Graduate Blog / Graduate Life

Babson Rocket Pitch : A Student Presenter Perspective

Curious about Babson’s Rocket Pitch? Read about Francesca Gibb’s experience here!

When I came to Babson, I knew that the program was renowned for entrepreneurship, but I didn’t come to campus with a plan to start something new.  That all changed during the course of my Entrepreneurship and Opportunity (E&O) class with Professor Heidi Neck. This class taught me the definition of entrepreneurship expands well beyond starting a new venture: it touches all parts of business and it is integral to our managerial learning.

During E&O, we were given an assignment to pitch an idea within 2 minutes. I wanted to pitch something that would help marginalized communities near to my heart and I came up with the idea for EstablisHer – an accelerator for women of color. I feel as though existing accelerators aren’t tailored to women of color; my goal for EstablisHer is to fill this gap and provide the community that women of color in entrepreneurship need.

I was fortunate enough to be one of the few students selected to pitch my idea live in class, followed by immediate feedback from my classmates. This was invaluable: they were very supportive, pointed out where I could improve my pitch, and were excited to help me move forward by connecting me with people in their networks.

After this experience in class, I decided to move up to the next level of challenge and pitch at the Babson Rocket Pitch event that happens every year in early November. I knew that, even though it would be nerve-wracking, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. I took the feedback I received from my classmates and worked with Professor Neck to frame up and perfect my 3 minute pitch. On the day of the pitch, I was nervous and exhilarated. I pitched EstablisHer to a live audience and after the 3 minutes, received live feedback from attendees from both inside and outside the Babson community. This feedback was without a doubt helpful as I think about the future steps for EstablisHer. I made great connections that day and had visitors come up to me to talk further about my development plans.

This whole experience—from developing my idea in class to then pitching it live during the Rocket Pitch event—really validated how fully Babson embraces and supports entrepreneurship as a whole. I’m excited to see where the future takes me, and I’m beyond grateful that I’m at Babson as I continue on my path.

 

Francesca Gibbs is a first year student in the full time MBA program. Prior to coming to Babson, Francesca was a Development Associate working in resource development at MIT, and worked in international development at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. 

 

To read another student’s perspective on the Rocket Pitch, click here.