Having attended a startup pitch at the Asia Berlin Summit 2023 yesterday in Berlin, I got quite inspired and felt the motivation to write about it.
At the beginning I was a bit confused about the conference name AsiaBerlinSummit as Asia is a continent and Berlin is a city. Then I realised, wait, even if it’s called Asia it is not really referring to the whole continent. We can define it down to South-East-Asia as I did not saw any booth or presentation from countries like Jordan, Syria, or Emirates. And Berlin? Berlin is the host first of all. And further, I need to do some research first, but I think that Berlin takes the lead in entrepreneurship within Germany. So the mentioning within the summit is well deserved, maybe.
Anyways. Let us talk about the content. Most exciting for me was the startup pitch competition. Why? Because it is on the point, short, something new and the people on the stage create mostly an energy. For the remaining conference I am not even in the position to judge. I was not part of all conference days and I barely walked and checke out all parts of the conference. Two things I can tell: Firstly, there is a Korean – German – Exhibition in the conference location (Rotes Rathaus) which looked like, it is waiting there for me even beyond conference time. I definitely want to come back and take a look at it. Secondly, I could tell that the participants or visitors around me were young and motivated but not all of them were very good in presenting themselves in a very short time. It reminded me on a networking event with 249startups. Some of us, the team of 249, even had the task to build bridges between people to enable the networking. And the fresh startup founder received networking training as networking is not natural for everyone. Even for me, as a mostly extrovert person, it does not feel natural at all. So, likewise in the event in Khartoum, I witnessed young entrepreneurs with amazing knowledge and ideas and even ready and running startups being shy, quiet and talking to much about too little. The essence of the uniqueness and value of their business – not even mentioned. Please, do not understand me wrong. I am not using this platform to humiliate people. It is normal. Pitching and Networking need to be learned. This is why I am writing these things. And this is why I will highlight now some startups, memorable pitches and their speakers:
During the startup pitch I think 12 startups were presenting. Their founders and startups were originated either in Berlin or in India, Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka, Indonesia or Japan. What I really liked (kudos to the organisers) that there was a mix of life pitches and remote pitches via video call. The second thing that impressed me and let me walk out of the conference with motivation: I listened to pitches of many social businesses. For me personally, as I prefer working with social enterprises, social businesses or value startups, it is a plus point for any pitch event. Like today.
WaveMakers, the reason for me to be there at the first place, opened the startup pitching event and put the ladder high. I learned that only 14% of the young professionals want to be leaders. So Wavemakers tackles this with global, divers, online leadership programs that are everything else then typical. They were followed by other highlights. 3 startups presented technology related to health: 1. A robot for elderly homes to detect if they fall by Bearcover 2. A card system or families and their elder family members to connect with them, even in distance by family.cards. 3. An AI mental health app that is using real content from therapy sessions and provides in-person support if the mental health status is notified as critical by Tenang. The second trio that stayed in my mind can be classified as environmental technologies: with the memorable headline of “Air Conditioners SUCK” the startup Ambiator presented an environmental friendly AC. KLAR2O impressed me not solely with their Microplastic Waterfilter but with the circular economy concept that the startup seems to apply fully in their business model. Last but not least we have seen a transportation system for green energy by GreenBox. Not only the innovativeness and community component impressed, also the way of owning the stage. Three women were performing their pitch in a very clear, on-point and compressed way. Short sentence, no repetition from what is on the slide. The “less is more” approach was helping to focus on the necessary and remember what they said. To give kudos them in case they read it, it was the speaker of @Wavemakers, GreenBox and Tenang. Finally, the Bearcover speaker: mashallah. I am not 100% sure what exactly made the difference, but he was owning the stage. I had the feeling the whole room was listening to him, although he was one of the last pitching. Still looking for his secret, but anyhow, it impressed me.
For everyone who is in their idea or early-stage of their business, I collected 5 recommendations out of this experience yesterday that might help you to stand on such a stage with confidence and a inspiring pitch as well:
1. stick to the classical pitchdeck structure unless many pitches and investors requested differently from you
2. keep it simple and clean, in terms of what you say and for the slides. The audience will appreciate short sentence without hundred of and’s or’s and comma’s.
3. Show your product or service on one of the slides.
4. Make clear what you want from the audience: formulate an investment ask, activate to contact you later, mention an event you want people to attend or whatever is in your pipeline.
5. Provide some numbers: costs per unit, revenue in the last term, market size and others. Only words will not convince.
Thats it from me for today.
Cheerio, Theresia
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