Perfecting the Pitch

We are happy to announce that the first Entrepreneurial Workshop of Spring 2015 will be Perfecting the Pitch presented by Stephen Auvil. 

Whether you are starting a business, talking to investors, or just trying to nail an interview, the ability to pitch yourself and your idea is important. 

Your ability to effectively communicate an idea is critical to your success. This is especially true when delivering a “Pitch” – a short conversation in which you attempt to convince someone else that you have a good idea.  If you are an entrepreneur, your pitch, sometimes in a matter of seconds, will determine whether or not a stranger will take an interest in you and your business or just walk away and forget everything you said.  When that stranger is a potential investor, partner, or customer, it is easy to understand how critical an effective pitch can be.  If you are trying to get a job or trying to convince your boss that you have a great idea, you will also need to be able to give a good pitch.  This talk will describe different types of pitches.  A detailed description of an “Elevator pitch” will be discussed including what should be said and how it should be delivered.  Several Dos and Don’ts will also be discussed.  For the purpose of comparison, an outline of an investor pitch will also be presented.

Stephen Auvil is the senior vice president for technology transfer and commercialization at the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO). In this role, he is responsible for overseeing TEDCO’s funding programs. In this capacity, he reviews proposals from a variety of start-up and early-stage companies. Prior to his four years at TEDCO, Mr. Auvil spent 17 years in university technology transfer at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Before his time as a technology transfer professional, Mr. Auvil worked for two small medical device companies where he had a variety of responsibilities ranging from rebuilding medical devices under GMP to setting-up and networking computerized accounting systems. He began his career as a laboratory technician studying ion channels in membranes. Mr. Auvil graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Engineering Science from Loyola College in Maryland, and went on to earn a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Baltimore and a Master’s of Science in Biotechnology from the Johns Hopkins University.