Event 1/Idea Pitch
The RTP community is smart, talented, innovative, and driven. We know there are people in our community which great ideas who may not be (or want to be) entrepreneurs. This event gives these visionaries a forum to share their idea, so an entrepreneur can bring their idea to market – with permission. We’d hope to see every presented idea land with an entrepreneur who plans to develop/create it!
Topics for Ideas
During this event, we are focusing on these hot topics:
- Healthcare
- AI
- ML
- Gaming
- Decentralized Computing
- Community Care
- Military
- Skills Transfer
What’s a Great Idea?
A great idea doesn’t help out just one individual or company; a great idea helps out many people or many companies. A great idea doesn’t just fix a problem a little better than another existing solution; a great idea fixes a problem significantly better than any existing solution. A great idea doesn’t take hours to explain to a potential customer; a great idea is grasped quickly by those who understand the problem. A great business idea is a great idea that customers will demand and can afford.
How to Present my Idea?
Imagine that your idea has already been created as a product/service. A press conference has been called for your premier announcement of this new product/service. You have 10 minutes to provide an infomercial announcement.
Preparing to Present
Use minimal slides during your presentation. During your infomercial, reveal what it does, who will use it, and why they’ll use it. Do not explain how it works; highlight the benefits to the customer.
We will hold an Idea Preparation event one week before this Idea Pitch. You can hear guidance and receive feedback there.
How to Keep my Idea Mine?
If you need your audience to sign an NDA before you can present, this is the wrong event for you. Your idea should have a secret sauce. Your idea should be non-trivial to setup/create. If your 10 minute presentation reveals everything a competitor needs to start, then you need a patent first.
During our event, we will ask all entrepreneurs to follow an honor code to not steal others’ ideas. An entrepreneur will work out an arrangement with you for the use of your idea.
An entrepreneur may not sign an NDA because that entrepreneur is exposed to many ideas. They may choose to run with an idea from one individual that is similar to another individual. Or, they may already have that idea under development, so they don’t want an NDA with a visionary to ensnarl their existing developments.
To keep your idea safe, only reveal to others what a sales person would reveal during a sales presentation.
Summarizing my Idea
Each idea must be concisely submitted for an information packet available the day of the Idea Pitch event. The info packet will contain:
- Idea name
- Your name and contact information
- Target market
- Target industry category
- Estimated size of demand
- Estimated size of potential revenue
- Estimated time to develop/create the product/service
What Happens at the Event?
Visionaries pre-submit their ideas ahead of the event. Ten (10) of the ideas will be presented at the event. Each idea will have 10 minutes to present.
Entrepreneurs – and future entrepreneurs – will consider the presented ideas.
Both visionaries and entrepreneurs will have time to network together after the presentations.
Food and drinks will be available, sponsor provided.
What Happens after the Event?
Entrepreneurs will contact visionaries for Q&A and terms to work with the idea.
If no entrepreneur at the event takes an interest in your idea, no worries! Consider starting your own company; network with others who may be interested in joining you.
Register as an entrepreneur attending.
Who else can attend? Investors, entrepreneurial advisors, and others with an interest in helping a visionary achieve their great idea are welcome. Register as a general attendee.
Remember to sign up for Event 2/Funding Pitch next!