The Smart City Innovation Lab was invited to guide and inspire 25 teams at the 7th edition of BET24 Startup Challenge 1.0.

What are investors looking for? Exactly – significant return potential at minimum risk. However, “risk” is a broad term compared to the five specific startup failures investors are looking to avoid: product risk, market risk, business model risk, go-to-market risk, and execution/team risk.

With the goal of empowering teams to present a bulletproof pitch deck presentation, proving that they are the best business opportunity investors will not want to miss out, the Smart Business Modeler team was invited to guide and inspire 25 teams through a Venture Creation Essentials Workshop. By bringing the Smart Business Modeler’s 22-step process to venture creation into five core activities, teams had the opportunity to:

  1. Select and size the most promising customer segment.
  2. Build a viable business model, describing (i) what they sell, (ii) to whom they sell, (iii) how they produce and deliver, and (iv) how they generate revenue.
  3. Align on the core of their idea by writing a one-page press release for immediate release.
  4. Define an actionable go-to-market strategy, describing (i) how to create visibility, (ii) how to persuade purchases, and (iii) how to create long-lasting customer relationships.
  5. Understand why a 10-slide pitch deck is the best way to address an investor on a business opportunity, learn how this pitch deck should be crafted, and work on what is the suggested content to consider for each slide.
BET24 Startup Challenge 1.0

BET24 Startup Challenge 1.0

The challenge

BET24 is a one-day intensive entrepreneurship event, designed to support young entrepreneurs at various stages of their venture’s creation. Startup Challenge 1.0 specifically targets ground-breaking business opportunities that are still at the infancy of ideation to create and deliver a solid pitch deck presentation to a panel of investors for initial funding.

It was an incredible pleasure to work with such inspiring ideas through the accelerated journey of venture creation. The Smart City Innovation Lab team would like to thank all participants for their immense effort, and congratulate the three teams that went on to the crowdfunding round of the challenge!