#LaterPitches 3.0

It was great to see so many new and familiar faces at the 3rd #LaterPitches event held in Manchester since the idea was born.

In my role as Investment Director, seeing lots of founders pitch each month and numerous pitch decks crossing my desk every week, and in working with Angel Investors and institutional funds, I noticed that many founders were approaching investors without ever having (or seemingly to me anyway) practiced their pitch, sought any feedback, or even implemented feedback given previously. The impact of this is that founders are potentially wasting the valuable chance to make a first impression on an investor, and limiting their chances to secure investment.

I created #LaterPitches as a forum and safe space for early stage founders to practice their investment or sales pitches in an environment where there is no consequence for "messing up" or running over time. A chosen panel of friendly feedbackers (think of the farther thing from Dragon's Den as you can) is assembled to give constructive feedback to founders in how to improve.

Last night's event (4th Feb 2020) saw a really great turnout, with attendees filling the auditorium area of Accelerate Places Manchester hub.

If you did come along, I've created a short survey here to collect feedback (I can benefit from it too!) to ensure I can continue to improve #LaterPitches events in future and support the community further.

Below is a summary of speakers and feedbackers for those who couldn’t make it or want a refresh!

We were treated to a warm up from coach Kate Marlow getting the blood pumping, so thank you to Kate for the tips! I know I now incorporate the power stance at any networking event where I suffer imposter syndrome!

We also heard an update from now tech-founder Tanya Nichol, who pitched her travel itinerary-building business Tripptee at the first #LaterPitches event back in July 2019. She learned to code since then and created her MVP herself. She invited us all to visit Tripptee.com and invited feedback and suggestions for further features. Please do go ahead and take a look and get in touch with Tanya if you have suggestions.

We listened to the investment pitches from 5 very different businesses who stood to give a 6 minute presentation and receive feedback and comments from a panel of friendly feedbackers. I would like to pass on a huge thank you to Heather Gray, Business Development Manager at Bruntwood, Damian Mohammed of GC Angels, Tanya Nichol of Tripptee, and Kate Marlow, for giving such wonderful insightful and helpful feedback to all the pitchers below.

Thank you and well done to Dmitry Kmita of Travonto, Julie McGann of Unicorn, Tom McNamara of FreeUp, Grace Vella of Miss Kick, and Peter Fayle.