10
Problem
Is this a real, painful, frequent problem — and can you prove someone has it beyond your own intuition?
Monthly · Open to all
The Idea Challenge.
Six founders. Five minutes each. Three investors whose job is to find the hole in your thinking. Live scoring, published results, and no slide deck longer than it needs to be.
How the night runs
Doors at 6:30. Pitches start at 7:00 sharp. Each founder gets five minutes to present and seven minutes of questions — and the questions are the point. Our panel is briefed to challenge, not to be polite.
Every pitch is scored live across five criteria, out of ten each. Scores go up on screen at the end of each pitch. The highest-scoring founders each month are fast-tracked to a services consultation and invited to apply to the next cohort.
It is free to attend and free to pitch. You do not need to be incorporated, funded, or polished.
The scoring rubric
The same five criteria, every month, scored out of ten. No mystery.
10
Solution
Does your solution actually address the problem, and is there a reason it hasn't been solved this way already?
10
Market
How big is the reachable market, who exactly is the first customer, and how do you get to them?
10
Team
Why you? What do you know or have access to that a competent stranger doesn't?
10
Traction
What evidence exists that this works — users, revenue, letters of intent, a waiting list, anything real.
What to bring
Keep it simple. Five slides is plenty and zero slides is allowed. What the panel wants is clarity about the problem, honesty about where you actually are, and a specific ask.
The most common reason founders score badly isn't a weak idea — it's a vague ask. 'Looking for investment' scores worse than 'raising $300k to hire two engineers and reach 500 paying users by Q2.'
- A clear problem statement in one sentence, in plain language
- Evidence that someone other than you has this problem
- Your specific ask — amount, purpose, and what it buys
- Honest numbers — the panel will find the ones you hid
- Thick skin — the hard questions are the value
How to get on the list
- 01
List your startup
Free, takes about three minutes, and puts you in the directory.
- 02
Tell us you want to pitch
Flag 'seeking feedback' or 'raising' on your listing and we'll get in touch.
- 03
Get your slot
We confirm six founders roughly ten days before each session.
- 04
Show up and get challenged
Five minutes on, seven minutes of questions, scores on screen.