Presenting Company Guidelines

Overview:

Four early-stage entrepreneurs will compete for a $25,000 equity investment in a “shark tank” style event by pitching their business plans to a panel of investor judges.  Each company will have 10 minutes to pitch and 10 minutes for Q&A.  VenturePitch is a series of public events to create awareness of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the passionate entrepreneurs in the SWFL region.

Presenters:

Entrepreneurs will apply by submitting company information to www.venturepitchswfl.com.  Representatives from SCORE, SBDC @ FGCU and Fusion Pointe serving as the Screening Committee, will evaluate, rate, and recommend a total of four companies to pitch at the event.

Presenter Qualifications:

1. Pre-revenue or the first months of producing revenue,
2. In business less than 2 years,
3. Located in one of the six SWFL counties (Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry, Lee, or Sarasota) with a large addressable market,
4. Have a scalable business model, and
5. Have not raised more than $1MM in total.

Presenter Confirmation:

Upon final confirmation, each presenting company is responsible for preparing their presentations following the PowerPoint slide deck for format and content. The PowerPoint template includes additional presentation guidelines. A member of the Selection Committee will serve as mentor to each presenting company.

Evaluation:

During the event, the judges will consider and rate each presentation in these ten areas:
1.   Problem or Need
2.   Solution
3.   Competitive Advantage
4.   Target Market & Opportunity Size
5.   Revenue Source, Key Strategy, & Execution
6.   Team, Board, & Advisors
7.   Traction
8.   Financial Model & Capital Required
9.   Exit Strategy
10. Quality of Presentation (Oral & PowerPoint)