What is Pitch Night?
"Pitch Night is a high-octane event where student teams present their final business concept before a panel of industry experts in a Shark-Tank style competition for funding."
Leading up to Pitch Night
In April of 2022, we pitched to a Board of Advisors which were the people who decided the five teams to pitch on stage during Pitch Night. Out of 14 businesses who pitched to the board, Orca~Sunn was one of the lucky 5 selected to pitch on stage!
We had many words of encouragement, as well as constructive feedback which allowed us to improve upon our product before it came time to pitch to more than 700 people!
For the next month, we worked endlessly on perfecting not only our product...but also our pitch!
We already had a slideshow made up from previous pitches, however, none of them were nearly as important as this final pitch. So, we made a few minor changes to bring our details to perfection.
Now comes the hard part...memorization. In order to fully explain the entire concept of our business in a matter of 5 minutes (while having to memorize a majority of material), we had to practice, practice, practice!
Once we were confident with our pitch, we only had one thing left to work on...our table display! We created and bought many things to decorate so we would be able to attract people to our table display. We also created business cards, brochures, and stickers so our table visitors would be able to remember us and connect with us in the future!
We had many words of encouragement, as well as constructive feedback which allowed us to improve upon our product before it came time to pitch to more than 700 people!
For the next month, we worked endlessly on perfecting not only our product...but also our pitch!
We already had a slideshow made up from previous pitches, however, none of them were nearly as important as this final pitch. So, we made a few minor changes to bring our details to perfection.
Now comes the hard part...memorization. In order to fully explain the entire concept of our business in a matter of 5 minutes (while having to memorize a majority of material), we had to practice, practice, practice!
Once we were confident with our pitch, we only had one thing left to work on...our table display! We created and bought many things to decorate so we would be able to attract people to our table display. We also created business cards, brochures, and stickers so our table visitors would be able to remember us and connect with us in the future!
All of this was preparation for one important night...
May 10, 2022
A night we will truly never forget.
A night we will truly never forget.
We showed up to school bright and early, like any ordinary school day. However, this day was far from ordinary. We spent our entire day practicing and setting up for one of the most important days of our lives. We practiced on stage multiple times, slowly building our confidence for the night to come. Nerves didn't truly set in until later in the day when we geared up in our matching Orca~Sunn polos, preparing to begin welcoming guests to view table displays.
After an hour's worth of table displays, the time finally came to head backstage for the big event. Pitch Night began by introducing the judges who would be deciding the groups receiving funding.
Judges: Mr.Bruce Thompson, Dennis Ellmer, George Clarke IV, Gilbert T. Bland, Jerrold L. Miller, Monique Adams, Chad Hugo, and Virginia's very own governor...Mr.Glenn Youngkin!
(click each judge's name to learn more about who they are!)
Our business was the first pitch of the whole night, so you can imagine the pressure that was on us. Soon enough, Orca~Sunn was introduced, and off we were to the stage! Although nerves were at an all-time high, we shook them off and performed one of our best pitches as a team to date! After the longest five minutes of our lives, it was time to answer the judge's questions. They seemed interested in our product, though they also had some tough questions for us to answer. We used all of our knowledge collected over the course of the school year to answer them. After five minutes of questions, our time was up. We went backstage and anxiously watched our friends in fellow groups pitch their business ideas.
After an hour's worth of table displays, the time finally came to head backstage for the big event. Pitch Night began by introducing the judges who would be deciding the groups receiving funding.
Judges: Mr.Bruce Thompson, Dennis Ellmer, George Clarke IV, Gilbert T. Bland, Jerrold L. Miller, Monique Adams, Chad Hugo, and Virginia's very own governor...Mr.Glenn Youngkin!
(click each judge's name to learn more about who they are!)
Our business was the first pitch of the whole night, so you can imagine the pressure that was on us. Soon enough, Orca~Sunn was introduced, and off we were to the stage! Although nerves were at an all-time high, we shook them off and performed one of our best pitches as a team to date! After the longest five minutes of our lives, it was time to answer the judge's questions. They seemed interested in our product, though they also had some tough questions for us to answer. We used all of our knowledge collected over the course of the school year to answer them. After five minutes of questions, our time was up. We went backstage and anxiously watched our friends in fellow groups pitch their business ideas.
All five groups pitched and it was then time for the judge's debrief. After what felt like an eternity, it was finally time to hear what the fate of Orca~Sunn would be. All of the groups made their way backstage to hear the judge's feedback. Mr.Bruce Thompson began speaking about the night, and how amazing all of the groups were. We heard the name Orca~Sunn, and our hearts dropped. Unfortunately, we did not receive the news we were hoping for.
We were told we needed a bit more work, but to keep working hard and push forwards. Although we were disappointed, we did not let this discourage us. In fact, it only made us want to work harder. We set out on a mission when we created Orca~Sunn. We wanted people to be able to enjoy the outdoors without having to worry about ineffective all-natural sunblock. We wanted to protect the people of Virginia Beach, and we still have that same drive to do so. There have been so many people encouraging us along our journey, and we have put in too much work to quit now.
In order to continue our business through the EBA, we are required to enroll in their Accelerator Edu. course. In order to enroll in this course, businesses need a base funding of $2,000. As of July 2022, we are currently working on raising this $2,000 so we are able to enroll in this class and continue Orca~Sunn's journey!
We were told we needed a bit more work, but to keep working hard and push forwards. Although we were disappointed, we did not let this discourage us. In fact, it only made us want to work harder. We set out on a mission when we created Orca~Sunn. We wanted people to be able to enjoy the outdoors without having to worry about ineffective all-natural sunblock. We wanted to protect the people of Virginia Beach, and we still have that same drive to do so. There have been so many people encouraging us along our journey, and we have put in too much work to quit now.
In order to continue our business through the EBA, we are required to enroll in their Accelerator Edu. course. In order to enroll in this course, businesses need a base funding of $2,000. As of July 2022, we are currently working on raising this $2,000 so we are able to enroll in this class and continue Orca~Sunn's journey!
Although we did not necessarily get the turn out we had hoped for, we are still so incredibly grateful for the opportunity we had! We had such an amazing night and will be forever grateful for everything! We would like to say a HUGE thank you to the amazing judges on the panel. Your feedback was EXTREMELY helpful and we will be using everything we learned to improve on Orca~Sunn. We would also like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has believed in us throughout the journey of our business. We will be putting our best foot forward to finalize our product and our business. We can't wait to see what the future holds for Orca~Sunn and we are happy to be sharing our journey with you!