Pitch Slam to rank start-ups’ overseas chances

A new event, called Pitch Slam, has been launched to help assess start-ups that are seeking to expand to overseas markets.

The initiative has been created by ANZA Technology Network, which helps Australian businesses spread to new countries, and US analyst firm Guidewire Group.

Pitch Slam will involve companies delivering a five-minute pitch before being assessed. The event will be held in incubators in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide between May 25 and 30. Each participant will be charged the equivalent of $US49.

After pitching, businesses will find out their G/Score. This is a measurement, devised by Guidewire, which provides companies a score between one and four in each of the following seven areas: concept, market opportunity, competitive landscape, product execution, business execution, team and business model.

ANZA has worked with Guidewire for the last five years, previously offering full-day courses for start-ups to be analysed by the G/Score method. This will be the first time that it has been offered in a short pitch format.

Businesses that take part are eligible for Guidewire’s Innovate!100 list, which ranks the world’s top-performing start-ups based on their G/Scores. Last year, 10 Australian businesses made the cut.

“We wanted to make G/Score more available and accessible, so that’s why we changed the format,” says Viki Forrest, CEO of ANZA. “It’s a prescriptive, diagnostic tool that provides entrepreneurs an opportunity to see the areas that they should focus on to move the business forward.”

“There’s always 1,000 things that start-ups need to work on and this helps them determine their focus in one area. For example, a new company with high market opportunity but a low score for the team isn’t in a terrible position. They can work on the team as they go.”