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By ELIZABETH MALLOY, The Daily Transcript
Friday, October 3, 2008
The winner of the San Diego Tech Coast Angel’s Quick Pitch competition gets a crystal trophy and a guaranteed audience with potential investors in his or her company, but the event organizers hoped all the participants would walk away with something. Sixteen companies each gave two-minute presentations on their companies at the event, and were then graded on a scale of one to 10 by a panel of judges. While awards were given for best content, best style and best overall winner, the contest was designed in large part to be a learning experience, teaching young companies the best way to sell themselves to investors. “Overall, I thought the people we heard from tonight, there were some really great ideas here,” said Duane Roth, chief executive officer of the trade group Connect and a judge at Quick Pitch. “The importance of a competition like this though is to make the point that you’ve got to communicate it.” “That communication, and knowing your audience and who you’re speaking to is everything about getting that next meeting,” he added. The companies that participated in Quick Pitch ranged from a solar panel producer to an herbal remedy for colicky babies. The all-around winner was a social networking site for action sports enthusiasts called Loop’d, which is aimed at the 10- to 24-year-old demographic. The winner for content was a life science company focusing on treatments for anemia called Uzima Bioscience Inc., and the style winner was another life science company, Celdryl. The judges pointed largely to Loop’d CEO Scott Tilton’s confidence and ease when speaking about his company, as well as his ability to demonstrate its market potential as the reason he won. “I think you nailed it when you said a one dollar cost to acquire a viewer, and $6 revenue per viewer,” said judge Gary Sutton, a local angel investor, quoting part of Tilton’s presentation. “Those are powerful numbers.” The judges at Quick Pitch all were involved in investing, most from the San Diego area. In addition to Roth and Sutton, they included San Diego Tech Coast Angels President Mike Elconin; Timothy O’Brien, a shareholder for Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth; Timothy Shull, executive director of business development for MDS Pharma Services Inc.; and Marco Thompson, managing director of Express Ventures. Some judges admitted that certain science or technology products were beyond their area of expertise, but they said it’s important for executives at those companies to understand that, and make their products as clear as possible. The judges also said to make sure that the person at a company who is most comfortable with public speaking should give the presentation, even if that person isn’t the CEO. A few presenters had heavy accents that could be hard to understand, and the judges said they should try to find someone in the company who is clearer. The San Diego Tech Coast Angels is a branch of a group that operates all over Southern California. Members of the Tech Coast Angels mentored the presenters on the best way to present their companies. Organizers stressed that winning was not the only prize in this competition, but also training. “We saw 16 companies and I thought all 16, despite whatever we rated them on presentation and content, I thought all 16 sounded like legitimate investment opportunities,” said Elconin, the president of San Diego Tech Coast Angels. “Hopefully, all the companies felt reasonably good about it.”
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