Written by: Austin, Christine, Steve (N-House Residential Assistants for AY2020/21 Sem 1)
It is the time of the semester again for Pitch Night, one of N-House’s flagship event organized every semester. Despite the COVID-19 situation, it did not dampen the entrepreneurial spirit among our N-House residents as we have 10 teams pitting against one another in Pitch Night 2020. We are really excited to see teams looking to solve problems spanning across various industries — from cybersecurity to construction and many more! Read on further to find out more!
Not forgetting our esteemed judges, we were honored to have Kris Childress (Mentor-in-Residence @ NUS Enterprise), Yiping Goh (Partner @ Quest Ventures), and Lauren Teo (Associate @ Cocoon Capital) on our judging panel. Lastly, we would also like to give a huge shoutout to NUS Enterprise, Reassemble, and Google Cloud for Startups for sponsoring the prizes for our winners of Pitch Night.
Let’s move on to the stars of the night as we walk through all the participating teams.
Teams:
Eldersafe:
ElderSafe is a NUS cybersecurity start-up that seeks to safeguard our elderly in an increasingly digital future. It seeks to proactively detect scam and phishing threats to the elder’s mobile phones. From real-time community data and machine learning, Eldersafe reduce the time to tackle crime.
Let’s hear from Eldersafe’s team member:
James Chua, Year 4, NCSV37
Pitching ElderSafe to VCs forced us to think deeply about our business model. They made us realize key flaws in our pitch, and how to improve on it. It was definitely a great experience!
ConcreteAI (2nd Place):
Team ConcreteAI innovates an AI powered sensor. It is embedded within the concrete structure that measures the early age development of in-situ concrete strength directly from the job-site in real-time to reduce manpower usage and improve productivity.
Let’s hear from ConcreteAI’s team member:
Peter Lim, Year 4, NCIS18
It was an amazing experience to be able to present the idea that me and my team have been working on the past few months, and to be able to get valuable insights and feedback from the judges. As we are working on a project regarding a niche sector of the construction industry, we were worried that we will not be able to explain the context of the problem statement to those that have no experience in construction.
Socialle:
Socialle is a social e-commerce marketplace that enables shoppers to explore and shop together. Imagine asian’s version of Pinduoduo.
Let’s hear from Socialle’s team member:
Winson Heng, Year 4, NCSV35
It was interesting how different investors focusing on different fields have different mindsets about a certain value proposition. By preparing for the pitch, it helped us cleared up certain details about our idea that we did not know wasn’t clear. I also found out that me and my partner work really well together!
TractGen:
“Find your early adopters with these 3 simple steps! The Rich hate him”
TractGen is a SaaS that helps companies to find their early-adopters for their emerging product through automated sourcing for leads from social media platforms
Let’s hear from TractGen’s team member:
Chun Cheong, Year 4, NCTO4
The pitch night helped my team to re-evaluate our idea and understand from the investor’s standpoint. More importantly, it was a great opportunity to put what we learnt from N-House to use. One of the greatest takeaways is that early traction is essential to distinguish between an investable idea and a good idea.
Skittle:
Skittle is an innovative front-of-house solution that allows F&B outlets a quick and easy way to manage queues and reduce social clustering. We strive to turn waiting into an experience.
Let’s hear from Skittle’s team member:
Xaview Liew, Y3, NCSV37
I’ve learnt that building a story and opportunity around problem is important as people can relate to that. I also saw the importance of the problem our group was trying to solve and how the validity or real the problem is will affect the quality of solution. Lastly, I learnt more about other aspiring entrepreneurs and their brilliant ideas in N-house.
HomePal (3rd Place):
Falls is the leading cause of hospitalisation among elderly, with almost 1 in 3 elderly reported falling down at home in 2019. HomePal is your digital friend that aims to improve the quality of life for your elderly folks at home, and lets you know first hand if anything happens.
Let’s hear from HomePal’s team member:
Hoi Bing, Year 4, NCBJ10
Our group was formed over breakfast conversation and we realised that there was something that we can do about together. After various round of market validation, talking to people and organisation and only then did we arrived at our pitch.
Our group are incredibly grateful to be able to go on this journey, together with the support from nHouse mentor to really put our ideas into fruition. We can’t wait to take this idea further!
Senze:
Senze is a web application (desktop and mobile friendly) that helps consumers determine if a skin care product is suitable for their purchase and use based on their skin-type and skincare routine. Senze has a growing product database to help customers find the most compatible products. Senze hopes to help consumers make a more informed decision before spending their money on a new skincare product.
Let’s hear from Senze’s team member:
Chan Wei Zhang, Year: 4, NCIS18
In addition to the exposure to pitch alongside my team, I got to observe and learn from the other teams who has pitched as well. The different ideas presented made me realized the amount of potential problems that can be solved or improved.
Vide (1st Place):
Vide simplifies the management of group orders and it is a group order marketplace that allows fans to share expensive shipping fees when purchasing celebrity merchandise.
Let’s hear from Vide’s team member:
Ze Yong Yeoh, Y4, NCST30
Through the event, our team was able to refine our pitch deck by consulting with the N-House resident mentor. We also received constructive feedback from the judges to improve on our idea and pitch. We are honoured to have been awarded the grand prize and are excited to utilize the prizes effectively to continue developing Vide.
Palm:
Palm provides an omnichannel marketing strategy for F&B vendors. We tap on delivery agents to act as the medium for your outdoor strategy and incorporates geofencing technique to drive up your in-store purchase.
Let’s hear from Palm’s team member:
Steve Leong, Year 4, NCSV36
It was my honour to be able to share the startup idea I was working on to the panel of judges and the audience that tuned in to the event online. Despite not walking away with any accolade this time round, the consultation with N-House’s resident mentor, Amir, and the feedback provided by the judges were really helpful and they provided more food for thoughts for my team.
Inspo Refine:
Inspo Refine is developing an AI-based centralized app & website to match user-submitted fashion inspiration images to apparel recommendations seamlessly.
Let’s hear from Inspo Refine’s team member:
Rakshna, Year 4, NCNY12
It was a great opportunity for us to push ourselves and our idea further through pitch night. to be able to convey something we’ve been working on for months in 5 minutes truly was a challenge, but i’m thankful for the noc professors and nhouse advisors who were able to train us for it. it was a very valuable experience, especially so the feedback given by the judges, giving us the experience and knowledge we need to take this further.
It was really exciting to see our N-House residents coming together for the Pitch Night as it was an embodiment of true entrepreneurial spirits. From weeks to even months of hard work, our residents were on a journey of self-discovery to solve problems and build new solutions with the potential to bring about positive impacts.
You can catch our exciting pitch night video over here!
As our N-house residents embark on their projects, we wish everyone the very best!! As always, N-house is a journey, not a destination.
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