Meet Evan Wong.
Founder of a successful tuition firm, previous KPMG management consultant and full time entrepreneur. Founder and CEO of Checkbox.ai, Evan took home first place in the 2017 StartCon Pitch Competition. We caught up with Evan for his take on winning the comp, and what Checkbox has planned for the upcoming year!
1. How did you condense a technically-dense product such as checkbox.ai into a two-minute pitch?
The key is to detach yourself from the technical details of the product and focus on the benefits to the customer. In fact, in my pitch, I barely talked about how the product actually worked. As a founder, I know and want to share so much more about the product but this would only leave the audience confused and bored, more than impressed. So instead, build a story around the problem you’re solving and amaze the audience with the solution because in the context of a 2 minute pitch, it’s all about the why, not the how.
2. What do you think made you win over the judges?
I think winning pitch competitions is a combination of several factors rather than one single thing. At the base of it, you need to be solving a compelling problem – most of the time, this problem won’t resonate with all the judges so it’s very important that you help them empathise. But at the end of the day, a pitch is a show, and that means being engaging. I like to believe I have a talent for crafting journeys so that my audience can deeply appreciate the problem at hand and genuinely believe that my product is the solution to that problem. Being passionate and having fun in the delivery also helps!
3. Where do you see checkbox.ai in 2018?
This coming year for checkbox.ai is going to be huge. I mean 2017 was huge for us but 2018 is going to be HUGE. Having launched our product only in October 2017, this coming year will be when our product will be heavily adopted by the market, both within Australia, but also globally! We already have projects with companies in Singapore and the US, and are looking to expand that reach into Hong Kong and beyond. This will really stress test our product and our operations but hey, that’s what being a start-up is all about!
To find out more about checkbox.ai, check out the website here. Find them on social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/checkbox/ Twitter: https://au.linkedin.com/company/checkbox-app
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