Flywheel Demo Day to Provide Research Data

There is a new twist to Flywheel’s Elevate Equity Demo Day, April 18th at MadTree in Oakley. Register using this link. Everyone who watches the pitches will have the option of participating in a research study. I can’t tell you too much without jeopardizing the data but I can tell you a few interesting details. 

• The research is being conducted by Jonathan Preedom from the Powers College of Business at Clemson University. 

• This is part of his quest to study data from audience responses to hundreds of pitches

• He will attend our Demo Day and will video record the pitches.

• If you choose to participate, you will use a QR code after each pitch to go to the survey and answer four quick questions.

Jonathan has studied over 800 pitches. While these are not the data points he will be collecting with us, here are some fun facts he shared with our Elevate Equity cohort as he taught our opening day workshop on the anatomy of a pitch. 

• A funder forms an initial impression about whether to listen to more from the entrepreneur within 39.14 seconds of a pitch, on average.   

• The slides that are most influential to funders in the pitch deck are the TAM slides; Total Addressable Market. If it’s not realistic or too vague, the investor is out. 

• The two biggest mistakes Jonathan finds in most pitches are:

• The entrepreneur spends too much time on the minutia of their business and the big picture gets lost.

• The pitch ends with a thank you and not an ask. What does the entrepreneur want; Investors, customer leads, talent?  Don’t be vague. End with what you want, why you want it.

Demo Day is April 18th. It’s free but we ask that you register by clicking on this link . We will be back at MadTree Brewing in Oakley. Networking starts at 4:30 and the program begins at 5:15. Have your phone ready to record your answers for the research project and don’t miss the keynote address from Cincinnati Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Kearney.