Quick lessons from Launch Festival in the Bay Area

The first leg of SGE’s trip to the Bay Area saw us spend three great days at Launch Festival.

Three quick things I learned at Launch.

1. When pitching, always state what you are looking for at the end of the presentation.

I’m not sure if this will work in Asia, but it seems that it is common practice to do the homework for those whom you need help from– while pitching to folks, some startups were quick to specifically state how the recipient(s) of the pitch can help them beyond just investing funds.

2. Make it easy for others to contact you.

At Launch, all the companies pitching used a similar format for their email address that potential investors or anyone interested in connecting with them could use.

Example: founders@synata.com

This was the first time I saw folks pitching on stage standardising their emails. In local events, the norm is to use your everyday email like [founder’s-name]@[company].com. I think this little trick is especially useful for Asians who are pitching because our names aren’t usually that easy to spell.

3. Hackathons probably shouldn’t be a free for all.

The participants at the Launch Festival Hackathon were curated, which meant that there was a fairly decent chance that the folks you teamed up with can contribute to the building of a product. One of the most irritating things at hackathons is the ‘business development/marketing’ guy who has a great idea and is looking for a team that can implement his vision. There are events for that — a hackathon is not one of them and curation through checking Linkedin and Github profiles can make the hackathon experience better for everyone who is serious about building and shipping.

The curation worked. Just look at the presentations of the top five from the Launch Festival hackathon.