Throughout the timeline, support will be offered to teams in the form of:
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Workshops offered through the Harvard Innovation Lab, the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard, and the pitch competition planning team.
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Office hours with Rana el Kaliouby PhD, Lauren Moores PhD, and Marily Nika, PhD.
Phase 1: May-October 2021 (5.5 months)
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Express interest in the pitch competition through registration for the ideation workshop and consider the following questions.
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Identify a problem or gap in the economy or a particular industry. How does this idea solve that need?
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For those that do not have a particular idea in mind, they can still participate in the pitch competition by bringing expertise in an industry or discipline as the member of a team.
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Participate in the ideation workshop on Friday, May 14 noon-1:30 p.m. ET to share an initial idea and network with peers.
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Optionally submit your early-stage team and/or idea to the DI Platform. Identify needs your team has (ie. expertise in certain areas, new team members etc.) to generate interest among the community.
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Build the founding team utilizing Slack, networking events, and other program tools. Team members can be added up until submission of the initial pitch deck at the end of phase 1. Please note, a CEO/co-founder will remain the point of contact for the team for the duration of the process.
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Determine value creation and measurement.
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Identify problem space and market fit by performing market research, users interviews, and creating surveys.
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Consider human capital and recruitment efforts necessary for the new venture.
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Begin prototyping the solution.
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Build the pitch deck. Workshops will be offered to help teams create and perfect their pitch deck.
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Submission of initial pitch deck at the end of phase 1, September or October 2021. Exact deadline to be communicated at least 1 month in advance. At this stage, team members should be confirmed. Submissions will not be evaluated at this stage, they will be used to match each team with a mentor.
Phase 2: October 2021-February 2022 (4.5 months)
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At the beginning of phase 2, each team will be assigned a mentor to meet with several times before submission of the final pitch deck. The pitch competition planning team will do their best to match each submission to a mentor with related expertise.
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Learn about intellectual property. In particular, the basics of patents, trademarks, and trade secrets, when to use a nondisclosure agreement and when not to.
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Learn about funding rounds, go-to-market, and various financial aspects of new ventures including forecasting and capital structures.
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Submission of final pitch deck for finalist selection in March 2022.
Phase 3: March-April 2022 (2 Months)
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Selected teams will participate in two practice pitch sessions with the pitch competition planning team.
Final Pitch Ceremony, May/June 2022