Review My Startup Weekend Pitch

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3194965

by djsamson • 15 years ago

10 5 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I’m attending Startup Weekend tomorrow and I’m sort of nervous. I’m a college student/ biz dev guy and I’m going by myself and I don’t really have a good pitch. I was wondering if you could critique this pitch:

I came across this start up idea when I was diagnosed with Gilberts Syndrome in August. I lost a decent amount of weight from having stomach issues which was unfortunate because I play in an amateur football league during the summers. I realized gaining muscle was as hard as losing weight, because a strict diet is more important than working out. I’d like to build something like Weight Watchers for weight gainers. Assign points to certain foods that have high protein and carbohydrates and have custom diets for customers. I think the biggest issue for putting on weight for people who were sick or need to bulk up for a sports team isn’t working out but what to eat and how much of it to consume. This tool would solve this problem. I need a developer and a designer.

What do you think?

abbasmehdi• 15 years ago

I'm not commenting on the idea, but that isn't a pitch. It sounds like a neat idea, but read more about how to craft a pitch. Also, as a SW veteran I can promise you there is nothing to be nervous about. You'll be laughing about being nervous on Sunday, I promise.

datamba• 15 years ago

I think it's a great idea. You should turn it into some kind of a game/goal achieving tool. This, along with weight maintenance, could be interesting for athletes and those with various weight issues.

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.

ianpurton• 15 years ago

I've never done a pitch. However I have recently gained weight through a weight training programme (with a careful eye on nutrition).

Reading yours it left me thinking.

1. How would it make money.

2. There's a load of information out there on gaining weight how would you compete with that. (How are you going to acquire traffic).

3. Where's your expertise, you didn't mention how much weight you put on or what you learned.

caw• 15 years ago

I agree with the expertise statement. I think the money was somewhat covered tangentially with the Weight Watcher's comment. Basically it's WW (points, prepackaged meals, guides) for body building.

What I didn't feel was a connection to your product. I can't connect with your disease, and having to recover weight as how this is posed. If you turned it around and said something to the effect of "I lost a bunch of weight due to my disease and I had to gain back muscle mass in time for football season" then perhaps that would draw in more people. You leave off "football" and just go with a more generic sports to draw in more people. What's the customer's pain? While your disease is the reason for you designing this program, it's not what makes me use it.

Your situation reminded me of Titin, a weighted training vest created by someone at my school. I've heard his pitch and (IMO) it's banking more on pity points than actual product. I don't think you want people to pity you, but instead understand your passion for making this and that you'll continue to improve on it.

helen842000• 15 years ago

I think it's also an interesting issue. I'd do some research into the types of data you'd require because until you get some nutritional info into the app, it's an empty shell.

See what open source food data (like openfooddata.com) is available to use in your project.

I guess this would show to you have thought about building out the content of the site which is the most important bit.

Review My Startup Weekend Pitch

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