One Word That Makes Investors Want to Hear More About Your Business
Today on Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch, tech entrepreneurs share their visions for digital platforms built to fill the needs of businesses and customers alike. But while their two-sided marketplace pitches might sound polished, do these companies have that one thing that all investors crave — profitability?
As always, contestants enter the elevator with 60 seconds to pitch their ideas. Our investors are watching and if they like what they hear, the elevator doors open and the entrepreneur has the chance to win a life-changing investment.
But if the investors don't like what they hear, the elevator heads to the ground floor and their shot at glory is over.
Find out this week on #Entrepreneur #ElevatorPitch. Going up!
As always, contestants enter the elevator with 60 seconds to pitch their ideas. Our investors are watching and if they like what they hear, the elevator doors open and the entrepreneur has the chance to win a life-changing investment.
But if the investors don't like what they hear, the elevator heads to the ground floor and their shot at glory is over.
Find out this week on #Entrepreneur #ElevatorPitch. Going up!
Transcript
00:00Hello, investors. Welcome to the elevator. Going up.
00:09I'm Dhani Jones, former NFL player, serial entrepreneur.
00:12I'm Kim Perell, CEO of 100.co and serial entrepreneur.
00:16I'm Mark Randall, co-founder and first CEO of Netflix.
00:19Today I'm seeking entrepreneurs who will connect us all for the better.
00:23This is Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch.
00:29Presented by Amazon Business.
00:37First to step into the elevator is an entrepreneur who's looking to change the landscape of entertainment and production.
00:46Going up.
00:59Hello, Nikki. Welcome to the elevator.
01:04Your pitch begins in three, two, one.
01:09I want you to picture yourself at your favorite concert.
01:12The band takes the stage.
01:14You are engulfed in the smoke and the lights.
01:17The crowd is going crazy.
01:19You finally hear your favorite song blasted through the speakers.
01:23It's magic.
01:25How many people do you think it takes to put on that show?
01:28Hundreds.
01:29And where do you hire these professionals that bring these live events to life?
01:34Believe it or not, it's word of mouth.
01:36It's inefficient.
01:37And we finally have a solution.
01:39It's called gigs.
01:40My name is Nikki Sands and I'm the founder and CEO of Gigs, the professional career platform for the live event industry.
01:46I have lived both sides of this marketplace.
01:49And since our launch six months ago, we have over 10,000 professional members.
01:54We have filled 150 jobs and we have over 400 companies that have signed up.
01:59This is just the beginning.
02:01We are seeking $200,000 on a safe note with a six million post money cap.
02:05So it is time to find your next gig with Gigs.
02:11It seems like there's a lot of supply and just a little bit of demand.
02:16She said she had 400 companies, I think, right, signing up maybe.
02:20This is exactly the question, which is, you have the supply, but is there going to be the demand there?
02:25Is there really no platform already?
02:27It's kind of hard to imagine this hasn't been done before.
02:31Let's put it to a vote.
02:32Attention, Nikki.
02:41Your pitch has been approved.
02:48Yay.
02:50Let's make a deal.
02:52Hello.
02:54Thank you, guys.
02:56I'm really honored to be here.
02:58Truly, thank you for pushing me up the elevator.
03:01And I really wanted to highlight our PA from set, give you guys the all-access backstage passes to really show the behind-the-scenes work to make you guys look good.
03:11Thank you for my all-access pass.
03:12I'm going to wear this.
03:14So what made you get into this business?
03:17I always loved concerts, live events.
03:19I knew that's what I wanted to be doing.
03:21I was a gigging professional, so I worked at recording studios, sporting events, TV and film, music, and then I kind of got into the touring world.
03:30And I knew how hard it was to keep getting my next gig, but to staff tours, it was impossible to find enough people.
03:37This whole backstage world is all word of mouth.
03:40So I knew we needed something like LinkedIn to professionalize this industry and, you know, standardize what a resume, a profile looks like.
03:47Standardize what a job post looks like so it's not just a text message or a Facebook post.
03:53Do you look at a company like LinkedIn and say, that's your competition?
03:55Let me ask you, do you think you're going to see backstage coordinator for Beyonce on LinkedIn?
04:00Probably not.
04:02Because I haven't looked at it.
04:03So this is a classic two-sided network.
04:06Yes.
04:07I mean, it really is a marketplace.
04:08So two questions, really.
04:10What is the demand and which of the two sides do you see as being the problem you have to solve?
04:15So the individual professional side is anyone from a tour and production manager to audio, lighting, video, carpentry, bus driving, truck driving, makeup artists, catering, hospitality, venues.
04:26And then you have, on the other side, the employers, which this is anyone from venue managers, artist management, and any production company.
04:35We wanted to get our people first, and luckily they're all looking for jobs.
04:39On the employer side, we've already got people that are doing the stage lighting and audio for Taylor Swift.
04:44We're going for the big guys first.
04:45Those are all unions.
04:47Really just the stage hands are mostly unions.
04:49But everyone who's traveling on the tour or is local, they're selling merch, they're doing VIP, they're all freelancers.
04:57And what is the revenue model?
04:58Paying to post the job.
05:00So you're basically either paying per job post $90 for one job or $200 a month, $2,000 a year to post unlimited jobs.
05:08Our biggest competition is just word of mouth and the way that everyone's been doing it always, by texting people, by asking their friends.
05:14But you're saying that every live event is done through text and like tapping a friend.
05:21You would be shocked.
05:23But is this a technology you're building?
05:25What are we investing in?
05:26Yes.
05:27It is a platform.
05:28It is just like LinkedIn.
05:29So you have a profile that you create.
05:31It's different from LinkedIn because it's very conducive to our kind of gig industry.
05:35But have you already built this platform?
05:37Yes.
05:38So there's 10,000 people on your platform.
05:39And it's working.
05:40We've already filled jobs.
05:41We already have companies on there.
05:42And so this is kind of our version one.
05:44They pay to post a job.
05:48And then people just apply or do they get access to the database to look for people?
05:53It'll be both.
05:54Right now it is they pay to post the job.
05:56They have 100 applicants.
05:58They filter through with all of our filters.
06:00They contact.
06:01They fill the job.
06:02We're creating right now, hoping to launch next month, a whole database feature so they can upload their own contacts in there,
06:08host all of their contacts in their own personal database, and then search the full gigs database based on location.
06:14You're trying to bring a certain layer of technology to this industry, which is a little bit archaic, if you will.
06:20So where are revenues at right now?
06:22We've made $3,000.
06:28It's hard for me to understand exactly where you are in your business.
06:31So what's the one thing that we might have missed?
06:38We right now are focused on music live events.
06:41This is quickly expanding to TV and film and sports and theater and corporate events, trade shows.
06:49Believe it or not, actually, don't just whine.
06:51My God, I like some primary research.
06:53So if you'll bear with me.
06:55So could you guys, so camera one, camera two, camera three, would you use a service like this?
07:03We got some thumbs up.
07:04I think we're getting all thumbs up.
07:06I had some PAs when I walked in say, oh, I keep seeing your ad all over TikTok and Instagram.
07:10So we're hitting our right audience.
07:12Well, let me chew on this a little bit here.
07:14Absolutely.
07:15What do you think here, Ms. Perel?
07:17I think it's early.
07:20It's six months in.
07:21You have $3,000 in revenue.
07:22I'd like to see a little bit more traction.
07:24I love the concept and the idea of what you're creating.
07:28But for me, I just wanted to see a little bit more in terms of the corporate opportunity, the commercial opportunity.
07:35I totally get it.
07:37Thank you for that feedback.
07:38So here's the thing.
07:39As a professional investor.
07:41Yes.
07:42No.
07:43I think it's way too uncertain whether the market's big enough.
07:46But as an angel investor, I'd love to come in and get a front row seat and watch you try it.
07:50But I'm afraid the check's going to be dramatically smaller.
07:53So I would put in $25,000 and see how this goes and whether you really can turn this into a real business or not.
08:01Mark's a good investor.
08:03I think you should take me as an investor for that same $25,000.
08:08There's a lot of different people that I can think about that I believe I could actually help you grow your business.
08:15You've heard it.
08:16You have Dhani's offer or you have Mark's offer for $25,000.
08:20What is it going to be?
08:23I think I, as a founder, need more help with the marketplace.
08:33And so, Mark, I would love to take this offer.
08:38So is it inappropriate to do an end zone dance at this point or is that like bad form, I guess?
08:43Do what you must.
08:46Thank you so much.
08:47Oh, wow.
08:48Can you believe that?
08:49Wow.
08:50Now I'm officially part of the team.
08:52Really appreciate this.
08:54Yes.
08:55I'm sorry.
08:56Thank you so much.
08:58Really appreciate you.
08:59You all have a great day.
09:01You'll remember my name.
09:03Oh, my gosh.
09:05Are you kidding me?
09:06Two offers.
09:07I am so honored.
09:09I can't wait for when we scale into TV and film.
09:12He's going to know a whole lot more and it's going to be just incredibly helpful.
09:22Next into the elevator, an entrepreneur working to connect clients to her broad network of photographers.
09:29Shoot is a professional photography marketplace that offers free photo shoots with professional photographers where you only pay for the photos you want.
09:36I had a background being an artist and one of the things I noticed is that it's a very gig to gig kind of lifestyle.
09:43You may be passionate about it, but you may not end up being able to support yourself doing that work.
09:47And so we realized we could do it with photography.
09:49We're like, what if we could station a photographer somewhere and have clients funnel to them?
09:58Going up.
10:02Hello, Jennifer.
10:03Welcome to the elevator.
10:06Your pitch begins in three, two, one.
10:12I'm Jennifer Tai, the CEO and co-founder of the professional photography marketplace.
10:17Shoot with two T's.
10:18We all know that nobody wants to pay up front for a service they might not like.
10:22So we built the only platform that offers free personal photo shoots with a professional photographer where you only have to pay for the photos you want.
10:29This is possible due to our unique business model that directly addresses the pain points of the photographer gig economy.
10:35We funnel clients to photographers posted at set locations, often resulting in multiple gigs a day, a major win for freelancers.
10:43Shoot has already scaled to 60 U.S. cities.
10:46We've completed 175,000 photo shoots, and we have a 4.9 star rating in Google.
10:52We're a source of supplemental income for 700 plus photographers, and we have just achieved profitability on 8.7 million of sales.
11:00We also just launched an exciting new B2B headshot business, and we are looking for $2 million for 10% of shoot common stock so we can continue helping people look and feel good.
11:14Jennifer, I'm in.
11:15That was great.
11:16You're done?
11:17I was going to slide the check under the elevator door.
11:19Are you a photographer at heart?
11:20No.
11:21I just love that pitch.
11:22You know what the magic words was?
11:24Profitability.
11:25I know.
11:26And the revenue was 8 million total or 8 million last year?
11:29I think she said 8 million last year, so I'll be curious to know how many other investors are involved and how the business is really doing.
11:36Yes, I don't know.
11:37Let's take it to a vote.
11:38Are you guys ready?
11:39I'm ready.
11:40I'm ready.
11:43Let's vote.
11:44Let's vote.
11:45Let's vote.
11:46Let's vote.
11:47Let's vote.
11:48Let's vote.
11:49Let's vote.
11:50Let's vote.
11:51Let's vote.
11:52Let's vote.
11:53Attention, Jennifer.
11:54Your pitch has been approved.
11:55Jennifer.
11:56Hi.
11:57Welcome to the board room.
11:58Welcome.
11:59Hi.
12:00First of all, we want you to know that you did a great pitch.
12:01Nearly perfect.
12:02Mark, I think you gave her a 10 out of 10.
12:04Yeah, 11 out of 10.
12:0511 out of 10, but it was not a unanimous decision to bring you up here, so we'd love to hear
12:06more about your business and your growth plans.
12:07So, the business was really born out of my background being both doing business and also
12:08being an artist.
12:09And having tons of friends that were artists and seeing that nobody was making enough money
12:10to stay artists.
12:11Normally, you're like in a hotel or a restaurant, and you're like, I'm not going to stay
12:12there.
12:13And, so, I'm like, oh, I'm not going to stay there.
12:14You're like, I'm not going to stay there, because there's no way I'm going to stay.
12:15And so, I'm like, I'm not going to stay there.
12:16unanimous decision to bring you up here. So we'd love to hear more about your
12:20business and your growth plans. So the business was really born out of my
12:23background being both doing business and also being an artist and having tons of
12:28friends that were artists and seeing that nobody was making enough money to
12:31stay artists. Normally your life is a gig to gig right you have one gig this week
12:35you have one gig next week but that's not enough volume to keep you kind of in
12:39the game and so we're like if we can aggregate demand at certain locations
12:42can we pass that benefit along to the photographers here and that's what we
12:47found out we could do. So that's kind of the impetus of why we're doing what
12:50we're doing and our growth plan really is we're expanding to Canada this year
12:54which we're very excited about. We want to expand first to other English-speaking
12:57countries because it's easy with the cost of customer service and our big
13:02growth area is also our b2b headshot business. Is the corporate photo shoots
13:06the same model as the individual where you pay only if you like the shot? Yes it's
13:10similar. We're trialing different price points right now we're in that phase. How
13:14much is a photo? Our photos start at $25 each. Now are the companies paying you
13:20the money for the photos or the people paying you money for the photos? On the
13:23corporate side we you tried to see if people wanted to pay for their own
13:26photos but most companies want to pay for the photo for their employee so if
13:30it's a team the company definitely wants to pay for that we've almost had no
13:34examples of that not happening. I must say it's kind of slid me from the 11 down
13:37to about a 9. Still good because it feels like you're just morphing out of
13:42what sounded like a very creative novel business model into just we are do
13:47photography for people. Our strength is actually in figuring out a business
13:52model that works because a lot of people heard before we proved out our business
13:55model they were like this is not gonna work but we've made a lot of incremental
13:59changes to go from not being profitable at all to reaching profitability last
14:03year which we're so proud of. And eight million dollars in sales last year?
14:068.7 yes. I know it's a little bit different but how do you think that the
14:11evolution the iPhone and other things might challenge or change your business?
14:14All those cameras have existed for a while so that's the thing that you have
14:18that's mobile but it's so different from hiring a professional photographer
14:21because it's so much artistry like you get to relax and be present with your
14:25loved ones you absolutely cannot replicate the quality that you get from
14:29a professional camera. But every picture is pay per performance pay to play like
14:34of eight million that you made last year every single one is based on photo?
14:38Um no there's also things like gift cards so it's things that are ancillary
14:41to that too right? Okay but that's not a lot. Yeah yeah but it's yeah so there's a
14:45little bit of that but it's primarily yes photos that we sell from our photo
14:48shoots that are free. How many photographers do you have in your
14:50marketplace? We have about 700 to start with it flexes up and down depending on
14:54seasonality. What's the average income from a shoot for a photographer? They
14:59make on average between 140 to 150 plus tips. Wow. Yes. Per hour? Yes that's what
15:06the photographer makes. The cost of the photo? Yes. Is it variable or is it fixed?
15:10It's variable so it starts at $25 a piece once you hit 10 then it's $18 a
15:17piece and then you can get your full gallery for $2.95. And what percent of
15:21the revenue do you keep? 56% as of last year. 56? Yeah. So you make about $250 per
15:28hour. Any issue with the logo when it comes to shoot with two Ts and maybe a
15:33little bit of Instagram logo? No. That's the answer not yet. Are you still at a 9? No it's
15:43kind of going. A little lower? Yeah because I think when you're looking at
15:49the valuation that you're putting up which is high fine because you're
15:52profitable and you've got eight million dollars I would expect you to say I'm
15:55gonna do 16 like I'd expect your growth to match the valuation that you're
15:59trying to give me. But where you're at leaves me uncertainty because your
16:02growth does not match the valuation that you're asking for. So unfortunately I'm
16:07going to have to pass. I think it's a great industry. I'm just a little bit
16:11torn between the commercial side and the corporate side. I think that
16:16they're two completely different industries. I think it's compelling but
16:20not compelling enough for me to be able to invest. So with that I'm just gonna
16:24have to pass. Investing has lots of intuitive aspects to it. Largely it's
16:32this sense something's gonna go right but sometimes it's this sense that
16:36there's something off here. I'm getting some funny signals and one of course is
16:42going into the corporate stuff. I'm afraid despite my great enthusiasm and
16:47appreciation for the business model I have to pass.
16:52Sorry we couldn't do more for you. It was a pleasure. Thank you. Good luck.
16:58It's great to get the green light to go into the boardroom but it's a little
17:02disappointing to not get the green light now. I feel great about Shute's future
17:05going forward. You are absolutely right that the growth rate was off for the
17:09valuation. When it's common stock not preferred you have to really anticipate
17:14that that's gonna be in someone's mind and address it in your pitch. You were
17:17at 11 all of a sudden now you're out.
17:23Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch is presented by Amazon Business for every
17:28organization at every stage of growth.
17:36Our final entrepreneur is crushing industry standards with his creative
17:42advertising company.
17:55Going up. Hello Wayne. Welcome to The Elevator. Your pitch begins in three two
18:07one. So I'm sure you know this is the weekly ads that appear in your mailbox
18:13all the time. It's a 2.2 billion dollar industry that has not transitioned
18:16online very well. We take this content and we turn it into ads for every local
18:21store of that retailer. That's not all we do. We take all the inventory for the car
18:25dealers and we turn them into ads running on TV running on social media
18:28digital. We turn content into advertising. We do it for companies that range from
18:32entities that advertise on Amazon to everyone. We're the only company that
18:36does it end to end. The business has taken off very very well. I'm looking at
18:41raising three million at a valuation of 13 million but there's a kicker. Your
18:46investment will cost you nothing. I've had a track record that has allowed us
18:51to exit on four businesses raising 115 million sorry creating 115 million
18:56dollars worth of investor wealth and I'm here to talk to you guys about how you
19:00can be part of this ride and what amounts to zero cost to any of you. Thank
19:05you.
19:10That was intriguing. He's a serial entrepreneur that's going to give us
19:16equity for free? Ish. I like his confidence. I'm looking forward to asking
19:21him some questions about his business. I didn't actually get what his
19:24business is. Did you? Maybe he's trying to replace or upend the advertising
19:28business. I look for clarity in pitches and I didn't hear it that time. So let's
19:33decide whether we want to do that or not. You guys ready to vote. Let's do it.
19:47Attention wait. Your pitch has been approved. Yes please.
19:55Sorry. Welcome to the boardroom. Let me start off by telling you what I heard. I
20:03heard three things. Blah blah blah blah blah. I heard four exits and I heard we
20:10can get in for free. Yes. So why don't you start off but with the blah blah blah
20:13part. I did not catch what this business was. So we turned content into marketing.
20:18It cost us one-tenth of one cent to build an ad that typically in the market
20:23is around $800 to $1,400. We invented a concept called the creative matrix. We
20:28have all the entities down the left and what they're promoting across the top
20:31and it renders every ad and we built the buying directly into the media companies.
20:36Are you essentially taking the massive campaign that a company has and creating
20:41small little bits and bytes and sending it all these different places?
20:44100%. How do you make this more tangible for us to understand? So what I did is I
20:49actually took every one of your brands and onboarded it for every one of you
20:51people. So Mark, thank you sir. Dhani, thank you sir. And Kim, thank you ma'am.
20:58And basically I spent $19 million building the technology over the years.
21:03Is this live? Live, completely live. If you scan any of the ads you'll see
21:08completely localized. So I'm looking at the site right now and one of the
21:13partners that we've worked with in the past, they're on. So what happens now? I
21:17can take this ad and I can share it, I can comment, I can like it. We have five
21:21processes. So the first thing is we grab the content and build the ads is the
21:24second process. Number three, we actually distribute that to the stakeholders. So
21:28it could be the RV store, it could be the dealership, where they subscribe to buy
21:33$1,000 worth of advertising or $10 worth of advertising or even $100,000.
21:37So I'm sold. You're a successful serial entrepreneur. But what let you into this
21:42boardroom is what was I going to get for free? Here's the deal. No matter how much
21:46you decide to invest, 100% of that investment will be given to any of your
21:50portfolio companies as a full credit. Why would you do that? I'm more
21:54interested in getting the businesses. I need to get to 200,000 operating entities
21:59using it. What happens at 200,000? 200,000 it becomes very attractive to Meta, to
22:03X, to Google, and to Microsoft. That's the critical threshold. Can I ask you a
22:07question? Is it a manual business or are you leveraging some level of AI or
22:11artificial intelligence? Yeah, so we have AI but more importantly we
22:14build server versions of every Adobe tool. So we can render images, we can
22:19render video, we can render audio, we can render anything. So the key is once we
22:23have these brand standards we can render anything. Then we use AI to simply trim.
22:26How'd you get the valuation? I just raised 1.5 million from industry friends.
22:31Have any of those agency heads invested from a company perspective, ergo being a
22:37strategic partner? I didn't make it available to companies. I only made it available to my
22:40network of people. I don't need the money. What I'm more looking for is the network.
22:43I'll be transparent. I was really trying to see what the free deal was all about
22:47and if I was right in the midst of about to write a two million dollar
22:51check for advertising for social media for one of my companies, you're right, it's
22:55a no-brainer. I just swing that over to you and it goes right back to them.
22:58Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to do that nor is this something that I
23:02think I'd want to invest out of my own pocket. Despite the fact that this could
23:06be success number five, I'm afraid I have to pass. I appreciate it. Thank you, Monk.
23:12I'm looking at the businesses that you have on board to this point. As I see
23:18some of the businesses and some of the tools that you've built upon utilizing
23:22your own methods, I also see the world of artificial intelligence. I'm not sure if
23:27you can build it as fast as they can and so for that reason I'm gonna have to
23:31pass. I appreciate that. Thank you. I actually like what you're doing. The
23:36valuation is steep. I would be willing to invest 200k at the previous valuation of
23:4220 million. Okay. Cards on the table, it's a no-brainer. It is important to me to
23:50show growth in a year to my current investors. So what I'd like to do is
23:54figure out a way that you get what you want at that valuation but how about
24:00what I do is I actually take a portion of the credit. So we'll take the 200,000
24:06in credit to all your companies. You allocate that credit but we'll also take
24:09another 100,000 of that revenue to buy the extra stock for you to get you to
24:17the valuation. So you take the revenue from the entities and ask her to channel
24:22that back to you to buy stock for her. Yes. Hold out for the steak knives. Okay.
24:27Honestly, I love creative thinking. I think it's great to be an entrepreneur.
24:30Think on your feet. Try to come up with a better deal. I want to see if it
24:34actually works. I'm willing to invest to see if it does because you're investing
24:38back. Anything over that at this point? Unfortunately, I'm not. Okay. I will take
24:43what you offer but I'm gonna throw in a kicker anyway just to prove it. I love
24:47that. If you want to throw in more, throw in the steak knives. So the full 200,000 is gonna go as a
24:54credit to your entities and I'm also gonna throw in another 100,000 credit to
24:59you. Stop talking. Shake hands. Brilliant. I guess he has taken the deal. I wondered if he was or not. Thank you, Mark. I appreciate it, mate. Thank you, Donnie. Very, very cool. Thank you, mate.
25:13Thank you, Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch. You guys are absolutely amazing. This was
25:19the best experience ever and live retail is gonna take over the world because of
25:24your help. Thank you, guys. Brilliant. Queen of the something for nothing. I know he's got
25:27300k back in free advertising with the 200k investment. After he went through some mental gymnastics. I know. What he was talking about. He's a four-time founder at
25:364Exit and his first investors are people that are in the industry. So he's
25:41getting an inside around so he can get distribution. It's smart. But you have an
25:45agency, don't you? Don't you work with an agency? I've been in the agency business
25:48for 10-15 years and so I look at the artificial intelligence world and it's
25:54gonna take over so much of what he's trying to accomplish. Now, if you can get
25:57in front of that, you might have to put a little bit more chimichurri on your taco.
26:00Guys, it's sunsetting. It's time to move on here. It's time to move on. Out of all the
26:08entrepreneurs who stepped into the elevator today, just two were able to
26:13secure high-flying deals with our investors. In the high-stakes world of
26:19business, if you want to achieve your dreams, you must rise to the occasion to
26:26get to the top. Let's make a deal. Tune in next week as entrepreneur Elevator
26:34Pitch continues. Evaluation's insane. Absolutely rubs me the wrong way. Cheers
26:39to Elevator Pitch, right? And to apply for the next season, go to entrepreneur.com
26:45slash elevator pitch.