How To Pitch At Capitalize

Last night I got to check out an event in Cambridge called Capitalize hosted at the SCVNGR offices. The audience gets to see a company pitch to VCs. Last night’s company, Peekaboo Mobile, pitched to two investors from Dart. They were asking for $550,000 to $770,000.

Basically, the investors wanted to see 3 things:

1. a great solution to a small problem involving a very specific customer, e.g. an app focused on moms that tells moms where stroller friendly businesses are,
2. a message that shows how all parties involved are going to make lots of money, e.g. tossing the phrase, “We are going to make you lots of money and this is how,” works wonders, and
3. a solid set of numbers showing cost to acquire customer and ROI.

Peekaboo didn’t have these 3 things so they weren’t written a check outright, but they’re still making money. Also it takes a lot of courage to stand in front of a crowd and get scrutinized by VC.