Elevator Pitch Challenge is based on the old adage about a business idea that gets pitched to an executive quickly and concisely- in the time it takes to ride an elevator to the top floor. Vydrogen is looking for a winning 90 second elevator pitch that doesn’t overwhelm with details, but cuts to the chase about a big idea.

Vydrogen founder Jack Martin has big hopes for the Elevator Pitch Challenge. Martin says the Elevator Pitch Challenge isn’t just about finding a winner and giving away $2500. “My hope is that through Elevator Pitch Challenge, people will learn more about Vydrogen and come to us for help getting their new business ideas off the ground. When Vydrogen is a go-to investment group for entrepreneurs not just here in Colorado, but across the U.S., I’ll know we’ve succeeded in our mission at Vydrogen.”

Elevator Pitch Challenge is open for public entry. Entrants can submit their video pitch at www.elevatorpitch.co now through December 31, 2010. The Elevator Pitch Challenge will be judged by Vydrogen founder Jack Martin, Ben Lee M.D., Nick Casares, Greg Tanner and Ted Menadier.

The best elevator pitch can win a $2500 grand prize and other highly qualified elevator pitches can gain access to Vydrogens’ investment network.  This is a great opportunity for anyone needing business funding, who wants to get an idea in front of investors, gather valuable feedback, connect with new advisors, and possibly win some cash.

Judging the video submissions for Elevator Pitch Challenge is Vydrogen CEO Jack Martin, Managing Partner Greg Tanner, website and internet guru Nick Casares, Ted Menadier MBA, Ben Lee M.D. and Stephen Ryan. BIO’s on all judges can be found at Vydrogen’s website www.vydrogen.com.

“Major opportunities in the marketplace often arise from market convergence, a scenario where the status quo dominates. That’s where Vydrogen comes in. Simply put, we are helping forward-thinking entrepreneurs disrupt the status quo. This basis of doing business inspired us to create the Elevator Pitch Challenge. There are people out there with ground-breaking ideas for new businesses and new products. Our job is to find and to fund them,” commented Vydrogen CEO Jack Martin.

The Elevator Pitch Challenge is based on the elevator pitch concept, popular in the venture capital community. It is an extremely concise presentation of an entrepreneur’s idea, business model, marketing strategy, competitive analysis, and financial plan, which is delivered to potential investors.

Dr. Lee has been practicing specialized medicine for 18 years. He is also owner and director of theAdvanced Medical Aesthetics Center, which provides education for health care professionals seeking new careers in the aesthetic medicine industry.

Dr. Ben Lee is a lifelong resident of Colorado. He earned his bachelor’s degree with highest honors from the University of Colorado in Boulder in molecular and cellular biology and his M.D. with highest honors from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver followed by his MBA from the University of Colorado Denver.

He completed his surgical internship at the University of California at San Francisco. He continued his training in otolaryngology/head & neck surgery at Duke University Medical Center where he worked closely with the plastic surgery division on trauma and head and neck cancer patients. Because of this close relationship, Dr Lee was encouraged to complete an additional fellowship in plastic surgery. He currently practices aesthetic plastic surgery in Denver, Colorado and is a diplomate of the American Board of Plastic Surgery. He is also owner and director of the Advanced Medical Aesthetics Center, which provides education for health care professionals seeking new careers in the aesthetic medicine industry.

“Our team of professionals is on board and ready to be agents of change for Colorado entrepreneurs. I talk to people every day who have incredible ideas for a new product or a business concept and most have ineffective business plans, proof of concept or executive summaries. We’d like to help our community members be successful and achieve their entrepreneurial dreams. A solid business plan is the first step towards success and we have the resources to help people craft their dreams into reality, and for the time being we are actually giving away this service to Colorado residents,” commented Jack Martin, Vydrogen CEO.

Vydrogen announces the development of an Angel Investment Fund for Women’s Beauty Consumer Goods specifically for new consumer products to market. Vydrogen CEO Jack Martin has partnered with Ben Lee, M.D., a Denver, Colorado Plastic Surgeon to lead and select top quality investment opportunities. Dr. Lee’s 18 years of experience in women’s cosmetic procedures offers unique potency and perspective to the consistently performing consumer market segment.

Vydrogen Angel Investment Fund Advisor Ben Lee, M.D. noted, “The health and personal care industry is one of the hottest growth areas in our economy and should remain so for decades to come. As aging baby boomers enter their sixties and seventies, they will exert a disproportionately large financial influence on our culture, just as they have at every stage of their lives. Because their health and beauty requirements are different than earlier in their lives, new products and technologies need to be created. This represents a great opportunity for entrepreneurs focused upon serving their needs.”

Vydrogens’ Women’s Beauty Consumer Goods Angel Investment Fund is a 5-year opportunity with 6 month returns on most projects. Also joining the Board of Advisors is marketing maverick Stephen Ryan of Austin, TX and start-up specialist Greg Tanner of Denver, CO.

Now announced, Vydrogen will be hosting the first semi-annual Elevator Pitch Challenge. Participants in the challenge will have 60 seconds to put their new venture idea to a judging panel that will include private equity investors, successful entrepreneurs and other experts in the field of entrepreneurship. It’s up to you to put your best foot forward to gain the investors serious consideration. Entrants should convey the critical information about their business opportunity necessary to develop serious interest on the part of the investors. The grand prize winner will receive $2500 cash and other highly qualified candidates will be able to meet with investors interested in funding their idea. Please see details at (http://www.elevatorpitch.co)

Elevator Pitch Challenge is open to all types of products and services. Pitches will be judged on presentation quality, explanation of the business concept, the quality of the proposed project, and the market potential of the potential opportunity.

Interested participants should declare their intent to participate no later than November 30^th, 2010. Video submissions should include:

• The Opportunity including the problem your business addresses, the product/services you will offer, the target market, how your business will solve the problem, and how it will create and capture value.
• The Company including an identification of management team members and their role in the new venture, and what history the company may have to date, if any.
• The Products or Services including a description of products/services and any potential competitive advantages of the products or services.

After the company identifies new inventions ideas and emerging businesses that can have a positive impact on the marketplace, they will provide the hands-on consulting expertise, development experience, and venture capital resources needed to help entrepreneurs move forward. Their goal is to launch inventive products, accelerate the growth of innovative startup and early-stage businesses into venture-ready companies, and enable new ideas and new businesses to fulfill their potential.

“We’re passionate about partnering with talented people nationwide. We understand the hurdles inventors have to clear in order to get their ideas to market, and we’ve streamlined the entire process to make their lives easier. In our experience, we’ve learned that it’s not just about finding the next big idea, it’s about bringing profitable ideas to life,” notes Jack Martin, the company’s CEO.

To help budding entrepreneurs, Vydrogen will evaluate ideas, perform preliminary market research and analysis, and assess the ideas for commercial viability. When ideas pass this rigorous analysis called “LaunchPad”, Vydrogen will work with entrepreneurs to create strategies for rapid prototyping and product development, marketing, sales, manufacturing, licensing, and distribution. The company will also work with early-stage and venture-ready companies to help them build their new businesses and secure necessary capital.

Vydrogen is offering their signature Start-up Package for new clients with services including business evaluation, brand strategy, elevator pitch, market analysis and business strategy for only $699 through August 1st. All Vydrogen services are customized and specific for each client. All packages and services are designed to accelerate deal flow for new and emerging business or products. Call (303) 825-9999 or email deal@vydrogen.com for a free assessment of your idea, product or emerging business.

The best elevator pitch can win a $2500 cash prize and other highly qualified elevator pitches can gain access to Vydrogen investment network.

Judging the Elevator Pitch Challenge is Vydrogen CEO Jack Martin, Managing Partner Greg Tanner, website and internet guru Nick Casares, Ted Menadier MBA, Ben Lee M.D. and Stephen Ryan. Bio’s on all judges can be found at Vydrogen’s website vydrogen.com.

“Major opportunities in the marketplace often arise from market convergence, a scenario where the status quo dominates. That’s where Vydrogen comes in. Simply put, we are helping forward-thinking entrepreneurs disrupt the status quo. This basis of doing business inspired us to create the Elevator Pitch Challenge. There are people out there with ground-breaking ideas for new businesses and new products. Our mission is to find them,” commented Vydrogen CEO Jack Martin.

About Vydrogen

Vydrogens’ talented team and their attitude toward risk-taking makes them uniquely qualified to exploit the opportunities that arise from disrupting the status quo. Vydrogen provides the objective insights and real-world expertise required to design, analyze, and deploy new products, inventions and the business surrounding them. From concept to completion, Vydrogen translates ideas into action, identifying concrete milestones, implementing pragmatic approaches, and building new business ideas from the ground up.

I rank strategy as the highest weighing success factor after management.  Why?  Because when managers execute a well thought out strategy it develops some really cool companies.   Companies that I think are really cool that had a great strategy are Chipotle,  New Belgium,  SmashBurger.   If you look at these companies they have strong values,  big brand and strong customer loyalty.   So how does a start up think about strategy?

1) Push your brand and develop a clear brand DNA – that means don’t skimp on the look,  professionalism and culture that builds your brand and image.   It’s important to have a clear, simple and clean message and look for your company.  Does that mean spend thousands? No.  Think about how you look.  Develop a simple LogoType and use two colors.  You can use a logo development company if you want to spend a few hundred dollars and feel you need a logo.   Remember, that you need to put your identity on many things and it needs to be simple, repeatable and recognizable.   Imagine yourself in 5 or 10 years not in the present when developing your Brand DNA – [that's the logo, colors, trademarks, slogans, marketing material, web site, etc.]    Brand DNA strategy is straightforward because it is something you can see.

2)  Competitive strategy.  Most managers have thought about the competition or the landscape and the marketplace.   However, it’s rare that they execute and share this strategy with the company.    Successful companies take the best practices of existing successes,  and competitors and put their value stamp on them.    I see the most creative people using various ways of marketing and gaining on the competition using methods and tools that they have seen or read about elsewhere.    There is a lot of ways to beat your competition and gain customers and prominently in front of you.  One example  is a pizza restaurant.  Their direct competitor has better pizza but horrible customer service.   How did they gain more deliveries and customers?  They opened 1/2 hour earlier and stayed open 1 hour longer then the competition.   They saw a significant up tick in deliveries and the lunch business boomed, customers raved about the fact that they could call and get a pizza at a decent hour [9pm] in the neighborhood.

3) The strategic document.   This document really is the foundation for my successes.   This document is simple it states your goal for the year.   Then breaks down the goal into specific tasks that need to be completed.    This sometimes is a very high level [executive] document.   Here’s my secret,  share it and re visit this document frequently.   Share it with your closest advisors,  partners, vendors, and key customers.   Most important share it with your staff.  Even if it is just three of you.   This document shares your thought process.  And if you have ever been in a start up sometimes you hear the “what the hell were they thinking?”  The strategic document covers this.   It also gets the entire team into the strategic process and thinking more about the customer acquisition process.

So when you think about your business and startup – think strategically.  You do it all of the time but just don’t put the thoughts to paper and don’t execute the objectives very often.   Keep your objectives simple and clear.   Don’t use obvious objectives such as get more clients.   But do use “acquire the three highly visible clients in the New Mexico area”.   Don’t use “get the website done”.   Use “develop a strong and compelling web site that provides for gaining customers, and enhances our marketing strategy”.

I am available for insight and comments on strategy and don’t forget that our start up package covers a lot of strategy and strategic thought which is very different than a typical start up service.

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