Aug 27, 2018
BLOCK71 Singapore Entrepreneur Feature — Pitchspot
In this week’s Entrepreneur Feature, we speak to Ryan, COO and co-founder of Pitchspot, a global launchpad for ideas to help innovators innovate better by using an intuitive canvas.
- What is Pitchspot and what do you do?
Pitchspot is the global launchpad for ideas. We’re an ideas management platform. We help innovators innovate better. My co-founder, See Ting, and I have developed a smart canvas and we try to simplify different canvases, business model canvas, value proposition canvas, and we have designed this smart canvas which splits it down to three sections, gains, pains, and inertia. For these three sections, we made it very easy and intuitive for our users to use, and what we do is we learn our users and we recommend certain things they might have missed out.
2. What is Pitchspot’s secret sauce?
Pitchspot’s secret sauce is the team. We’ve come from diverse backgrounds. My co-founder See Ting, he’s doing his masters of Technology in Knowledge Engineering with NUS Institute of System Science part time on Saturdays. I just graduated from Business School, Finance major. Wong Zhi Ming, my business development head, is also pursuing his BBA right now. The team, coming from different cultures, we complement one another and we do further the vision together, and that is where everything ticks. On the unique value proposition side, we employ machine learning and data analytics to add value to our users and give them the value offerings we’re trying to offer them.
3. What’s next for Pitchspot?
Pitchspot aims to be the world’s greatest innovation platform. We aim to do this by first ramping our user traction as well as getting users to understand where we’re coming from. Trying to evangelise our users is a rather difficult thing that we have been trying to do for the past six months. However, once they do get it, it becomes very intuitive for them to use the platform as their launchpad or personalised dashboard to further their ideas.
4. What is your greatest challenge?
The greatest challenge we’re currently still facing is trying to evangelise our users, convince them our product actually works. We have a market and demand for our product, but to convince them to use it religiously is one of the biggest challenges we have right now. Imagine a world without Panadol, and I’m holding a box of Panadol right now. How would I sell it to you? It cures headaches, resolves your fevers. At the end of the day, how do I sell this box of Panadols to you and convince you if you take this tablet you would not die and it will alleviate your pain? This is the challenge my team and I are still trying to figure out the right angle too. We’re changing our pitch along the way. We’ve discussed this many times as well, on how we can best pitch it so that an 11-year-old or my 86 year old grandmother can understand it simply.
5. What are your best memories with NUS Enterprise?
I have to say that I have numerous wonderful memories. Since we moved into the Hangar, it has always been memorable. Getting to know the different start-ups and the community, especially in the Hangar community, we were able to ease in really quickly. Everyone is well-knit, very close-knitted. Of course, not forgetting the support NUS Enterprise has offered us, Sang, Ye Sheng, and the investment team. Everyone who has been there including Hui Min has provided us with support and opportunities. At BLOCK71, I have a soft spot for the Kopi Chat auntie. She’s part of the reason I’m always here, for the coffee as well. I just find that this start-up ecosystem in particular that NUS Enterprise has established is one that is mutually supportive, one that is very encouraging, but there is still much more that needs to be done. We believe that we can assist in that, See Ting and I, we have spoken about this before and how we can best serve the community as well. We want to be ecosystem builders, we want to be connectors. We want to be able to connect people with the right people. The start-up community is small but it’s growing and we want to be that catalyst.
Right now, See Ting and I have different ways of marketing ourselves, we are attending different kinds of panel discussions, we’re putting ourselves out there promoting the product at different events. Therein, we would be able to establish a lot of relationships and connections to bring together the different stakeholders and connect the right people to the right stakeholders. In doing so we feel we can add value to the start-up ecosystem.
6. How can we help?
I encourage all aspiring and budding entrepreneurs, innovators, regardless of whichever field to head on down to https://www.pitchspot.co, register an account, try out the platform and test it rigorously so that we can get some feedback from you guys as well. We have studied successful companies in the past, and Pitchspot we would want to recommend to you certain ways to improve your ideas as well.
Watch the full video interview with Ryan from Pitchspot here:
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If you are inspired by this story and have a start-up idea of your own, you can also apply to join the BLOCK71 ecosystem at http://bit.ly/BLOCK71SGApply !
