eLance big idea Melbourne
This was a strange event for a couple of reasons, firstly it didn’t run very smoothly with lots of minor technical issues and delays that made the event run very long and late, with the main event not really starting until 8pm after a 6:30 start. Secondly the pitches (I saw, see later) were generally a little unsure and not in the traditional pitch style, I spent a lot of time thinking ‘and…?’, it was never very clear why the pitchers were pitching, what did they want to win for, what did they need the money for? A lot of the pitches had references to ‘how awesome’ eLance was, feeling more like a pitch for eLance than their own products some of the time.
The evening began with a talk from ‘Foundr’ magazine founder, Nathan Chan. It was a good talk about founding the magazine and founding an idea generally, full of great advice, but in the theme of the evening it went on way too long and no one gave Nathan any indication of this.
Down to the pitches I saw, with things running so late, I left halfway through sadly.
Swyft pay
Australia has a lot of payment processors and related services and it wasn’t completely clear what Swyft pay’s point of difference was, despite a presentation chock full of information, which felt more like a feature tour than a pitch. It seems to be aimed at ‘tradies’ (Australian slang for plumbers, builders etc) who generally operate on a cash and paper economy. Swyft Pay offers Invoicing, quoting, paying etc through a website and mobile app. Whilst I have a lot of experience with payment systems, I have no experience of this sector, so maybe it will appeal to them.
www.swyftpay.com
Servomate
Despite a pitch that ended up being a premade video (isn’t that cheating?) that thoroughly covered why petrol prices vary and how much comparison services help consumers, it still wasn’t clear to me what made Servomate different from the many other similar services, or how they would make money.
Can’t seem to find a URL.
Buzz movie makers (Eventual winner)
By far the best quality pitch of the evening, and it was actually a pitch, i.e. here’s the issue, here’s how we solve it, here’s what we need. Buzz teaches kids movie making thorough interactive workshops, and tutorials, thus also teaching them imagination, technical skills etc. I would have thought that many services like this existed already, but I am assured they don’t, so congratulations on their win.