How I Won 2nd Place at a National MBA Elevator Pitch Competition in 2005 and MY PITCH

This post is for all the Startup Princesses considering entering our Touchpoint Elevator Pitch Competition (deadline to submit is Sept 20th, by the way!!) This post will share my experience when I won 2nd place nationally at an MBA competition and also include my actual pitch. I hope it will give you some ideas of what to include in yours. In 2005 I entered my first competition at BYU while I was a Theatre Grad student. I competed for the money…and the exposure. I hoped that if I pitched in front of a few hundred people that someone out there would think my princess party business was so brilliant (WATCH MY VIDEO PITCH THERE IF YOU’D LIKE TO LAUGH OUTLOUD) that they’d fund me right on the spot. Fortunately I had some public speaking experience behind me because I certainly didn’t have business pitching experience. I didn’t know HOW to write a pitch, but I just followed the guidelines, 1 page, tell a little about yourself, your business model, why you need funding, your projections, and potential for success. It’s supposed to be no more than 2 minutes and it’s timed. I wrote it and out of 70 I got accepted at BYU’s competition. I was the only girl to compete. I won 3rd and $75 and a gift certificate to Kinkos. I was encouraged by this experience and decided to enter more competitions-nationally.

Later that Spring I was awarded $1500 as a semi-finalist for the national elevator pitch competition at Wake Forest University, in North Carolina, the premiere pitching competition for MBA students (they let me in because I brought an MBA student along). In this competition we were actually ON an ELEVATOR going up and down/getting off different floors of the building with an investor–pitching the whole time. It was really stressful, but fun and exhilarating at the same time.  I was sooo nervous that one of the judges told me to take a deep breath and slow down, but he liked my pitch well enough and voted me into the top 5 where I had to actually pitch with my business plan/powerpoint in the boardroom to 12 investors/judges. My partner and I were questioned about every aspect of my business and they were very demanding and critical. It was tough! But at the end, they welcomed me with open arms and kindness because I “passed” the test and handed me a ton of contact info and referrals of investors, etc. and that night at a fancy dinner I won the honor of 2nd place. 2nd place at a national MBA business plan competition. I was shocked. I had never ever taken a business class. I felt so empowered after I won that although disappointed that 2nd place was just a title while 1st was $40k in cash and prizes!!! Bummer, but… I STILL loved that day. I loved pitching and conveying my “story” and ideas. It really wasn’t about “business” at all… it was about passion. It was about creativity and possibilities… about what can be “painted” in the moment. Yet, you have to ask, why I won. Perhaps I won because my business plan was PINK, it stood out from all the techie companies presenting, perhaps I won because the judges had daughters and could see the potential of my concept, or maybe I won because God wanted me to feel a bit of success so that I could remember 3 years later what it felt like to win a competition/enter/experience it and CREATE a competition for women.

So, I feel compelled to paste my winning pitch here, not that it’s perfect, but it may give you some ideas as you create your own pitches. I’m NOT judging the pitches, by the way for Touchpoint, we have some top entrepreneurs and investors coming. A great opportunity!! and did I tell you the prizes???

Epson is sponsoring an Artisan 800 All-in-One Printer with $100 in ink!

Funding Universe is sponsoring $1000 in mentoring/services!

We’re giving a $300 ticket to our November 7-8 Retreat on Marketing to Women Online in PARK CITY at the Deer Valley Chateau Silver Lake!

A feature in LAUNCH magazine and a feature here at Startup Princess!

Plus a few more surprises!!

The top 5 FINALISTS will receive great prizes too!! Plus ALL will receive private pre-competition coaching from Funding Universe as well!

So here it goes… (note this was 2005 when princess party stores were NOT all over the place)

Kelly King Anderson’s 2nd Place Winning Elevator Pitch for Princess Sweet, 2005

The reality is that girls love to be princesses.

And we all know, parents love to spend money on their little girls.

There’s a huge phenomenon in the media with the princess theme; it’s a classic.

What’s intriguing is that there is a space in the market that is untapped because competitors are targeting the preteens and have left wide open the market for 3-10 year old girls, 25 million girls in America who parents and grandparents have deep pockets and according to the AARP they spend an average of $2500 per grandchild per year!

This has huge potential and money-making possibilities.

Princess Sweet will fill this niche!!

Build A Bear has 180 stores capitalizing on America’ love for teddy bears; Princess Sweet capitalize on America’s love for princess.

Club Libby Lu, a tween makeover party store recently sold to Saks for $13M expanded nationally and plans to expand to Asia.

Princess Sweet stores will be created by Mystic Scenic who designs for Disney,

Products will be designed by a national child book illustrator.

77% of our revenues will be from products while the rest will be fun things like birthday parties and hair styling…

An investment of $1 million will get us 6 stores in high traffic malls, positioned next to key child retailers.

We’re having discussions with Nordstrom as a possible partner, and this could be our exit strategy as well.

Princess Sweet is a scalable model that will not only reach girls throughout the nation, but will provide a handsome return for investors, with a strong EBITDA of $5.5 and $575 in sales a sq ft in year five.

I’m Kelly King Anderson, a pretend play and literacy expert (this was my Master’s thesis, BTW). I intend to guide Princess Sweet such that it’s not just about play and dress up, but it’s educational too and above all helps families capture and celebrate this special time of life.

We look forward to sharing the complete vision of Princess Sweet.

*my accountant friend told me to put the EBITDA in there and I prayed no one would ask me to explain that, I was lucky. In case it’s new to you as well, it means Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization – EBITDA

THE END> deep breath. phew! it’s over.

SHOULD YOU PITCH?? ABSOLUTELY> Every single chance you get. And to compete and get FREE mentoring and a chance to win prizes and exposure?? The Answer is YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Enter today!

P.S. I did end up doing a kiosk at the mall with this concept for Christmas 2006, but beyond that…decided the market was too competitive (got in too late) and working retail at the mall was just not the right thing for me at this time… hence, Startup Princess is my focus now!

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