In our early days of my startup, I would try to enter as many pitch competitions as was feasible, just to try and get our project in front of as many eyes as possible and get our names mentioned in the popular startup press.

I used to give everything in these competitions, and we were finalists in several, including the prestigious Australia Post Pitchfest even in 2017. These competitions were crucial in getting us to hone our messaging, and to highlight what we needed to focus on. We learned a lot during this process.

But we never won one.

In fact, here is the results summary we got from one local pitch competition we entered:

As you can see, we scored a woeful 60% overall. We failed in 3 of the judge’s criterion. One of the key judges was highly critical of my HR platform startup during the on site judging, and this email further sunk the boot in.

But I saved this email. Because it only served to spur me on and to prove them (him) wrong!

Today, we have achieved 7 figures in ARR, and most of the winners in the pitch events I entered are no longer around.

Persistence and belief in yourself matters…