This is not the first time for us. It actually started with an elevator pitch for the Skandalaris Center for Social Entrepreneurship in Saint Louis back in February 2007. For that one, I think we had two-minutes to work with. Back then, it was harder getting the message across, largely because the message was not as clear — our company and product had not yet undergone the growth that we have since. As it goes, we actually ended up getting our first bit of funding ($5,000) from Skandalaris. From there, it was off to Echoing Green where we gave a 90-second pitch supported by a prop (we used a lego building set). That one, we nailed — at least, we hit all of our marks and stayed under time though I’m not so sure we made the best case.

At the Enterprise Forum, I felt like an old pro — partly because we have been in competitions like this before but more because I’m making these pitches in one-form or another every day. There’s always someone asking “What is Skill-Life?” or “Why does it matter?” or “How are you going to do it?”. And they’re asking with little time to spare — so 60-seconds felt like a luxury. All in all, it was a great experience. My hope, as always, is that something tangible comes out of it, but any opportunity to tell the world about what we’re doing is certainly worth a minute or two.