1. Pitch your idea in < 2 min
-Vidya Raman
I turn ideas into products
2. You need 3 things
1. Your idea - problem, solution, target
customer
2. Why is it unique/superior compared to
alternatives
3. How will you make money or have a
societal impact
3. 1.Your idea: remember the 3 parts
1. Problem:What is the problem you are
trying to solve?
2. Target customer:Who has this problem?
Try to be really narrowly focused.
3. Solution: How will you solve the problem.A
very high level idea is fine.
4. 2.Why is your idea unique or superior
(also called unique value proposition)?
• People will use your product/service only if it is in
someway superior to the alternatives they have today
• Superior can mean cheaper or simpler (fewer
functions) or faster or require fewer steps or easier
or more convenient or is closer by or tastier or
healthier...
• Draw attention to what makes it superior/unique to
existing alternatives.
• Don’t worry if there are many alternatives.That is
probably a good thing because it must be a problem lots
of people have but no one has solved it really well!
5. 3. How will you make money or have a
societal impact (also called business model)?
For-profit business ideas:
• What price can you charge?
• Will you keep charging once or every time
someone uses it?
• Will you charge monthly or yearly subscription?
Non-profit business ideas:
• What impact will it have on your target customer?
6. Bonus points for this...
• What will it cost for you to make your idea
happen? Consider,
• resources you need
• people you might need to employ (e.g. to
run a store)
• how much time do you need
7. What you need for the pitch
• Present your idea, unique value proposition
and business model in less than 2 minutes.
If you don’t have all 3 aspects, that’s fine.
Just present the idea.
• No power point or slides required. Use it
only if you need it.
• If you have a prototype built, bring it (tell us
in advance).
8. This will be fun and you
will learn a ton. Pitch!
10. I don’t know where to look
for alternatives
Assuming you started with a problem,
• Look at how people are dealing with the problem
today (i.e., what are they using today)
• If you are not sure, ask your target customers.
Better yet, observe them when they are facing the
problem that you are trying to solve
• Google for some answers. Pretty much every
product/service has a website where you can find
more information about them
