FRIDAY, 18 March 2016, Kingston Business School 

15:30 – 18:00 TEAM PRESENTATIONS

18:00 – 19:00 PITCHING COMPETITION

---

Your job this week is to use all the feedback you received last week in your Mock Dragons’ Den to improve your presentations – just like you’ve been improving your products the whole year.

The most important feedback from judges last week was – IMPROVE YOUR STORY and CONSIDER THE FUTURE OF YOUR BUSINESS.

Please spend some time thinking how to tell the story of your startup in an engaging way, and so that all your major points get heard. All the challenges you encountered along the way are what makes your story unique and worth hearing. If you changed your product because you spent time in product development and learnt it could not be done on the budget you had – say it! If you didn’t get to the market in time because you had to change your manufacturer 10 times – say it! Startups are interesting and unique because they all experience unique learning curves.

The questions on the brief and judges’ marking sheet are there to guide you, but your job is to find an interesting and emphatic way of explaining it all. Remember – good storytelling can make the difference between acceptance or rejection of your presentation (idea, business…). Your report is the written record of your startup, and your presentation is the more interesting and engaging version of your report. It may look good on paper, but it won’t sound good if you just recite it to the judges – no one talks like that… How would you tell the story of your startup to someone in a bar? You’d try to make it interesting, and you’d be so eager to tell them about the hurdles. 

Don’t forget to talk about the future of your business… when it comes to selecting a team for the National Start-up Final, the judges will be looking for a forward-looking team with skills, capacity, polish and will needed to represent Kingston University at the National level of competition – a believable plan for the future is part of the package they will be looking for.

 

IMPORTANT INFO:

Your team will have 6 minutes for your presentation + 10 minutes to answer questions from judges.

If you are selected for the Pitching Competition, you will need to be prepared to deliver your 2 min MAX elevator pitch.

---

PRESENTATIONS:

 ALL presentation will be accessed from USB sticks I prepare and hand in to judges. This is to keep us on schedule, and to avoid logging in/out and any tech problems. 

ALL teams must send me a Dropbox link to their presentation BY 12:00 (noon) on THURSDAY 17 March. This will be your final version, and no changes can be made on Friday. This is to make sure you get your beauty sleep that night. 

Nevertheless, please bring a backup copy on a stick with you. You will only be able to use it if something goes wrong with the copy given to judges.

---

BUSINESS REPORTS:

1) BY 9AM on THURSDAY 17 March = 1 digital copy  ONLINE via TurnitIn/StudySpace 

2)  IN Dragons’ Den on FRIDAY 18 March = 1 hard copy (colour, bound) HAND IN TO JUDGES before presentation 

---

SCHEDULE FOR THE DAY: 

ALL teams have TWO time slots they must attend on Friday (schedule below).

The second time slot for ALL teams is 18:00 in Room 0026 (Lecture theatre, ground floor). This second session is for the Young Enterprise competition, where judges will nominate teams to go into the final pitching round. You will find out who is selected at 18:00 in Room 0026 – if you are not there, you miss your opportunity. If selected for the Pitching Competition, your team will need to deliver your 2 minute elevator pitch in front of all the judges and answer 2 questions from judges. By 19:00, the judges will choose 1 team to represent Kingston University at the Young Enterprise National Start-up Final.

DRAGONS’ DEN 18 MARCH 2016 SCHEDULE OF TEAM PRESENTATIONS 6 min presentation + 10 min Q&A
	KHFL1029	KHFL2002	KHFL2001	KHFL1032	KHBS3033
15:30	Easy Life Co.	Clashless	Vikings	C8	Simplex (The Ice Cap)
15:50	Compact Solutions (The Bag-Bag)	DynamicQ4U	Company 12 (Brainstorm)	Remarkables (Kkamtt)	Grocemania
16:10	Cosmetic Organza	Reve	Sam Nozdrachov	Ilramik	SyncVI (Tipsee)
16:30	Infused	Useful Product Development (Krillz)	PersoniMy	Coordi	Petmitra
16:50	MSAJ	Pünk	Lucky5	Parachutes	Emperatigo
17:10	Staunch			KUIS

KHBS0026 PITCHING COMPETITION 2 min elevator pitch + 2 questions 1 min each
18:00	ALL TEAMS + ALL JUDGES

 

I’d say good luck, but luck has nothing to do with it…  Practice and prepare! 😉
…and please make sure you are in the right room at the right time!