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Pan Out Pitches

This is your shot to sell your idea to your peers in order to gain team members to build it!

Pitches will be held Friday, September 6 at 4pm (Mountain Time) on Zoom. Once you register for Pan Out and you select that you want to be a Pitcher, a follow up submission form will be emailed to you. You will have until 2pm on Friday, September 6 (Mountain Time) to submit your pitch. The order of pitches will be annouced via CU email at 3pm on Friday, September 6.

Note If you cannot make Pan Out Pitches at the specified time, but you want to pitch, you may send a 5 minute video and it will be played in the presentation.

Guidelines​

  1. Pitches must describe the idea adequately

  2. Pitches must be 5 minutes or less

  3. Must mention the ideal team size

  4. Pitches cannot be for products/services/applications or represent ideas that target specific demographics in the aim to humiliate or demean them, strip them of rights, or descriminate them OR spread disinformation or hateful speech. This should be basic stuff!

Suggestions​

  1. Sell it: Inspire your peers! Make them feel empowered! Make your idea seem fun, potentially profitable, great experience or all of the above. Answer "what's in it for me?" to anyone watching.

  2. Anticipate questions: Explain the problem and how your idea solves it.

  3. Do Your Research: Make sure your idea is feasible given current technology and capabilities.

  4. Describe the milestones: Obviously the idea needs to be built, but think about the secondary needs that will help the launched idea succeed. Perhaps a marketing site, documentation, a press release, what else? Try to mention these as well.

  5. Default to high-level: Technical decisions, design decisions and other specifics can be hammered down as a team. Only cover the nitty-gritty if absolutely necessary.

  6. Make slides: People like visuals! And remember, if you are planning on sharing your screen, ensure your Zoom permissions are enabled beforehand.

  7. Write a script: Know what you will say, but don't seem like you are reading it word for word.

  8. Practice: Do a dry run several times to make sure it's under 5 minutes. Present it to someone else to make sure it makes sense. Record yourself and watch it to make sure you come across the way you want to.

  9. Say the name, have a tagline: To sign up for pitches, you will need a product idea name (even if it's TBD) and a 1-2 sentence description. Have a name, show the name and make it stick!

  10. Again, sell it!: Make sure your idea is clear, your presentation is good and it's interesting to other people. Make sure people know how much potential you see in this idea, how excited you are about it or how it could change the world.