By: Sophie Barth
The room is set up with 10 tables. Behind each table sit two or three investors listening to pitches and taking notes on the companies that most impress them.
FundingUniverse's speed-pitching events combine the search for investment capital with speed-dating. Entreprenuers have six minutes to convince investors that their company is worth further attention. The first four minutes are dedicated to presenting a well-rehearsed pitch. The final two are reserved for questions and answers.
Moving from table to table are 10 hopeful entrepreneurial companies. The companies specialize in everything from medical spinal devices that employ minimally traumatic techniques to improve surgeries to building an online community for intramural and club sports participants.
"It's a good opportunity to get in front of a large amount of investors in a short amount of time," said Bill Aho, CEO of ClearPlay, a company specializing in parental filters for DVDs who pitched at the event. "But there are certain constraints in that you have to explain what you do in five minutes. Hopefully, you can say what you need to in order to get their attention."
The different entrepreneurs present their pitch in different ways. Some wear full suits and hand out business cards. Others, a few with fauxhawks, pitch their ideas in jeans and a suit jacket - not because they didn't know the luncheon was business casual, but to show their company is different.
Each company has been pre-screened by FundingUniverse (an Internet company that matches angel investors and entrepreneurs), and selected as one of the top 10 companies in the application process.
"It's a high-energy and fast-paced event," said Brock Blake, CEO of FundingUniverse. "It's better than getting up on stage and pitching a lot of people because entrepreneurs know who their audience is and receive feedback right away."
The idea for the speed-pitching luncheons was concocted over a couple of Jamba Juices outside the Wilkinson Student Center by a few of the FundingUniverse executives and board member Paul Allen, said Trent Miskin, chief technology officer for FundingUniverse.
"We were trying to figure out events, and somehow the movie Hitch came up," Miskin said.
Copyright Brigham Young University 8 Jan 2007
