Wednesday, February 27 at 7:30 PM at the CEID in the Becton Center.

The Elevator Pitch Competition is a warm-up for the Yale Venture Challenge in the spring. Get to meet the other teams competing in the competition and recruit additional members for your own venture.

Sign-up here to ensure you have a time slot to pitch: http://bit.ly/XexIkF

Judging

You’ll get professional feedback on your idea from our experienced judging panel. The competition will be judged by Yale’s very own: Barry Nalebuff, Milton Steinbach Professor of Management, and co-founder of Honest Tea and the author of best-selling books such as “Thinking Strategically” and “Why Not?”

Prizes

• First Place: $300
• Second Place: $200
• Third Place: $100

Format

• Each group will go up and present (2-5 minutes, depending on how many groups are present)
• Once the pitch is finished, the judges give comments and any questions from the audience are taken (time period for this is dependent on the number of participants, but all comments/questions should be relatively brief).
• After each presentation, the judges will score on the following criteria:
  • Presentation (1-10):
    Was the pitch given with clarity? Was it easy to understand what the presenter was trying to get across? Were follow-up questions formed to delve further into the idea, or clarify what the presenter had said?
  • Validity (1-10):
    Simply put, is the idea itself realistic/marketable? Are claims about profitability and the existing market reasonable?
  • Preparedness (1-10):
    Is it evident that the group has put energies toward making their idea a reality? Do they have a team in place? Have they just made plans, or actually begun to take action?
• At the very end, the groups are ranked and the winners will be announced based on score. Ties will be settled by the judges.

Questions can be directed to the YES Competitions Director, Michael Adkins at michael.adkins@yale.edu