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Could your startup use up to $60K USD? Of course it could! Pitch your startup on the Salesforce World Tour stage.

We love supporting innovative work that makes lives easier. Whether it’s ASDetect, which helps parents detect early signs of autism in their children; Product Hunt, an app built on Heroku that enables anyone to discover and share the latest tech products; Gainsight, a company fully built on Force.com that allows Salesforce users to easily integrate their NPS survey and analytics tool through the AppExchange Marketplace – we love seeing innovators have great success building on the Salesforce App Cloud.

And now it’s your turn. We’re looking for people who don’t just settle for ordinary – they build the extraordinary. We’re looking for the next brilliant startup built on the Salesforce App Cloud.

To help us find it, we’re bringing legendary investor and entrepreneur Steve Baxter – along with two of Australia’s top innovation experts, Pip Marlow and Annie Parker – to Salesforce World Tour Sydney.

You could showcase your dream onstage in front of a rockstar panel of judges and a live audience at one of the Asia Pacific region’s largest software conferences, receive feedback from the World Tour stage, and have the chance to earn up to $60,000 USD.

What you could win

 

Three finalists will be chosen to take the stage at World Tour. They will receive:

  • Travel, accommodation and two full passes to Salesforce World Tour Sydney

  • An investment opportunity of up to $60,000 USD from Salesforce Ventures

  • Access to the Salesforce for Startups Portfolio Package

In addition, one winner will also have the opportunity to be part of the Salesforce Trailblazer campaign, which includes a number of brand awareness opportunities throughout 2017.

Do you qualify?

 

To qualify for PitchComp, your startup must meet the following criteria:

  • At least a portion of your technology stack utilises or integrates with at least one Salesforce platform technology (Lightning, Force.com or Heroku)

  • Total cash funding received to date <$3M AUD

  • Current gross revenue >$20k AUD on an annual run rate basis (based on company’s gross revenue from its most recent quarter, multiplied by four (4))

  • Company must be based in and authorised to work in Australia

  • No member of your current team has been employed by Salesforce, its subsidiaries, affiliated companies, RECESS, or the affiliated companies of any judges since 1 July 2011

  • You must comply with the above in addition to all other requirements in the Official Rules

Judging criteria

 

Judges will be looking for companies that are creating beautiful, engaging apps that transform the customer experience. Salesforce World Tour PitchComp judges, who have extensive investment experience, will judge based on the following criteria:

  • Ability of the current team to execute

  • Innovation in the existing marketplace

  • Understanding of market size and ability to capture market share

  • Use of Salesforce App Cloud

  • Overall pitch

“Will you walk through walls to make this business work?” asks PitchComp judge Annie Parker. “Startups are hard, nothing ever goes to plan, so I want to find founders who've got bags of tenacity and don't give up easily. I also want to find founders who know the problem they're fixing intimately – that extra level of personal association increases their chances of success.”

Baxter agrees that the intimate knowledge of the market’s challenges is vital, explaining that a good pitch is all about the customer. “Without them, you are just a pretty pitch deck,” he says.

Check out our tips for pitching to investors and you could be packing your bags for World Tour.

Applications close on 26 February 2017 at 8pm AEST, so submit your application now.

In the meantime, Parker’s advice is to practise that pitch endlessly. “Be confident in your pitch, practise practise practise,” she says. “And remember – you are the expert, you know this business better than anyone else does.”

Does your app transform customer experience? Do you want the chance to pitch for up to $60,000 USD at World Tour? Enter now! Applications close 26 February at 8pm AEST.

Terms and conditions apply, of course, so be sure to read the full Official Rules.

Legal:

 

The 2017 Salesforce World Tour Sydney Pitch Competition (“Contest”) begins on February 13, 2017 at 8:00:00am and ends on February 26, 2017 8:00:00pm. Offer to participate available only for those entrants that meet the eligibility criteria as set forth in the Official Rules. Salesforce reserves the rights to terminate the Contest without awarding a prize if it does not receive a sufficient number of qualified and eligible entries. Restrictions apply.