StartupWeekend organizer Marsh Sutherland's formula to win StartupWeekend events. From Friday night pitches to secure your team with an emotional connection to your idea to crafting a final Sunday pitch to win the hearts and minds of the judges. Check it out!

1. Startup Weekend Spokane
November 13th - 15th, 2015
Marsh Sutherland
StartupWeekend Co-organizer
StartupWeekend Bootcamp

2. Agenda
• Friday night pitches - 1 minute
• Lean Canvas to develop your startup idea
• Sunday afternoon pitches - 5 minutes

3. About me
My name is Marsh Sutherland
• Spokane native. Former Boston tech entrepreneur
• Brought StartupWeekend to Spokane in 2012 with Brett Noyes
• Founder of 6 tech startups. Sold 2.
• 2-time SXSW Startup Showcase Accelerator Finalist
• 4-time MassChallenge Startup Accelerator Semi-Finalist
• Former AngelHack Boston Organizer & Microsoft BizSpark Solution Evangelist
• Pitch judge for MassHack & Princeton alumni startup pitches

4. Who are you?
• Name?
• Business idea?
• Expectations from this seminar?

5. Friday Night Pitches
• You only have 1 minute….
• “Hi, my name is ______ & my startup is _________”
• Problem - Tell a user story “Rob is frustrated because…”
• Solution - Tell a user story “Rob learned about …”
• How it works - Tell a user story
• Your impressive background and/or “why you care” for an emotional
connection
• What team member profiles you are looking for
• “Tech stack” developer
• Marketer
• UI/UX Designer

6. Lean Canvas
Areas of Focus
Problem Solution Key Metrics
Unique Value
Proposition
Unfair
Advantage
Channels
Customer
Segments
Cost
Structure
Revenue
Streams

7. Lean Canvas
Template at https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/
1h47KVLjkUdEazpgi-6KAe1jpZx3AIpVaR3RUJxDfYOU/edit?usp=sharing

8. SW Spokane Judging Criteria

9. Business Model
Holy Grail: Is this innovative & disruptive in a big market?
• Can this idea make money?
• Is there positive customer growth or revenue?
• Is there a customer acquisition / rollout strategy?
• Has a revenue model been defined & is it realistic?
• Is the idea/team ready for capital and execution?
• Would you invest in this company at this point?

10. Customer Validation
Holy Grail: Did you get users or paying customers?
• Did the team identify customers (demographic, location etc)?
• Did the team get out and talk to customers? See Elizabeth
Yin’s Slideshare at http://www.slideshare.net/
dunkhippo33/lean-startup-circle-boston-april-28-2011
• What is the value proposition to customers?
• What channels of communication are used?
• How is the Product/Market fit?

11. Technical - Execution
Holy Grail: Did you launch???
• Is there a functional product (e.g.in the case of an
app, did they build one)?
• Which services did they integrate with?
• How much of the product is running on a real
server with non-sample data?

12. Design - Execution
Holy Grail: Does it have an intuitive & professional
look and feel with an obvious value proposition?
• Does it deliver a compelling and captivating user
experience?
• Is it memorable?
• What key insights were gathered over the weekend
to go in this creative direction?

13. Sunday Final Pitches
• Slide 1: State the problem in a user story
• Slide 2: State your solution in a user story
• Slide 3/Demo app: SHOW How It Works (Execution & Design)
• Slide 4: Explain your Customer Validation & rollout strategy. If you have
customers, give metrics
• Slide 5: Explain how big your market is & how you will beat competitors
• Slide 5: Explain your Business Model
• Slide 6: Tell about your team & backgrounds
• Slide 7: Explain your next steps & future milestones

14. Questions??
Contacts:
Marsh Sutherland, @marshsutherland
marsh@charitycheckin.com
(617) 999-9211
Ryan Arnold
rarnold@greaterspokane.org