See you on the way up, and the way down

Talk about the high pressure sales pitch. Wake Forest University takes the concept to a new level, literally, with its 6th annual elevator competition on April 1st and 2nd. MBA students from around the country will have two minutes during a ride to the top floor of the Wachovia building in downtown Winston-Salem, N.C., to make a sales pitch to a panel of venture capitalists and convince them to invest in their idea. The school allows teams of two students to make the pitch to one group of investors during on the way up to the top of the 29-story building—and another group during the ride down. The competition doesn’t allow props, handouts or other visual aids. Each team can only leave the VC with a business card at the end of the pitch. The winners get $10,000 cash, $40,000 in professional services and a meeting with a real venture capitalist that could result in financing for their idea. The ad business is represented in this year’s competition by Mullen’s office in Winston-Salem. The shop’s president, John Fitzgerald, will be one of the judges and the agency will provide marketing advice as part of the package of professional services for the winner.

—Posted by Jim Lovel

March 24, 2005 | Permalink