Entrepreneurs’ Pitch Night at Google is more than just one of the usual Google events.

The judges board of investors are Eric Trabold, Eric Milliken, and George Parrish. Among them, George Parrish is the founder and president of Society3, the event’s organizer.

George has been an enthusiastic supporter of local startups. This is why he’s very eager to collaborate with the best and the brightest in San Francisco – to assist the local startups and eventually introduce them in the realm of commerce.

People admire him for his passion in whatever he does. Tell him something about your business startup idea and he’s sure to relate it to other experiences he had in life. Aside from these, he is a type of person who can usually make connections of possibilities and ideas. It’s interesting how he can not only build empires but friendships as well.

Events as a Business Strategy

Events are undoubtedly great avenues to help you meet up with potential customers, partners, and investors. This is also a good way to have public exposure without appearing too “sales-y”.

Just imagine that you’re walking down a street one day, and someone comes up to you to sell the “best ever frying pan in the world”. You don’t know him and the pan looks perfectly ordinary. You admire his boldness, though, but you are never buying that pan for $100! See? That’s what events and pitch nights like this one are for.

Here are some other wonderful reasons to get you pumped up:

  •  These can score you lots of referrals.
  • These can build up that much-needed confidence.
  •  You can establish connections with some key influences. If they like you and you
    eventually get to work with them, you can even reach your target market through
    sponsored links.
  • Events can bring you fresh ideas and inspiration, like how to start a sales pitch.
  • Just being with like-minded people can bring a positive sense to you. Remember
    the law of attraction – a must-have in business!
  •  These can boost your confidence without being a humblebrag.
  •  Events can very much improve your visibility and brand awareness.
  • If you’re looking for love or friendship, who knows, this might be the right place
    for you (just don’t overdo it).

Google as a Community Builder
Aside from teaching how do you pitch a business idea to a company, Google has been very active in supporting start-ups, so much so that it is willing to offer free access to events and co-working areas in the Bay Area. Since 2016, this big name also managed
to volunteer more than 80000 hours to local organization.

If you’re living in the area, you’re highly encouraged to take part in projects that they support to collaborate, learn, and work on concepts that will highly benefit the community. They also offer awesome mentoring programs and workshops to boot.

If you’re not living within this radius, there’s no need to worry as they also boosted their search engine to include event suggestions. Therefore, you don’t have to worry because you’ll still make the most out of events when you attend them.
Suiting Up for the Pitch Events Delivering the best sales pitch the experts have seen does not purely rely on talent. In
fact, this takes a lot of thought and hard work to organize and cram your ideas to fit in a 3- or 5-minute “mini-speech”. Fear not, for we have pointers to have you feeling like a rockstar on the day:

  • Know the specifics such as acceptable font styles and file formats.
  • Research on your judges and check out the criteria.
  • Design an elevator pitch and deliver it in 10 seconds or less.
  • Content-wise, avoid negative terms and focus on credibility factors to build up
    your pitch.
  • Memorize important parts of your pitch to avoid wasting time.
  • Practice the pitch at least 50 times and focus on the timing and nonverbal cues.
  • Familiarize yourself with possible questions. Be honest, compelling, and concise
    in answering them.
  • Be on time on the day of the event. If possible, check the equipment in the
    venue, test your file, and see how you can do your blocking on stage.
  • Finally, relax and enjoy! Don’t let stress get the best of you.

Points to Consider

  • If you want to introduce yourself in the business realm, attending events like this
    one is a good start. Don’t forget to mingle with other attendees.
  • Google has been providing all-out support for startups and fervently supports
    events that can help build the community little by little.
  • Prepare well days before the event and on the day itself. You don’t want to be all
    clammy and sweaty on stage during your presentation.