Living Entrepreneurship Blog / Babson Entrepreneurs

SVP Week 4: Perfecting their Pitches

Imagine: you have developed a groundbreaking new product or service, but you only have one minute in line at Starbucks or in a crowded elevator to explain it to your dream client. Would you be able to make a great first impression for your venture? This scenario is far more common than you’d imagine, so significant time at SVP is dedicated to refining each venture’s elevator pitch and messaging so that they can capitalize on opportunities for impromptu pitches. Here’s the recap of SVP’s pitch-centric Week 4.

Monday, June 10th

  • Every week at SVP begins with Team Updates, an accountability exercise where the venture teams inform each other of their accomplishments since the previous week and their goals for the next week.
  • SVP advisor Beth Goldstein led this week’s Lunch and Learn session, engaging teams in a fun elevator pitching exercise which forced them to hit the key points of their value proposition in pitches. Participants learned how to pitch their companies in increasingly small amounts of time, putting themselves into scenarios like running into a potential client in line at Starbucks.

Tuesday, June 11th

In Tuesday’s B2B sales workshop, SVP Director Bob Stringer took on the role of a long-winded AAU basketball coach to prepare Mike Carlson MBA ’19 of TopForm for future sales conversations.
  • On Tuesday, Complement Media pitched in the Hot Seat at Babson Boston. Alex Kennedy MBA ‘20 asked us to put on our CMO hats as he presented the value his company brings to growing brands by aggregating user-generated content. Alex received feedback from the cohort about honing his presentation to appeal more to his intended audience.
  • Dr. Andy Tollison of the Babson Speech Center held office hours at Babson Boston for ventures preparing for future pitches and presentations.

Wednesday, June 12th

  • Wednesday was Day 1 of a two-day B2B sales workshop led by sales and leadership expert Kate Merritt. Kate prepared detailed, industry-specific scenarios to test each participating venture’s ability to sell to potential clients. The star of the show was our very own SVP Director Bob Stringer, who acted out the parts of hypothetical buyers. Participating teams learned how to find the pain points of their potential clients in conversation, letting the client come to the solution for their problem themselves. Wednesday’s participating ventures were CollegeSpot, Dottie, TopForm, and Hoamsy.
  • The SVP teams were grateful to have received consulting from members of Babson Alumni Supporting Entrepreneurs (BASE) on Wednesday at Babson Boston. Dustan Bonnin,Ned Daubney, and Patrick Gregorius provided valuable insights to participating ventures.

Thursday, June 13th

Alisson Amaral ’21’s venture CollegeSpot aims to bridge the gap between colleges and their prospective students through an innovative online platform.
  • CollegeSpot was in the Hot Seat on Thursday! Observers took on the role of college admissions professionals to give feedback to founder Alisson Amaral ‘21 as he pitched CollegeSpot’s benefits for the admissions departments of colleges looking to better engage with potential students.
  • Day 2 of Kate Merritt’s B2B Sales Workshop was a success, with teams learning more about successful sales strategies and enjoying new acting performances from Bob. Daybreak, Nectar, Porte Bags, and Yad participated in Thursday’s session.

This week, the Summer Venture Program will begin to learn about the best practices for raising capital, with a visit from angel investor Joe Caruso and office hours with Babson Entrepreneur in Residence John Landry. TopForm and Hoamsy will take their turns receiving feedback in the Hot Seat!
To stay up to date with the latest SVP happenings in real time, be sure to follow @babsoneship and #BabsonSVP on Twitter and Instagram.