i2E Venture Advisor and SeedStep Angels Manager Mike Pratt stepped into an unfamiliar role at Wednesday’s meeting of the Oklahoma Venture Forum.
He played an entrepreneur making a bad 60-second pitch to potential investors. It was all in good fun with a purpose.
Pratt’s pitch to a panel of two SeedStep members – Tra Pippin and Rod Whitson – drew laughs from the audience as he made common mistakes that entrepreneurs often make speaking to investors. He overstated the value of his “company” and its projected return to investors, among other missteps.
Pippin and Whitson critiqued the performance so that members of the Venture Forum could get a taste of the process that entrepreneurs go through when pitching for capital investment.
Pratt’s faux pitch immediately followed an earlier presentation he made about the SeedStep Angels and their growing influence on Oklahoma investing.
“You made a great presentation, but your pitch was awful,” Whitson said to laughter from the audience.
For the audience it was good “bad” theater that highlighted the process and the value of the SeedStep Angels.
Afterward, the panelists shared some of their biggest successes and failures as angel investors before taking questions from audience.
Prior to Pratt’s presentation, i2E President and CEO Scott Meacham made a short presentation on the newest fund under management by the company, the GrowOKC Fund created in collaboration with the City of Oklahoma.
