LightCastle Partners Event Coverage: Pitching to Perfection Workshop

“People are hungry in Bangladesh.” As a developing country, it is very easy to jump to the conclusion that the hunger mentioned here is the hunger that is, defined by dictionary.com, ‘a compelling need or desire for food.’ But wait a second. Although hunger still exists in Bangladesh, it’s not only reducing at a commendable rate, but a new type of hunger has emerged across the nation. This time, the youth is hungrier than ever – hungry to innovate, to disrupt and to execute bold ideas by harnessing the power of technology.

As the startup scene continues to grow and mature in Bangladesh, it is imperative that entrepreneurs are nurtured effectively, and are equipped with the right tools to guide them to success. Regardless of drive, strength and feasibility of an idea or the ability to dream big –young entrepreneurs need to be able to communicate and sell their dreams to investors, customers and other stakeholders concerned. With this in mind, The Pitch Perfect organized a workshop, powered by LightCastle Partners (LCP), on effective pitching this past Saturday to share tips and tricks on communicating ideas in a concise yet compelling manner.

The event kicked off with Ivdad Khan Mojlish, LightCastle’s Co-founder and Managing Director, introducing LCP to the attendees, underlining the firm’s mission to inspire business and commerce in Bangladesh. He infused the room with an air of confidence and energy, setting the ground for a power packed session.

The 1^st speaker was Sazzad Hossain, LightCastle’s Assistant Vice President, who discussed Minimal Viable Products and Idea Validation techniques. During his speech, he used conventional models and also pulled in various anecdotes from his personal experiences.

“Growing up in Bangladesh, I was always fascinated by agribusiness and poultry. It sounds like a joke now, but I would dream of becoming a millionaire by raising chickens – but that never happened. What I should have done, in the simplest sense, was buy 5 chickens and see if I could raise them and generate profit.”

Shawkat Hossain, MD at BD Ventures shares his thoughts, tips and tricks about the local market

Shawkat Hossain followed up with a talk revealing how investors evaluate a pitch, drawing from his experience as the Managing Director of BD Ventures. He spoke about Key Performance Indicators, the importance of timing and foresight along with the need for raw passion and belief in a mission. Emphasizing the significance of execution, he said, “There are certain companies who enter late into a market, but still manage to command significant market share. This is because they execute better than the companies before them. While pitching, make sure you prove to investors that you can execute your idea, no matter how great your idea is”

Next up came CEO of Tripooly, Rafi Mustafa, who gave a talk in his trademark panache – full of charisma and vigor. Raf, as we like to call him, is a man who has been pitching to different audiences all his life: starting from his mom on why he had nothing to do about the broken china to working in sales for big names like Amazon and Groupon. Even today, Raf has successfully pitched to investors to raise funds for buzzing startups like ZuumZuum and Tripooly. Among other things, Raf asked the audience to focus on the basics as he believes that practicing and being aware about one’s strengths and weaknesses is the secret to success, if there ever was one.

Rafi Mustafa of Tripooly.com breaks down the art of pitching into simple, actionable steps

“It is imperative that you are honest with yourself. If you realize that something is not your forte, then perhaps it is a good idea to let someone else take care of that particular weakness. Find your strength, and practice, practice and practice – until you perfect and own it”

Last came Bijon Islam, CEO of LightCastle Partners, to explain the technical side of things – valuation. With a wealth of experience under his belt from his days in investment banking, Bijon used the first half of his presentation to debunk popular myths about the numbers game all startups have to play to raise funding, and also explained various valuation techniques including the classic Discounted Cash Flow analysis, Net Income/Revenue Multiples, Asset based valuation and Comparable Company Valuation techniques.

“You’ve got to know your numbers inside and out, but it is important to understand that it’s as much about the art of negotiation as it is about science”

Bijon also pointed out LightCastle’s built in, easy-to-use valuation tool accessible to everyone at pujeebd.org.

Nazmul Ahmed demonstrates his unique way of captivating the audience

To end the day, came Nazmul Ahmed, CEO of Ennovision, one of the graduating startups of the 1^st batch of the GrameenPhone Accelerator. His presentation was almost like the concluding slide in a stellar PowerPoint presentation – a crisp summary of the key takeaways of the day. Except his wasn’t a presentation, but a live demo as he was kind enough to demonstrate what all the previous talks had pointed out. His experience and skill clearly showed as he managed to captivate the audience, and end with a room full of people breaking into a thundering round of applause.

The Pitch Perfect will be hosting a pitching competition, with prize money/seed funding of BDT 50,000 up for grabs! You can apply for the pitching competition here: www.thepitchperfect.com/apply, and also make use of various resources e.g. pitching templates and tips available at thepitchperfect.com

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