Develop your Project Pitch at CBRIN

Spend three hours in Canberra's startup and innovation community, and use them to test how you talk about your project. Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN) runs networking nights, workshops and showcases every month, and most are free for ANU students.

Start at CBRIN Youth and Students, CBRIN's page for students and under-25s. It gathers the programs and events open to you, from First Wednesday Connect networking nights to the InnovationACT pitch competition.

This KNoT is not tied to a date. Pick any CBRIN events or workshops that add up to three hours, go, and submit your completion task afterwards. It follows on from the Big Impact, Value Proposition Story-telling and Pitching workshop CBRIN ran for SoCIETIE, but you do not need to have done that first.

Read CBRIN Youth and Students and browse the CBRIN events calendar, then plan your three hours. One long workshop can cover it, or combine a networking night with a shorter session. Most CBRIN programs and events are free for ANU students, but check each event page for booking.

Before your first event, write a pitch for the project you are working on, most likely your SoCIETIE project. Keep it under a minute when spoken, about 120 words, and cover:

• who it is for, and the problem they have
• what you are doing about it, and what changes if it works
• what you need next: advice, a contact, a collaborator, a tester

Write it down exactly, or record yourself saying it. This is your before version, and the completion task needs it.

A pitch written at a desk and a pitch said out loud to a stranger are different things. This KNoT puts you in a room of founders, mentors and people building things in Canberra, and asks you to notice what happens to your pitch when it meets them.

What you'll do

• Write a short pitch for your project before you go: who it is for, the problem, the change it makes, and what you need.
• Use it in real conversations at a networking event, or rework it in a CBRIN workshop.
• Notice which parts people lean into, where you lose them, and what they ask.
• Rewrite it afterwards and compare the two versions.

You will also find out where Canberra's innovation community meets, which is useful if your project has a life after the course.

• CBRIN Youth and Students: start here. The programs, events and support CBRIN offers students, in one place
• CBRIN events calendar: networking nights such as First Wednesday Connect, workshops and showcases
• InnovationACT: a competition where student teams from Canberra's universities pitch a business idea to judges for a share of $10,000
• Canberra Young Entrepreneur Sprint: a free series of workshops on entrepreneurship, innovation and leadership for young people
• Idea to Impact: the workshop series today's SoCIETIE session was adapted from
• Book an intro with CBRIN: a free conversation about what support fits where your idea is now
• Kimberly Elsbach, How to Pitch a Brilliant Idea (PDF), Harvard Business Review, 2003
• Rob Fitzpatrick, The Mom Test: how to ask questions that get honest answers, which is most of what a networking conversation is
• Social Lean Canvas: a one-page layout for your project's value proposition

The first conversation is the hardest. After that you have heard yourself say it once and can start adjusting.

Ask as well as pitch. Asking someone what they are building usually earns you the chance to describe your own project, and their answer shows you how other people frame theirs.

Go with one specific ask, such as a contact, a test user, or feedback on one part of the idea. People find it much easier to help with something concrete.

Submit all of the following:

• The CBRIN events or workshops you attended, with the date and length of each, adding up to three hours. A photo from one of them is welcome.
• Your pitch before: the version you wrote in preparation.
• Your pitch after: rewritten once you had used it.

Then, in 300–400 words, reflect on the difference between the two:

• What did people respond to, where did you lose them, and what did they ask that you could not answer?
• What did you cut, add or reorder, and why?
• What still does not work, and what would you try in your next conversation?

Notes written straight after a conversation are enough. Do not record anyone without their permission.