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Every week on Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch, contestants have just one minute to win a life-changing investment for their business.
In order for a pitch to succeed, it needs to pack in a lot of information in 60 seconds: the problem the business solves, its valuation and traction, who the founders are, and what the ask is.
What shouldn't be included in a pitch? An insult to the investors you're pitching, as one contestant team quickly learns.
In order for a pitch to succeed, it needs to pack in a lot of information in 60 seconds: the problem the business solves, its valuation and traction, who the founders are, and what the ask is.
What shouldn't be included in a pitch? An insult to the investors you're pitching, as one contestant team quickly learns.
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00:00one minute we only have 60 seconds elevator pitch one chance to change your life solar on wheels
00:11plant-based skincare coffee alternative in this elevator your pitch means everything that's
00:17insulting we're investors we're here to make money where brave entrepreneurs race the clock
00:23to win over three powerhouse investors i always think there's a deal somewhere the countdown
00:28starts now is it a yes this is entrepreneur elevator pitch presented by amazon business
00:38tonight in the boardroom kim perel ceo of 100.co jonathan hung prominent venture capitalist and
00:50angel investor laura cho of canaan partners venture capital are you ready to make a deal i have a baby
00:58now so look out i gotta get that money any tips for me stay out of my way
01:02first up a pair of entrepreneurs looking to shine a light on ev parking
01:14i'm antonia ceo of gizmo power and i'm erica vp of operations and antonia's mom
01:24when i start pulling out my hair and say this is never going to work she keeps me
01:29right on track yes mom this is good what you're doing is right and that's very helpful for me
01:35for me it's very exciting to be able to work with my mom because she's like my comfort zone
01:40so i just feel like i can be any version of myself i feel like you will always be truly honest with me
01:46and i really appreciate that you do that hello erica and antonia welcome to the elevator
01:55your pitch begins in three two one i'm antonia ceo of gizmo power and i'm erica vp of operations
02:08and tony's mom being raised on a sailboat i experienced how solar can generate enough
02:13electricity for all our needs but rooftop systems are expensive and complicated what with the
02:20contractors and permitting plus it's not a solution for renters that's why i patented the mobile
02:26electricity generating appliance or mega a plug-in solar carport that shades and charges in ev while
02:33powering a home or business it's easier to maintain upgrade and protect than rooftop systems
02:38and can roll into a garage in case of a hurricane we've deployed 10 megas across six states and
02:45received two million dollars in non-dilutive funding today we're asking for a hundred thousand
02:50dollar investment for eight percent of our profits till you receive back 150 000
02:56gizmo power solar on wheels coming to your driveway
03:01i'm so confused what was the ask 100 000 and you get paid back 150 000 that's insulting we're investors
03:12we're here to make money i will say i do think there's a real need for innovation within alternative
03:17energy and it sounded like there was some science behind this although they didn't really get into it
03:22i actually love the mother-daughter combo but i'm still stuck on the ask yeah that was unique that
03:28was different instead of just asking for equity i'd say i'd be curious to learn more
03:32if maybe there's a different ask we can get them to well how about we vote let's vote
03:36attention erica and antonia
03:46your pitch has been
03:51approved
03:56well i'm surprised kim i thought you wanted to support a mom and daughter team i love a mother
04:04daughter team but do you know what i like more than that making money and that return was not
04:09exactly why i invest it was a bad ask given what we heard but i always think there's a deal somewhere
04:15let's find out good job mom welcome hello thank you so much this is really exciting so if you want we
04:25have a demo video for you to see it in real life action and you're sure we want to hear a little bit
04:30more about your ask because i could not understand how i was going to make money out of this investment
04:37right sure we in general do not take dilutive funding we're here to make you money with a profit share we believe that our solution is going to be very exciting and very disruptive and what was your ask just just to be clear we're asking for a hundred thousand dollars for eight
04:58for eight percent of profits until you get back 150 i'm a little bit flabbergasted by this ask because
05:08we're investors and when we're thinking about making just another 50k on our 100k investment
05:14yeah we can make more in the market potentially you certainly could but then you'll get your foot in the
05:19door with an unbelievably newfangled and disruptive solution maybe we can talk about the deal in a little
05:25bit but i'd love to hear a little bit more about the company yeah of course so it was actually my college
05:30thesis so i majored in physics environmental studies and then in my master's i majored in mechanical
05:35engineering and i came up with this concept so it can roll in and out of a garage in case of a hurricane
05:41it functions also as an ev charger so it's a new way to deploy solar it's not rooftops not ground mount
05:47it's a way that renters then own their own solar without needing to own their house how much does it cost
05:53our system right now without scaling yet is about 19 000 to 20 000 give and take because we are
06:00building these things ourselves you're building this yourself yes my dad yes we are oh my gosh can
06:05we see it so i built this just for the show just for you guys because we can't bring an actual giant
06:12solar carporting here i've actually looked into the residential solar market and one of the most
06:17difficult things is selling to consumers and the go to market can you talk about what you've done so
06:22far of course we can as we know there was an initiative called solar for all that's been removed
06:28now we're all about solar by many solar by many that makes you into a prosumer that means
06:36simultaneously you are generating power as well as consuming power this is a hugely disruptive idea
06:43because we're generating it via a plug so this is an actual size of a 240 volt plug same thing you'd
06:48plug in your dryer so you've sold 10 over the last four years correct yes but we have no we have no
06:53sales department but how are you going to sell them then well we have a a double insertion strategy both
07:02on grid and the off grid also any solar installers could technically also deploy this themselves so is
07:09that part of your sales strategy to partner with these right definitely right now installers across
07:14the nation are going out of business they don't have to install anymore they can just deploy you
07:20can just drop it off let's talk about yeah profit margins are you selling for 19 000 how much do you make
07:26our profit margins are relatively slim but we do it that way but what are they
07:31yeah about three thousand dollars no i'm closer to five thousand dollars well depending on how
07:40expensive the panels are and the custom extrusions somewhere between three and five thousand correct
07:46yes do you have a wait list for the next 10 customers yes the wait list you don't big wait
07:51list how many people are on your wait list we stopped counting because we're so focused we're
07:56manufacturing in sight what is the capital going into them we would be using your hundred thousand
08:02dollars to launch a campaign for off-grid systems right away and even if you were able to sell them
08:09you do not have the infrastructure to produce them is that correct we do have the infrastructure we would
08:17then once we have the additional support then we we also have enough systems to sell 27 so we have
08:23enough stock right now to sell 27 27 in stock we have 20 unbuilt systems 27 in stock unbuilt and a
08:30huge wait list why not match those two and sell them to the demand
08:39because first of all we're a very small company we're three people and we have not taken venture
08:44capital up till now we are into slow growth and we're very much focused on making the end user more
08:51wealthy than third-party investors we've been offered millions for our company because they know what
08:56the potential is we want your business because you have the business savvy to help us scale
09:08i think the two of you are fabulous you have such great energy you understand the category and and
09:14deeply from a scientific standpoint when i'm looking at an investment i want to be backing
09:20founders who are ready to grow quickly i hear you saying that you're making decisions that are
09:26causing you to grow more slowly because you don't want to take dilutive capital but i want to back
09:30founders who are willing to take that leap and move quickly and so for that reason i'm gonna pass
09:38i actually get it i love that you're focused on the end consumer you have the big idea for me i as an
09:49investor want to be a part of that big idea and if you win i win and that's not going from 100k to 150k
09:57so for that reason and only that reason i'm going to pass okay okay thank you
10:04you don't need our money 100 000 is nothing you can go get that really easy and alone
10:12how about let's see you deliver you know the 17 units you have yeah and then come back to us
10:20i think that's fair you know then we can give you more money to scale faster
10:26so for that let's pass for now and prove me wrong
10:28sounds great we're happy to have been here and to show the world that this is possible i hope you
10:36find it cool so amazing we are very impressed thank you so much thank you good luck thank you
10:45i actually feel great because this shows me that our strategy of not taking venture capital for the
10:50last four and a half years was a good one essentially venture capitalists are really out
10:55about their own bottom line i believe that people who are actually doing disruptive work that really
11:01move the needle you've got to have above and beyond that venture capital mindset we've got to make those
11:07end users a little more wealthy and the third party's a lot less wealthy
11:14it is a pretty cool thing that they've built it's amazing actually and it's a unique form factor
11:21i would have invested if i actually got equity in the company yeah i think the deal was a problem
11:28for me they didn't answer the questions around go to market and that made me nervous well not just
11:33that they're just building it themselves that doesn't in the garage which is kind of cool
11:37actually but you can't scale we asked them how to scale like 10 times you can't scale
11:42so entrepreneur elevator pitch is presented by amazon business for every organization at every stage of growth
11:58our next entrepreneur is hoping their sustainable coffee alternative can brew up a deal with our investors
12:05my name is orletha smith i am the co-founder and ceo of sip herbals sip herbals is the only coffee
12:13alternative that is made specifically for people with an autoimmune disease because they usually can't
12:18do coffee and i have an autoimmune disease my family keeps me going my family is the reason that i get up
12:26every day and grind you know having my daughter who drinks my product every single day because she also
12:33has an autoimmune condition and can't do coffee knowing that i'm getting up to make sure that she
12:38has not just something that will nourish her body but looking for someone who can encourage her and see
12:44that it's possible to have a dream and realize it hello orletha welcome to the elevator
12:55your pitch begins in three two one hi my name is orletha smith i'm the co-founder of sip herbals a coffee
13:06alternative that gives you all the things you love about coffee without the caffeine crashes jitters or
13:11tummy troubles during the pandemic my business partner and i discovered that our anxiety insomnia
13:16and gut issues were actually the results of our morning cup of coffee and we're not alone over 150
13:22million americans are just like us we went in search of an alternative but everything had caffeine
13:27risky adaptogens or natural flavors so we created superbals a line of six coffee house inspired flavors that
13:35are adaptogen free and also prebiotic they are designed to support your body and not wreck it
13:41we started with a kickstarter in 2021 and seven thousand dollars and today we sold almost a million dollars to
13:46over 25 000 customers we're seeking 150 000 in the form of a safe with a 20 discount and a 5 million
13:54dollar cap we hope you'll join us in making mornings jitter free because your morning ritual should not
13:59come with a side over bread i liked that pitch it's great pitch she was tight she was thoughtful i didn't
14:08hear the traction but the valuation seemed relatively low why does she look so familiar she won entrepreneur
14:15elevator pitch on the street wow want to know why i would invest in something like this check out
14:21the pitch hey i'm the co-founder of sip herbals my name is orlifa smith the two of you are the d2c beverage
14:29mavens so i'm curious what you think i don't drink coffee but i'm interested in a coffee alternative maybe
14:37yeah but there's so many of these out there coffee alternatives everything d2c beverages it's a hard
14:44business i'm curious to see what she's gonna do to stand out should we take it to a boat okay let's vote
14:56attention olifa
15:01your pitch has been
15:03thank you hi welcome we're excited to hear more about sip one of the big questions for all of us
15:20is what makes sip different so sip is different because it does not have adaptogens and so sip was
15:26made specifically for those women and people who may be dealing with hormone issues i'm a certified master
15:32herbalist and you should not be blanketing adaptogens on everyone it's kind of like putting medicine
15:37on everyone for everything you kind of need to tailor that for each person so sip is a blank slate
15:42so how do you help the consumer understand like what you actually are yes so we tell our customers that
15:49we are an herbal blend it is a superfood coffee alternative well the proof's in the pudding let's try it
15:55oh okay so i'm gonna start with my favorite flavor which is cinnamon roll
16:00so is it a tea so sip is a tea it's just herbs there is no caffeine there's no beans
16:07are there any unique herbs you're using like sassafras ginseng what's in here
16:14our herbs are a combination of chicory carob and dandelion chicory is prebiotic and then carob gives a
16:20mouth feel of coffee that back chocolate note and also some minerals but dandelion is more of the
16:24powerhouse where it gives liver support and so all three together give you the sustainable energy
16:29without that crash is that the benefit that you're pitching that with sip i get sustainable energy
16:34without the crash that is one of the benefits that we're pitching we also talk a lot to the autoimmune
16:39community which affects a large majority of women is there a reason why you focused on that community
16:44do you have kind of an understanding of it yes i have an autoimmune disease myself my daughter
16:48has an autoimmune disease and then we've spent about 15 years in the wellness space then we have deep
16:53roots in that community and it's how we were able to gross it from that seven thousand dollar
16:57kickstarter to almost a million dollars today organically and we've done it all online and
17:01what will your revenue be for 2025 our revenue for this year we should hit a million dollars this year
17:07talk to me about what you're spending on marketing we are very gritty we are very let me pull up my
17:12bootstraps let me figure this out myself so we grew this from seven thousand dollars most people can't
17:18grow this from seven thousand dollars so we know how to make a dollar stretch our cac is six dollars
17:23why is it so low because we work hand in hand with micro influencers there's also a segment that
17:30we'd love to move into and that's the spa community you're talking about on-prem that's the key yeah i
17:36think that's a great space to go are you profitable we are profitable i love the word profitability
17:43so this year what will be your profit margin so our profit margin um on our d2c is still going to
17:50remain right around 60 okay what's next year's revenue look like so next year we would love to
17:56double this year's revenue and hit two million dollars especially with adding those hotels and
18:01spas and birthing centers that's the goal for next year all right i'll offer you something
18:08i'm not going to give you the whole 150 but you know
18:15based on your d2c sale you know i think we can get you into retail not right away let's wait a year
18:20let's double it like you said i'm only throwing 50 000 at your 5 million valuation that's that's fair
18:30i appreciate it thank you very much i love your hustle and the scrappiness and it's amazing how far
18:37you've come in terms of your revenue and your profitability and where you're at i have another
18:43investment in the similar space so unfortunately for that reason i'm going to pass
18:52well we're coming for you then
18:55the profitability the scrappiness has been incredible to see i love the branding i actually
19:01love the product i don't have that much experience going into the types of brick and mortar that
19:07you're going into and so i don't think i'd be the best partner for you
19:12and so i'm going to pass okay thank you so much
19:16i feel amazing huge thank you to jonathan i cannot wait for you to be sipping with us
19:35yes thank you so much for the opportunity i cannot wait
19:42discipline scales better than hype growth at all costs is a trap it's not about vanity metrics
19:48it's about discipline and your fundamentals and your operations scaling sustainably eats explosive burn
19:54every time
19:54next up an entrepreneur hoping to bring nature's touch to everyday routines
20:08hi my name is psyche terry and i'm a founder of urban hydration we like to say we hydrate inside
20:14and outside every product we make donates a gallon of water to building wells in kenya
20:19i know that there are people internationally that are depending on my success on how hard i work or
20:25how well i pitch so this is a lot on the line and i wish my kids were here with my husband to
20:32just hold my hand but i'm going to be doing my best for all of us
20:39hello psyche welcome to the elevator
20:44your pitch begins in three two one hi i'm psyche terry and i am one of the founders of urban hydration
20:56urban hydration is plant-based skin care hair care and bath and body products we made urban hydration to
21:03help people that deal with dry itchy skin me i went to grocery stores and retail stores and i couldn't find
21:11products that had ingredients that i could trust so i created urban hydration urban hydration is now
21:18in hospitals we're in walmart and we're also in ulta this year we're up to making four million dollars
21:25and our lifetime revenue has been 43 million dollars in fact we're number 143 of 1500 top beauty brands
21:34but we need your help beauty is headed to the next level and i need 500 000 for five percent of
21:40my business in order to take urban hydration to cp to take it to retail as well as online digital sales
21:48and with customers that are digitally oh cut off so close get it tighter that's all it is just get
21:56it tighter you only have 60 seconds elevator pitch she's a great pitch though i thought yeah got a lot
22:00of details in yeah i'll be with the 43 million in sales yeah but four million this year i would have
22:06probably left out the 43 million because as an investor i'm thinking how long has this company
22:11been in business and where's the growth yeah talk about next year's numbers should we take it to a vote
22:15let's vote let's vote let's vote attention psyche
22:27your pitch
22:30has been
22:35approved
22:35we were so impressed with your pitch got cut off of the end there but you did a great job
22:46and we all wanted to learn more so tell us what drove you to create this line i made urban hydration
22:54because i've suffered with eczema and dry skin and low self-confidence uh really all my life and i had no
23:03idea that so many other people in the country and in the world have dry skin and dry hair
23:07and it's why we made urban hydration why is it urban hydration every product that we make donates a
23:13gallon of building wells in kenya as well as now all around the world these are urban communities that are
23:19really dependent upon the water that we're able to donate to them every time we have a product sold
23:24okay it's an incredible mission thank you and how many skews do you currently have about 30 products
23:30that we know are really best sellers so we've got best-selling skincare hair care and then we even
23:35have bath and body oils and products but that's a lot of categories what's your hero skew this is my
23:41hero skew can i let you try it yes we'd love to ladies first what is this this is our aloe vera gel
23:51and i hope that it's refreshing to your skin it's plant-based
23:54feels so good yeah right yeah felvety our whole goal has been to give you products that feel like
24:03um the best of the best at an affordable price and what is the price point oh our price point for this
24:10is 9.99 and we're wanting to increase our revenue so next year we're taking our products up to 14.99
24:17which is still extremely exceptional for this type of product and the size and that'll give us more
24:22around the 70 profit margin on each of our skews you shared a lot about the traction of the business
24:27in your pitch but i didn't hear what your ask was i am really uh excited because not just beauty but
24:34beauty tech is where we want to take this brand so we are asking for five hundred thousand dollars
24:38for five percent of the business why because we want to add to our lids into the top of our creams
24:45a skin analyzer that actually analyzes your skin and tells you how dry you are how moist you are if our
24:51product is actually working but you know 500 000 for five percent that's a lot you're only doing
24:58what this year four million in sales four million in sales this year we've been in business for 10
25:06years so i've made the humps i figured it out in totality for retail we've made retail over 100 million
25:13dollars i'd love to hear more about the beauty tech is a skin analyzer something you've developed
25:19yourself it is something i'm working with a company with right now we will also have to likely be over
25:25in the tools department you're moving categories you're going to move buyers it's going to cost a
25:30lot more money than 500 000 to invest in technology you have a great product and you're only at four
25:36million why not just focus
25:37i am excited to do both and i do need ideas like that people that have business backgrounds in dot com
25:48as well as b2c because that's my number one goal is to grow b2c and my number two goal is to make sure
25:53that we can also be heroines where the industry is going but are you profitable right now it is
25:58expensive to be in retail i think we can be more profitable when we're selling online directly no
26:03you're not profitable we're not profitable yet how much are you losing it costs us probably uh
26:09three hundred thousand dollars a month to do business and we're burning about a hundred thousand
26:14dollars a month right now and how are you covering that if you have no investors and no profit we cover
26:18it with sales we cover it with factoring is how we work uh and we cover it with uh loans
26:24i actually love you what i'm concerned about when i listen to you and how you're going to grow the
26:34business and this 500 000 of capital that you want to be injected is one where you're going to spend it
26:40because you have d2c which you want to grow retail which you have to continue to fuel and you have this
26:46new beauty tech which you want to get into that's going to cost a lot more than 500k
26:51and so while i love you and the business i'm going to pass
26:59thank you i think you've done an incredible job over 10 years it shows a ton of tenacity and
27:06i love that you're thinking about the next step and thinking about continuing to innovate
27:11my concern is that the beauty tech aspect feels like a big jump from where you are today and
27:17it's a bit unproven and given that's kind of where the new focus of the business is going and
27:23where the capital is going i don't feel comfortable in terms of being able to see that journey going
27:28forward and so for that reason i'm going to pass thank you all right jonathan wow okay
27:38i'm going to come out and say let's not focus on tech let's just sell the product
27:42i like like kim said you i mean i always think about the founder
27:53jonathan are you in are you out
28:03i think i could help you know i've done a lot of cpg i think i'm doing a lot on d2c right now yes
28:11for that amount we're gonna have to grow your online sales yes i'm not going to give you 500 000
28:20i'm willing to offer you 50 000.
28:26okay yes or no i am i'm floored that you'd be interested in working with me and i'm interested
28:34in working with you as well okay i think we should do it is it a yes i think okay let's do it let's do it
28:40come on let's do it all right i'm excited great i would tell me years ago the sleepless nights are
28:50worth it keep going keep going there are so many people that need water and they're going to get it
28:57because of you there are people that need hydration they're going to get it from you
29:01your kids need to see this other people's kids need to see this don't stop now because i know you
29:06want to stop but don't stop oh i can't wait to try all this later oh man this is going to be great
29:14my wife is going to love it too i can tell
29:17we saw some top tier deals in the boardroom today as psyche from urban hydration and or letha from
29:29sip herbals both secured high-flying deals with our investors however antonia and erica were sent home
29:37empty-empty-handed tune in next week as entrepreneur elevator pitch continues ai ai everything's ai i mean
29:47am i going to get replaced soon and to apply for the next season go to entrepreneur.com elevator pitch
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