This Week in Startups

Startup pitch competition: Jason invests $25K | E1819

Sep 29, 2023

01:21:19

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In this episode, the hosts kick off a startup pitch competition. They discuss the advantages of teams over solo founders and the importance of crafting a good pitch. They then listen to pitches from Newcomer Games, a startup providing a language immersion video game, and Scrumly, a startup merging Duolingo and Nintendo. They explore scalability, building a large business quickly, and improving presentation skills. The episode also covers selling unused property, offers startup advice, and evaluates the pitches and investment strategies.

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Quick takeaways

Fitted is a social shopping platform that allows users to discover, buy, and share outfits, aiming to reach 100,000 users and 50 million GMV to achieve $10 million in revenue.

Scrumly is an AI planning coach that helps teams maximize their performance by providing interactive planning features and real-time insights, aiming to reach 10 million ARR by capturing 0.5% of the market and $100 million with 5% market share.

Newcomer offers a language immersion experience through story-driven video games, targeting language learners and projecting $100 million in annual recurring revenue with widespread adoption.

Deep dives

Fitted: A Social Shopping Platform for Gen Z

Fitted is a social shopping platform designed for Gen Z. It allows users to discover, buy, and share outfits. With a library of outfits and an AI stylist named Fiona, users can create virtual lookbooks based on different occasions, weather, and days. The alpha version of Fitted has attracted over 1300 users who have shared thousands of outfits. The platform's unique combination of social validation and native checkout experience sets it apart from competitors. Fitted plans to monetize through a 20% take rate on GMV and a subscription fee for access to advanced features. The company aims to reach 100,000 users and 50 million GMV to achieve $10 million in revenue.

Pitch to investors

04:04

Introduction

5min

Importance of Co-Founders in Startups

4min

Ideal team composition, finding co-founders, and benefits of accelerators

5min

The Importance of a Simple Business Description

8min

Introducing Newcomer Games: Language Immersion for Every Learner Everywhere

4min

Combining Duolingo and Nintendo for an Immersive Language Learning Experience

4min

Discussing Scalability and Building a Large Business Quickly

6min

Improving Presentation Skills

15min

Selling Unused Property and Startup Advice

18min

10.

Startup Pitches and Investment Strategy

12min

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Today’s show:

Kelly Schricker joins Jason to kick off another startup pitch competition featuring four companies from Founder University Cohorts 5 and 6!

Time stamps:

(0:00) Jason and Kelly kick off another startup pitch competition!

(6:52) Why founding teams have an advantage over solo founders

(11:47) OpenPhone - Get 20% off your first six months at https://openphone.com/twist

(13:18) Founder University's program, and crafting the best pitch for your company

(22:24) .Tech Domains - Apply to get your startup featured on This Week in Startups at https://startups.tech/jason

(23:38) Jason Kappes pitches Newcomer Games

(25:58) Jason’s feedback for Newcomer Games

(32:24) Mercury - Join 100K+ startups banking with Mercury at http://mercury.com