So the big day finally arrived and it was back once again to Canary Wharf for the Microsoft Accelerator Demo Day.
Even though the event didn’t kick off until mid-afternoon we were there early in order to go through the pitches once again with all the teams going through their pitches twice. This was not without its glitches as demos didn’t work as expected and words were stumbled over.
Early afternoon, before the guests arrived, boxes of branded cup cakes were delivered which was a neat touch and great to see our logo baked! Tim and I put a couple aside to give to our wives as a small thank you for their support not only over the last twelve weeks but throughout our working lives. Working in a startup can be a stressful business and having someone to support you can make a big difference. As anyone working in a startup will know a cupcake goes nowhere near to repaying the support given but it is a start!
And then we were on. Each pitch was only five minutes but felt like a lifetime and I wasn’t even speaking. It has originally been our intention to have the presentation done by both myself and the CEO but we were advised to just have it done by the CEO. So I stood on the sidelines operating the slides and watching Tim nail the pitch. It all went incredibly smoothly and nobody made any mistakes and in fact there were a few adlibs slipped in for good measure.
After the pitch we had quite a few people come up to us, both investors and others, to congratulate us and wanting to talk further, which was encouraging as that was the point of the day. Time will tell what comes of these discussions.
So that is it, the accelerator is over for us. Thirteen weeks (including demo day) during which we have learnt a great deal, honed our pitch, improved our presentation and met some great people but now it is time to go back to the day job and make a success of the business.
