For a solution to be bought by someone, it needs to meet a market problem. Therefore, one of the basic principles of the Academic Working Capital program is that solutions solve real needs. The final stage of the AWC in 2020 focused precisely on the validation of the problem, which the startups propose to solve with the activities of Workshop II, on 11/28, and Pitch Day, on 12/05.
These events mark a transition – when the participants leave the stage of searching for a problem and enter in the stage of building the solution. “What we will do from now until the end of the year is: think about whether this segment has the dimension that matters to start with,” explained the academic coordinator of AWC, Professor Marcos Barretto. In this direction, the groups set up their presentations for the Pitch Day during Workshop II, with the objective of validating the process of searching for the problem and the conclusions raised so far.
Mentor Lucas Moreira addressed the importance of exploring the individual journey and the evolution of the project to build the narrative of the problem. Leandro Queiroz explained what a pitch is, its structure and themes to be approached, among other tips and care that students should take into consideration. User Experience specialist Getulio Lima has complemented Lucas and Leandro’s talks with a lecture on storytelling and the different types of narratives. “When you tell a story to a general audience, you have to be as clear as possible, you can’t create tangles or dualities”.
Also, during Workshop II, the teams were subdivided into two groups and presented their pitch of the problem to the guests, in a preparatory experience for Pitch Day. The board 1 was composed by Laura Gurgel – Chief of Hubs Operations at Ozonean Group and pitch evaluator at Shark Tank Brazil, Marcelo Scolari – CEO and founder of startup XTrainingBrasil and Pedro Fornari – CEO and co-founder of startup Kartado, alumni AWC 2017. Board 2 was formed by Fabio Souza – manager of the Startup SP program at Sebrae, Daniel Godoy – CEO of startup Apponte.Me and Robson Quero – CEO and co-founder of startup Binahki, alumni AWC 2019.
The students had one week to improve their pitches, with the feedbacks of the experts in mind. The following Saturday, at Pitch Day, each team had 3 minutes for the pitch and 2 minutes to receive feedback from the booth, formed by Márcio Lino – Environmental, Social & Governance director at TIM, Rodrigo Franco – Head of Design at the venture builder Caos Focado – ex-Head of Acceleration of AWC and Thalita Braga – CEO of Gaia Green Tech and alumni AWC 2019. The pitch had a more constructive format, the guests were people who know in depth, about both, entrepreneurship and the AWC process.
“We are trying to offer provocations that are important for you to develop your solution, improve the connection between the solution and the pain you are trying to heal”, explained Marcio Lino. “It’s even energizing to see good ideas and to talk: how nice it is that we have people who are looking for solutions, to build a more prosperous and safe world”, completed Thalita.
After Workshop II and Pitch Day, the students will participate of another flipped in 2020, before going into recess. Activities will be retaken in January 2021.
