The TENWEST Impact Festival is one of Arizona’s leading innovation conferences. Startup Tucson celebrated its 25th anniversary of TENWEST’s most popular event, the IdeaFunding Pitch Competition this last October. Established and led by Startup Tucson, and with new co-lead University of Arizona Center for Innovation (UACI), the TENWEST Impact Festival is a multi-day professional conference of local, regional, and national attendees who gather together to focus on solutions for driving social, environmental, and economic impact.
The IdeaFunding Pitch Competition is an opportunity for Arizona’s startup companies to “pitch” a five-minute story of their company, why it will succeed, and how it will make an impact in our communities. The participants submit an application and participate in training where they receive coaching through multiple rounds working to improve their pitch. Applicants then advance as they are selected by panels of qualified judges and mentors, competing for a chance to pitch live at the grand finale of IdeaFunding in hopes of winning the $25,000 grand prize!
Dana Gunn, Marcus Engineering’s Operations Manager, alongside Peter Mantas, Optics Valley startup and commercialization mentor and advisor, and Mark Moeremans, Senior VP of Entrepreneurship & Venture Development at the Arizona Commerce Authority were the Judges for the final round of the technology vertical room. The judges apply a grading rubric looking for clear story telling on how the idea/company is not only innovative, but will make a social, economic, and cultural impact.
In the preliminary stages of a startup business, early investors look for specific attributes when making funding decisions. The ability to clearly address the following questions can influence those potential investors towards funding your startup or not. The high-level attributes of successful startups are:
- Does the company identify a problem or opportunity?
- Does the company describe how their idea will provide the solution or the opportunity they are seeking to take advantage of?
- Does the company know who their target customers are?
- Does the company know how they will generate revenue and what their cost structure will be?
- Does the company know what their market size will be realistically?
- Does the company know what the start up cost will be to start this venture opportunity?
- Does the company have a go-to-market strategy and will they be able to reach their customers?
- Does the company have a clear understanding of gaps they might have in leadership or implementation?
- Additional criteria evaluated and considered in the final rounds was focused around justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion. As well as representation of the region/Tucson.
The multi-day conference is filled with talks, interactive experiences, exhibits, live performances, and IdeaFunding Pitches, that inspire ideas and conversations. “TENWEST is one of Tucson’s biggest conference’s bringing entrepreneurship, culture, and social impact leaders together to address the challenges and opportunities in our communities. It’s a wonderful platform to cultivate inspiration and engagement from our current and future leaders to act and support each other. I look forward to it every year!” Said Dana about her experience.
