Youth Pitching Contest - late post!

This is a late, late post but I have to say the Youth Pitching Event at the University of Sydney was a knockout affair!  Eric Chau from the University of NSW won the first prize, a trip to Silicon Valley to attend the gala TIECON conference with 3,500 other attendees.  He came back glowing, his 'life changed' - he said.

Check out the details on the TiE site, where you can also see his pitch on a YouTube clip.

We are now looking for angel investors to help Eric patent his eyedropper design and license it to manufacturers.  Any comers?

TiE Women's Pitching Event a great success!

The TiE Sydney Pitching Contest for Women Entrepreneurs on 2 March was an outstanding success.  With 12 contestants, the range and quality of ideas and initiatives was exceptional.  Panel judge Jennifer Zanich, serial entrepreneur and currently CEO of Xumii Services, commented that she had not seen this level of quality pitches, even in her second home of Silicon Valley.  The buzz was palpable as each contestant, constrained to just 3 minutes, pitched to an imaginary group of angel investors for money and partnership.

As MC for the evening, my brief to the contestants was that the key objective of the pitch was not to get a cheque (even the most naive angel would not do this!) but to get a meeting.  Then there was a chance of securing a cheque!  The panel judges agreed they would give all the contestants a meeting opportunity, so they all came out ahead.

 The winner was a late entry, Lucy Symons from Barefoot Power, who won a trip to India courtesy of TiE sponsor ACR Travels, see here.  While the winners were chuffed, all contestants had positive feedback about their own learning experience.

Which, after all, was the primary goal of the event.  Six contestants had also signed up for a TiE Sydney mentoring workshop to refine their pitches on Sunday 27 Feb.  Alongwith fellow Board member Angelica Jacob and Charter Member Nitin Singhi, I ran this 3-hour workshop given my responsibility for TiE's Mentoring Program.

And what a delight it was!  Young Jenny Lui, a second-year engineering student at UTS, stood out in her passion and obvious delight in pitching her wind turbine solution for city buildings to leverage wind energy for their own lighting.  With participants in a wide range of age, experience and product-market propositions, everyone learnt as much from each other as from the counsel of the facilitators.

Now we are planning the Youth Pitching Contest in May, billed as a 'Clash of the Titans' between University of Sydney and the University of NSW.  Should be just as much fun!

A great event and experience for all at TiE and the participants.  Why not join our next event, a workshop on Networking on 6 April at the Sydney Hilton?

Exciting lineup of events for entrepreneurs at TiE Sydney 2011!

On the new Board of TiE Sydney, the local chapter of the world's largest entrepreneur support network (www.tie.org), we have put together a string of 10 events for 2011 that should be of interest not only to entrepreneurs but movers and shakers within large organisations.

Selecting the broad theme of  "Innovation" for 2011, we have three key events put together:

• "Growth through Innovation" Workshop for Small and Medium Enterprises on 4 May;
• "Leadership through Innovation" Workshop for Corporates/Larger organisations on 3 August;
• TiECON 2011 - the flagship event on 5 October.

For the full schedule of events, click here.  You can also check out and sign up for the free newsletter here.

This year we also have a focus on Women Entrepreneurs and are looking to partner other associations to offer free mentoring, joint events and for TiE Members, a chance to win a trip to India with a Pitching Contest on 2 March.

Why not join the 2011 Kick-off event at the swish new Sydney Hilton on 2 February - free for members, just $20 for non-members.  With canapes and drinks courtesy of TiE, the business case is compelling!

And if you thought networking was not your strength, why not attend our Workshop on Networking on 6 April to build these essential skills?!

Check out www.sydneytie.info for more information or www.sydney.tie.org to find out more about TiE Sydney and the global TiE network across 56 Chapters in 13 countries!

Best with your startup or growth plans in 2011!