How it Works
Each year the Melton Center puts on a pitch competition where students can enter to pitch any business idea they have. The top students will be chosen from this group and be rewarded with $1,000 for 1st place, $500 for second place, and $250 for third place. Got an idea you want to pitch? See entry details below!
The contest unfolds in two stages, the first is the social media round where students
will submit their ideas in the form of a video social media post. If selected, students
will move on to the elevator pitch where they will give a 2 minute pitch to a live
panel of judges. Additional prize money may be announced at a later date.
How To Enter Competition:
Round 1: Social Media Video
For this round students will create and submit a link to a social media post with the criteria listed below. It's recommended but not required that you create a new account separate from your personal social media so that you can continue to use it for your business should you choose to do so.
- 1 social media post in the form of short form video (1 to 2 minutes) on one or more of following platforms; TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Twitter, or LinkedIn. The videos can be anything you would like to create as it relates to your business. Some examples include but are not limited to promotional ads, explanations of your business model, trends that include an aspect of your business, or anything else you can create that relates to your business idea.
- Use the form here: to submit your video link and fill out the required information. Submissions for this round will be accepted no later than 11:59 on March 31st 2023.
Round 2: Elevator Pitch
If selected, you will be notified and move on to give a 1 to 2 minute presentation in front of a live audience. The purpose of the pitch is to ask for something, typically another meeting, but it depends on the nature of your business idea. It will be evaluated on the following criteria. After listening to the pitch judges will ask themselves...
- Do I understand the problem?
- Do I understand how the presenter will solve the problem?
- Do I believe that this business/idea could work?
- Do I believe that the business/idea will be profitable (or efficient in the case of nonprofit organizations)?
- Do I understand what has been asked of me?
These items will be evaluated on a scale from 鈥淎bsolutely Not鈥� to 鈥淒efinitely yes鈥�.
This round will take place on Friday April 14th downtown at the innovation portal located at 358 St Louis St, Mobile, AL 36602. Students are expected to arrive no later than 1:00pm. Dress professionally, practice your pitch, and speak to impress. Good Luck!
If you are interested and would like to hear more information before submitting, we are hosting an info session on Tuesday March 21th at 11:00 in Room 202 at the Mitchell College of Business.
SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY TO ROUND 1 HERE:
What is an Elevator Pitch
An elevator pitch is a short (125-250 word) prepared presentation. The purpose of the elevator pitch is to inform others about your idea and solicit their assistance or support. The elevator pitch answers five questions and usually ends with a call to action or ask of some kind. Here are the questions your pitch needs to answer to be effective.
- What is the problem you鈥檙e trying to solve?
- How are you going to solve it?
- Who is solving the problem and why are they important?
- What makes you think this will work?
- How much money will this make?
You can find a more detailed version of this list on the contest resources page under the 5 P鈥檚 of Presentation.
The Video
Your video submission can be as simple or as elaborate as you like but the spoken content of the presentation must address the five points listed above and must be done by you, in your own voice. Most people just point a camera at themselves and record their pitch until they get a version that they are happy with. Other options are to narrate over a PowerPoint presentation or to prepare another type of video.
- PAIN
What is the problem that you鈥檙e trying to solve? How big is the problem? - PREMISE
How are you going to make the pain go away? KISS: Keep it simple, students. If you read just the premise out loud with no other information, someone hearing it should understand what it is you do. If not, keep simplifying/refining your message. - PEOPLE
The people are one of the most important parts of your business. Their character, experience, expertise, availability and drive all influence their ability to obtain funding from angels and venture capitalists. In this section, you should answer the question why you? Why not someone else? - PROOF
The best proof is sales, but if you鈥檙e at a pitch competition you may not have generated sales yet. In this case, the next best proof is people that say they鈥檒l buy. This can come from interviews, focus groups, surveys, or other market research. Crowd-funding pre-purchases can also be helpful. If your concept is B2B (Business to Business), rather than B2C (Business to Consumer), letters of intent from prospective business customers can be helpful as well. Other great forms of proof include prototypes and intellectual property. Though they do not provide evidence of market demand for your product/service, these types of proof can bolster your credibility and help you build a case for feasibility and competitive advantage. - PURPOSE
The purpose of a business is to make money and contribute value. What is your profit potential? If you have a social endeavor, you will need to provide an alternative metric to revenues or profits. For example, if you are launching a nonprofit to feed the homeless, your metric might be the number of people fed. It often makes sense to explain why the metric you choose is important.
- CLEAR
Use plain English as much as possible. Avoid acronyms and jargon. Never use a large word when a diminutive one will do. - CONCISE
You don鈥檛 have a lot of time, so it鈥檚 important to be as brief as possible so that you can get it all in. - CREDIBLE
People should believe you when you deliver your pitch. There are two complementary ways to accomplish this. First, you can explain why you鈥檙e qualified. Second, you can sound like you know what you鈥檙e talking about. This should be because you have practiced what you鈥檙e going to say a lot and because you really do know what you鈥檙e talking about. - CONSISTENT
Have a message and stay on it. If you have numbers for something, use the same numbers throughout. Don鈥檛 contradict yourself within your pitch. It鈥檚 easier to do than you might think. - CONVERSATIONAL
You shouldn鈥檛 sound like you鈥檙e reciting the pitch, even though you probably are. Keep in mind that the elevator pitch is the beginning of a real conversation, one in which you hope to convince the listener that your idea is amazing and they want in on it. - CONCEPTUAL
Do not go into details in the elevator pitch. You don鈥檛 have time. For instance, when discussing proof, if you鈥檝e done market research you may know that 15% of college students will buy your product. You may also know a breakdown of that number based on other demographic information. The 15% is enough in most cases. - CONCRETE
Be as specific as you can. This sounds like the opposite of #6 above, but it鈥檚 not really. - COMPELLING
You typically address this most in the pain section. You explain the pain, and part of that is convincing us that it鈥檚 important to 鈥榝ix鈥� the pain. - CUSTOMIZED
Insomuch as possible, tailor your elevator pitch to your audience. In a contest setting this will not be easy. It might not even be possible. But remember, the skill of pitching, and perhaps even the pitch you鈥檙e developing for this contest, may prove useful elsewhere. You might actually get on an elevator with Bill Gates, and wouldn鈥檛 it be awesome if you had a fantastic opportunity for him?
Thank you for judging the Coastal Pitch Competition. The purpose of the competition is for the students to gain confidence and experience presenting their ideas. To that end, please let them deliver their pitch, and hold your questions until after they finish. After the pitch feel free to ask them a question or two, but don鈥檛 expect them to have things like detailed sales projections or capital requirements.
You will be given a scoring rubric to use as a guide. It is not necessary that your scores precisely match the content of the rubric. It is not required that you use the rubric at all. It is provided for your convenience as a way to keep track of the differences between contestants. Your scores will most likely not match the scores of the other judges. This is normal. However you use the rubric and score sheet, please try to do it consistently. Don鈥檛 let the quality of a previous presentation change the way you score future presentations.
At the end of this contest, there will be four prize winners. It is important that they delivered a high-quality pitch. Other things are important too, such as the viability of the idea, and the way the idea would represent USA if it were to be printed in a paper or picked up for a TV news spot. Every attempt will be made to make sure that all ideas presented will be legal, moral, ethical, and at least theoretically possible. However, you are USA鈥檚 last line of defense. Judge with consideration of this fact, as well as kindness for our students. This will be the first time many of them have done anything like this.