How to win an innovation competition

My team recently won a global innovation competition that was set over 3 rounds in 3 months. First it was 150 teams, then 32, then 7, then the winner.

Before we started, I always knew we would get pretty close, and we were fortunate enough to win. Here’s how we did it.

• Take it seriously
• Get the right team
• Be resourceful
• Evolve
• Be creative
• Go for the win

I won’t talk about how to come up with innovative ideas, let’s assume that you have an idea and it may or may not be good, you think it may be good, others may not, whatever… I also won’t go into quantifying the total addressable market, breaking out feasibility, desirability and viability. All of this should also be part of your pitch, but for today I’ll talk about what you’d have to do to evolve your idea and progress through a competition.

Take it seriously

If you enter, you need to enter strong. Take it seriously, treat it as if everything is on the line. Don’t turn up for round 1 if you’re not willing to do the all nighters to win round 4. By doing this you are already 95% of the way there, most won’t treat round 1 that way.

Get the right team

Your final team won’t be the same as the one at the start. People will jump off, others will jump in. You need people that have energy, like having fun, and being part of something bigger. Keep the team small, less is more, we had 5 people.

Be resourceful

Our team was a unique mix. We didn’t have a videographer, but yet we created great videos as part of our pitch by looking at how vloggers on YouTube communicate. We didn’t have a graphic designer, yet we created beautiful visual artefacts that were blown up A0 and 3 meters long, all through PowerPoint, yet it looked like it was done in InDesign. We didn’t have actors or narrators, yet our videos featured central characters and solid narration. We didn’t have strategists, yet we brainstormed with whoever we could find, including our clients to find new angles to our idea. All the resources you need are around you, and that’s a core concept of innovation.

Evolve

Your idea should not be static. It should change, you should get it wrong and then adjust, and then communicate that story. Through the 3 rounds we didn’t just refine our pitch or build out idea, we evolved. It should evolve to something that is marketable and desirable, and the only way to make that evolution happen is through motion. Getting it out into the market, testing it with clients, selling it, and adapting and adjusting. This was a core part of our story through each round. “Here’s how our idea has changed”. I would have been absolutely proud to say “since round 2 we’ve discovered that our idea was completely wrong, and here’s how we’ve changed it”.

Be creative

If 99% of the competition is going to present using PowerPoint, you shouldn’t. As Seth Godin calls it, be a Purple Cow, something that stands out. We used creative videos and basic editing software. There were no effects, just great stories and music. We never showed the solution in any of our material, we showed the effect it had, we role played in the videos, we brought it to life, we told stories. 99% won’t do this. This is why I knew we always had a very good chance before we even started.

Go for the win, by a large margin

This ties in with the first, if you’re taking it seriously, you should do everything you can to be successful. This includes practicing your pitch, being creative, pretending there is a $1M prize on the line, trying again and again. Be resourceful with this, test your pitch a client, test it with an investor, and also Google on how the best pitches work. Look at Shark Tank videos. You’re almost there but now you need put the final bit of acceleration down and open up that lead.

Finally, we had a whole lot of fun. We all have full time jobs and there was no big payday waiting at the end of the competition, just the idea of bringing a new idea one step closer, so unless we were having fun, there really was no point. We also think this ended up being considered in the judging, backing the jockey and not the horse. The idea may fail but the group who put it together is one that can make magic happen and people like being part of, and that’s worth backing.