May

14

Silver linings

Filed Under public relations 

The great Event Seek run at the final prize for the Georgia Business Launch competition has come to and end. Sadly, we were not selected as one of the four finalists. While I’m disappointed that we were not selected, I’m proud of our accomplishments thus far.  Just being selected as one of the 15 semi-finalists is quite an honor (and one you can bet I’ll be shamelessly promoting).

I had the pleasure of talking yesterday with Sid Elliot, Director of Business Strategy for the Georgia Research Alliance (one of the groups putting on the competition). He was kind enough to sit through all of the judging sessions, compile feedback, and provide this to us struggling entrepreneurs.

Overall our feedback was exactly what we expected, nothing new and nothing we can’t continue to work on. For those of you interested, here were a few key points:

  • Tighten up your financial projects and assumptions (know every last detail of the model)
  • Articulate the market pain in a way that individuals not in our target demographic can understand the gravity of it (help non-twenty something judges get why people want to find events)
  • Strengthen your barriers to entry (figure out why no one can do this better than us)

“So, where is this silver lining?”

Late in the discussions, one of the judges was leaned back scratching his shin when he said to the group: “I’m not yet convinced I’d invest in this idea…but I would invest in these guys.” At which point almost everyone the room agreed.  Never been said about any group in the three years of the competition…

WHOA! Seriously, wow!  Did I mention we were the youngest group in the semi-finals? Not sure what this group saw in us, but awesome for Event Seek!  Now all we have to do is leverage that and tweak our business plan and pitch until they love the idea. [Insert me]

So, while it was sad not to win, there clearly was a silver lining for us at Event Seek. And, we’ve got a fair amount of upcoming opportunities to do some self-promotion. I’ll be attending a variety of startup related activities in the next coming weeks like StartupRiot, Capital Lounge, the Entrepreneur’s Showcase, and Run it by the pros. If you see me, stop by and say hi.  

Ok so that’s actually something that serious bloggers (who have real audiences) say.  But it felt cool to act like people might seek me out.

 

Posted by: Connor Fee

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