Last year’s Pitch Fest winner, Kara Landau, founder and owner of Uplift Foods, has seen great success since her appearance and triumph at Naturally Good 2018. The first year of business for Uplift has seen them launch in Australia and the US simultaneously, get invited to attend the number one food accelerator in NYC Food X, and join the Global Prebiotic Association as a Nutrition Advisor. Most recently, the company has also secured an investment with global industry leading company Mondelēz International. With a number of awards and achievements, and continually growing on a global scale, Kara has quickly become an industry leader and expert in gut health, prebiotics and probiotics in the natural, organic and healthy industry.

As the winner of the Pitch Fest in 2018, we asked Kara for her top 5 tips when it comes to pitching your business.

Entry Form -Make a Video

It all starts from as soon as you decide you want to apply for a pitch competition – your application is your gateway to even being considered to be involved. Get in front of a camera and make a quick 30 – 60 second video that shows your passion, ability to speak confidently and succinctly, and explains why your brand will wow the panel. I could not recommend this highly enough – sending this to the selection committee will make you stand out from almost everyone else (assuming they didn’t ask for a video entrance) and it also will help you clarify your message.

Know Your Unique Selling Point

It sounds straight forward, but so often to people tell their backstory, they highlight the standard call outs (particularly in the health food space) about why people should buy from them, and they fail to distinguish themselves enough from their competitors. As important as many of these elements may be to the integrity and platform at which your brand stands, knowing why someone should select your product or service over other options in the market, will help the judging panel understand more clearly why your company is going to stand out and really push forward in the competitive landscape that exists today.

Know Your Vision

As important as it is to be agile and be open to jumping on opportunities as they present, having a vision and an underlying mission, will help you not only be able to make decisions far more easily as distractions continue to present over the businesses life time, but so too will it help the judges understand where you are taking your company, and how there could be a realistic road-map to attaining the outcome you desire. If you can’t sell your vision confidently, it will be a lot harder for someone else to get behind the infinite possibilities that exist.

 

Be Humble

Confidence is important when approaching business and standing out as a leader in today’s business world – however remaining humble, being a sponge to the advice that is provided to you, and using your own internal compass to guide you on which information to ultimately take on board, and which to put to the side, will help you skyrocket ahead of those that stay enclosed in their own bubble. Surrounding yourself with people who have deeper knowledge on whichever areas of business you are lacking, and listening to the judging panel as they provide feedback without getting on the defense, will show a character trait that is not only like-able and respectable, but that ultimately is going to value your company in the long run

Dream Out Loud

If nothing else, don’t forget to dream out loud – you need to let others in on your dream and vision if you truly want to get there. No matter how much someone wants to believe they can do everything themselves, the reality is that we are strongest when we work together. Give others the opportunity to understand your goals and what you believe your brand is capable of, so that they can find ways to help you. Do not worry about people stealing your ideas, the actual-ness of implementing and executing the vision is so monumental, that the reality behind it is that your sheer persistence and consistency to building the dream will likely win out in the long run.