𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝘀𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗱.

PortXL invited me to pitch for Superconnectors. It was a totally different format from normal startup pitches: just 2 minutes to explain what your company needs. Then five minutes for an extremely well-connected audience to rain bids on you for introductions to all the big shipping companies.

The core of our pitch was this:

𝙎𝙝𝙞𝙥𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙘 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙥 𝙖 𝙤𝙣𝙚-𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙥, 𝙗𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙮, 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞-𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨. 𝙒𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙙𝙤𝙥𝙩 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙣, 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞-𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙝𝙣𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙚𝙨 - 𝙨𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 50% 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 10 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨. (I will post about this soon...)

Our ask was this:

𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙢 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙮.

We got offers for introduction to many (most?) of the innovative, sustainable and huge companies. I will not list them here, so that my Super Connectors can approach them without me spoiling the news for them.

On the stage I had to select one offer as the ‘best bid’. It was really hard. It felt ridiculous to reject most of these wonderful offers and bring it back to one best bid. I have never been in such a situation of choice, never so many candidates.

Anyway, I settled for Bruno Balbi as my best bid. He was so enthusiastic and had a really exciting introduction that I am sure is going to open doors for us.

For all the other offers, I will follow up with you and trust you will still introduce me.

Big thank you to Mitja Caboni, Rebeka Yaneva, Björn Lapakko, Imke Greven, Wanda Cornelissen, all those Super Connectors present and also very grateful for the solidarity spirit with the other startups: Markus Tufte-Johnsen, Beata Hranaiova, Krassimir Fotev, Jaime Ascencio

#connections #innovation #maritime #sustainability