It’s a big moment for any entrepreneur. The pitch can make all the difference when it comes to securing investment, getting stocked, gaining customers – or being selected as the winner of the Westfield Grand Prix, where the prize is a free retail space in one of the two London Westfield Centres for up to 12 months, along with a contribution to pay for design and fit-out. When it comes to opportunities that could be a gamechanger, a lot is riding on one brief moment that makes up a pitch. But what happens if it goes wrong?
Ask any entrepreneur about their failed pitches, and they’ll have plenty of examples. But most have something else in common too: the firm view that those failed pitches helped them move on to better things.
Jennifer Cairns, founder of Lady Rebel Club, a platform that aims to empower neurodivergent and disabled entrepreneurs who are women or other marginalised genders, admits there has been more than one occasion where a pitch didn’t go as planned. Like the time she was given the opportunity at short notice to pitch for investment for a music platform she and her husband hoped to create. “I got as much together as I could,” recalls the 51-year-old, from Lisburn. “I wasn’t prepared. It was a panel of four older men and two of them literally had a conversation the whole time I was pitching. It was horrendous. Nobody even said anything to me when I was done, I just kind of walked out of the room. It devastated my confidence.”
But at the same time, she says she learned a lesson: realising she hadn’t been confident from the get-go. “It taught me to have confidence and believe in myself and what I’m pitching. Also, if I’m not confident with what I’m pitching, don’t pitch it. Pitch when I’m ready, when I’m confident in the product.”
The experience helped Cairns improve, and she went on to secure more than £350,000 in funding for one business and is now pitching for investment for both Lady Rebel Club and a new software business.
For Dennie Smith, 61, a pitch to the BBC’s Dragons’ Den programme was a landmark moment – but not for the right reasons. The hair salon owner, from Croydon, in south London, was inspired to start her own dating website aimed at “geeks”. Not long after setting up Geek Meet, she found herself with the opportunity to pitch on the show and, despite only having made £499, decided to give it a go. She spent months honing a pitch, including a “cool entrance”, but on the day itself, long delays and a last-minute outfit change threw her. Her pitch was met with stony silence and criticism. “I literally came out of there and sobbed. The whole thing was a nightmare. It felt such a kick in the teeth. I’d put 10 weeks of effort in – literally reciting my pitch day and night. It had taken over my life.”
Smith’s initial reaction was to quit, but after taking some time to think it over she became more committed to her idea. “I thought: ‘I really think I’ve got something.’ So I borrowed money, got a graphic designer and rebranded it to Geek Meet Club, creating more of a networking club.”
The rejection led to her creating an app and a platform that she’s proud of. “That wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t gone through what I did. Now I’m determined to make it bigger and better, then I can prove them wrong and say: ‘Look, you missed out on this one.’”
Artist Paulomi Debnath’s pitch was in the form of an application to a popular online selling platform. Debnath, 43, from Romford, east London, started her ethical jewellery business Handmade by Tinni in 2020, finding success selling through an online marketplace. That gave her confidence to apply to be listed on another online store. “I got declined almost straight away,” she says. “It was a knock-back. I’m not a traditionally trained artist, so I already felt a bit like an outsider in the artist community, then this affected my confidence too.”
Instead, she focused on the success she had already found. “I said: ‘You know what, I know my craft is good.’ And where I’m not, you learn, you make yourself better. In 2021 I applied again – I was quite a high seller, I had my own website, I felt confident.” This time they requested some products – but eventually she was declined again. Instead of being distressed, Debnath took it as a sign that it wasn’t a natural home for her creations. “I told myself: ‘This is not my place.’” Instead, she focused her efforts on her already-successful platforms as well as building a strong retail wholesale offering.
For most entrepreneurs, the knock-back of a pitch is demonstrative of a wider lesson. “In business in general, you have to fail or things have to go wrong in order for you to really learn,” says Cairns. “Not everything is going to work, but you have to try, then change things. That includes pitching.”
Applications for the Westfield Grand Prix in the UK are open from 22 May to 7 July 2023; complete a form and upload a presentation deck with your concept here. Finalists will face an online public vote to decide the People’s Award and will pitch to a judging panel that will decide the grand prix winner, to be announced in October 2023. The UK judging panel’s winner will then progress to the European final. See grandprix.westfield.com for more details.
