Business listeners, you know I like to end each episode with key takeaways. So with the help of Mitch, here are some valuable lessons we learned today:

MITCH: One. Understand what problem you're solving and get as explicit as you possibly can, and about who the problem you're solving is for and how big that problem is. So, Market sizing is a very difficult process, but our students have the advantage of being connected to universities where you can go to librarians to help you with that. And so I think that's very important that our students do the homework on that to make sure that they're as well prepared as possible.
ANDREA: Two. Have a plan. Yes, money is great! But if you don’t know exactly what you’ll do with it, it might not impact your business in a way that sets it up for the next stage of growth. So within all of your pitch preparation, also make sure you know what you’ll do if you win.
MITCH: Three. Get an advisor. Rice is such a competitive journey and you get feedback every single round and it's intense. It's fast turnarounds like you may get pages of feedback and then expect to make updates and be ready by the next day. [00:35:00] And so it's very important that you're looking for advisors to help you out through this journey.
ANDREA: and then the final lesson here, which I think is a super important and Mitch says it so well:
MITCH: Practice. Practice, practice, practice, practice by yourself, practice with other people, and also practice with energy behind you that makes you feel like you're gonna win. I think sometimes with this pressure, again, people going on stage, sometimes people or founders are looking to the left and the right of them and getting freaked out by the competition and feeling like they can't do it. And I really want our founders to really believe wholeheartedly that they can do it. And I think when you have that feeling and you're not as focused on envy or competition, that that really enables you to shine and to tell your story. And so those are four points that I would hope our founders keep in mind.

[00:35:52] HOST (Andrea): We’d love to hear your stories wherever you are in your journey. Whether you're about to start your own business, in the process of it, or maybe even developing a new product for your already established business. [00:36:00] Reach out to us at thisissmallbusiness@amazon.com to tell us what you're up to. Or let me know what you think of the episode by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts – it’s easier if you do it through your phone. And if you liked what you heard -- I hope you'll share us with anyone else who needs to hear this!

This is Small Business: Next Generation is brought to you by Amazon with technical and story production by JAR Audio. I’m one of your hosts, Andrea Marquez -

[00:36:50] MITCH: And I'm the co-host Mitch Gilbert.

[00:36:54] Andrea: I’m glad you’re gonna be here with me Mitch – to help me make sense of all this as the competition heats up. [00:37:00] We’ve got a road trip to Texas ahead of us… what do you think of some BBQ?

[00:37:05] Mitch: I don't really eat red meat, so we're gonna see how that works out. But I'm here for the enthusiasm and free mocktails.

[00:37:15] Andrea: And TexMex? Maybe TexMex? Some Tortillas? Tacos?

Mitch: I love tacos, man. I love me some good tacos.

Andrea: Then Tacos it is! I'm excited to have you here in Houston with me.

Mitch: Yay. [00:37:32]

The Who’s Who of Business Plan Competitions (Trailer)

Jun 13, 2023

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The Who’s Who of Business Plan Competitions (Trailer)

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