Finalist Meeting

8/8/2019 Finalist Meeting

1/13

DRAFT

MassChallenge

Finals Logistics andMentorship

John Harthorne [email protected]

Akhil Nigam [email protected]


2/13

MassChallenge, Harthorne&Nigam

Agenda

1

Finals Logistics Dates and Format

Mentorship - Update


3/13


October 11th Oct 18th will be judging week

2

Date Key milestone

Sept 20 Sept 24

Demo Days

October 11-

12

Pre Judging All 111 teams pitch

October 15

October 18 Final Judging 26 teams (13 each day) present

Oct 21 Final Award Ceremony. 10-20 companies awarded


4/13


Demo Days

3

Purpose

Dates and Times

Format

Allow companies to practice pitching before finaljudging.

Open House - Connect with customers, othermentors and investors. Demo products.

Sept 20 Sept 23 (evenings) - Pitch days Sept 24 Open House; Fan Pier

Pitch days 3 minute pitch in front of audienceand streamed on the web collect feedback online

Open House Public invited. Big Science Fair people can walk around and meet companies


5/13


Pre-judging

4

Purpose

Dates and Times

Format

111 companies pitch to a panel of judges 26 selected to move on to final judging

Oct 11 and 12 All Day

Similar to 2nd round of judging 10 minute pitch, 10 minute QA Submit the following in advance:

Brief 2 pager regarding your company Your pitch deck


6/13


Final Judging

5

Purpose

Dates and Times

Format

26 companies pitch in front of panel

Oct 15th and Oct 18th

5 Minute pitch, 5 minute QA Submitted in advance:

Brief 2 pager regarding your company Your pitch deck Feedback from pre-judging


7/13


Final Ceremony

6

Purpose

Dates and Times

Format

Big Award show with media, PR, high levelspeakers

Oct 21st 4PM 5:30PM Networking hrs Oct 21st 5:30PM 8:30PM - Ceremony

26 companies pitch 3 minute per company Final awards announced and awarded


8/13


Judging criteria

7

Compelling visionand impact

Sustainability andscalability

Asset and position

What impact are you targeting?

Why is your business model the right approach? Is it scalable and sustainable?

What progress have you made? Are you executing against your goals? What have you accomplished in the last 3 months?

Execution:Progress to date

Are you positioned to win? What assets give you a competitive advantage?

Team, IP, partnerships, etc.


9/13


Agenda

8

Finals Logistics Dates and Format

Mentorship


10/13


Mentorship: Goals

9

Mentorship Goal

Help you create great companies

by enabling ACCESS to key resources from the ecosystem to catalyze growth


11/13


Mentorship: Goals

10

One MESSAGE

URGENCY YOU SHOULD GET YOURMENTORS NOW!

Be sure you are using the latest mentorbook

I have office hours 4-5PM everyday


12/13


Mentorship program: Some thoughts

11

Mentors Are here to help you build great companies through:

Strategic advice

Relationships and connections

Focus on key next steps Top 3 things you should be doing

Credibility

They are confidants be open for help.

Mentors will not play a role in final judging. They will help you get you to bea better candidate for the final judging.

Focus on building a great company and not the final judging

Mentors should not be looking for jobs, equity or clients. It does notpreclude you from having them as investors, employees or clients IFYOU DECIDE TO HAVE THEM.


13/13


Mentorship program: Meeting Best Practices

12

Mentors BE PROFESSIONAL. HOW YOU HANDLE THE MEETING ALSO GIVES

INSIGHT INTO HOW YOU RUN YOUR COMPANY

Recognize that these are busy people, so leverage your time on the mostcritical issues

Have an agenda beforehand and optimum results and decisions to be madebefore hand

Always walk away with key next steps

Do not be afraid to ask for intros

People dont want problems they also want possible solutions it showsthat you have done some thinking. Remain at cause.

Be open for help. Your business will go under scrutiny and they will asktough questions

Always send a thank you note and a summary of the meeting

We will also ask you to rate the meeting

Documents

Finalist Meeting