Pitching a business in a car, in traffic, in the busiest cities in the Middle East may sound like a recipe for disaster. But for entrepreneurs seeking face-time with seasoned investors and advisors, UberPITCH worked without a hitch.
Droves of digital dreamers submitted their ideas for consideration when Uber announced the event, but just 150 contestants made the short list. They received a special Uber app promo code that they used to hail a car between 11 am and 3 pm on Saturday, May 9. But Just a handful of contestants in Dubai, Cairo, Beirut, Riyadh and Amman got to share a car with an expert. Once on-board, entrepreneurs had just seven minutes to make their case and seven minutes to hear feedback.
“UberPITCH is a radically different experience,” said Cairo finalist, Ahmed Saad of Crowd Analyzer.
“There’s no stage, no audience, no formal presentation even,” he continued. “You don’t know if you’ll get a ride and if you do, you don’t know who the judges will be. You have no visibility on how you compare with your competitors because you don’t know who they are and how their pitches went…essentially you compete blindly.”
That afternoon, judges in UberPITCH cars across the region listened to diverse tech ideas that included a real-time bidding platform for last-minute travelers (LastSeat), a location based voucher redemption app (Guzzle), a healthy food box subscription service (Goodybox), and an app for real-time live debates (Qallout). Beyond the initial hesitation of getting into a vehicle and making one’s pitch in close physical proximity to the judges, it was immediately apparent with each of the contestants in our car that the setting allowed for a more casual and conversational vibe.
Original article by Natasha D’Souza and Maysaa Ajjan
Continue reading at Wamda:
Pitching on the open road: Uber brings MENA entrepreneurs and experts together in 5 cities
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