TechCrunch Pitch! – The TechCrunch Summer event

TechCrunch UK will be holding a startup pitch competition on July 10th in Soho, London, entitled “TechCrunch Pitch!”

The idea came about for this after I went to a number of demo and pitch events in the last few months and realised that too many startups were not actually getting to the point when they tried to get their idea across to the audience, and potential investors.

So I’ve decided to put on an event which strips the whole thing back to basics and just asks startups to answer the following fundamental questions in just 10 slides:

1. Problem: what is the market pain, size and how are you measuring it?
2. Your solution: You have the opportunity to be “the Google/eBay/Skype/iPhone etc of what”?
3. Business model ( and potential for revenues)
4. Underlying magic: Technology / What you are trying to build: how much and for how long?
5. Marketing and sales: How will you get distribution?
6. Market: Drivers & dynamics / Your positioning and sustainable advantages
7. Competition
8. Team
9. Milestones so far and projections
10. Funding requirement & potential exit routes

The tricky bit is that I will only give them 30 seconds per slide, or in other words 5 minutes to pitch their startup. I will also quiz them live while they do it, if they deviate or start to ramble. Not hard then.

Pitches must be done on Powerpoint or Keynote and brought to the event preferably on a thumb drive for speed (or your laptop as a last resort). You can illustrate your slide how you want, so long as you answer the question. There should be no need to access the Web during the pitch. Tip: Focus on the areas where you are strong and talk less about the areas where you are weak, so if you haven’t launched yet, then “milestones” will be less relevant.

We are looking for 6-8 startups to pitch. How? They have to email me and tell me why they should be selected. I will also be looking at the wider market and inviting startups. There is no fee for startups to pitch. They will be selected on merit only by TechCrunch editorial. Deadline to sumbit is June 20.

At the end of the startup presentations, the audience will be asked to vote on which startup should win the competition. The winning startup will be named as such in the event coverage on TechCrunch and will win an iPhone 3G.

Sponsorship:

TechCrunch Pitch! will offer opportunities for sponsorship at the event. At the moment we have three sponsor slots: Gold, Silver and Bronze (this may change depending on demand). Sponsor companies will get the chance to say “hello” at the opening of the event, but although they won’t be entered into the competition they will get a healthy sponsor slot on TechCrunch UK and TechCrunch.com.

We also have two non-pitching sponsor slots:
– Drinks Sponsor
– Giveaway sponsors e.g. iPhone / plane tickets etc.

We’re charging £10 for a ticket just to help cover costs and incentivise people to show up(increasingly an issue in competitive landscape for events).

Tags
Flickr Tag: Please Tag photos “TCPitchSummer08″

How do you get a ticket?

We are phase releasing tickets with ticketing partner Amiando. The first tranche is here.