In October, 2017, David Cox, from Advanced Catering Solutions took part in one of the North Sydney Innovation Network’s regular pitch events. Here’s his summary of what he gained from the experience…

David pitching to the judges and audience at the event in 2017

David pitching to the judges and audience at the event in 2017

I entered the NSIN Pitch Contest. I saw it as an excellent opportunity to practice pitching in front of welcoming and friendly judges and audience. I received some useful advice from one of the judges on how to present the competitive landscape without confusing people.

Although the feedback from the judges was valuable, the main value for me was in forcing me to put more work into my deck and having exposure on the stage. One of the judges, a Sydney-based VC followed up the next day and invited me to pitch to his team, which was unexpected but fantastic.

I came second and my prizes were a 1-hour session with James Wan, a patent attorney at Watermark and a 1-hour session with commercialisation expert, Brian Dorricott.

James gave me amazing advice on topics such as domestic versus international patents, trademarks and other IP protection issues. Brian gave me excellent guidance on strategy and enterprise sales.

My recommendations for other founders is to read as many books on startups and business as you have time for. And the latest one I’m reading: Nail It then Scale It by Nathan Furr and Paul Ahlstrom.

Note from NSIN: While this book isn’t in the North Sydney Innovation library just yet (donations welcome!), check out our other awesome books that you can borrow!

Thanks to David for this summary and thanks also to our judges, coaches, prize givers and audience for showing up! Don’t miss the next Pitch event. Visit our Meetup page to RSVP to the next one. You might also like to read a summary of our April 2018 pitch event. If you want to learn a bit more about these events, check out our quick pitch intro blog post.

More about David

David Cox is Founder/CEO of Advanced Catering Solutions. He is building a hardware/software system that transforms the primitive compliance processes in global large-volume catering companies. He also loves cooking, photography and progressive house music.