Horizons Demo Day
Read time: 2 mins
Last week the Horizons program ended with a demo day consisting of all the start-ups at different stages pitching their ideas, validation and sales.
In our case, the program took us from an idea to a point where we now have partners, sellable products and our first flows of revenue. This represents a major milestone for us. In a very short space of time, we have been able to sell helicopter flights and rideshare some of them. Ridesharing is the most exciting part for us, as it is at the core of our business model.
But anyway, back to demo day. It was held on the top floor of Flight Centre HQ (a fitting venue given what we do). On the 15th floor on the south side of the Brisbane River, the venue is quite frankly gorgeous. This vantage point giving you probably one of the best views of Brisbane you can get.
As I was talking to a colleague shortly before people started to arrive for the pitches. I spotted a helicopter on a tour of the city. I got very excited as it was from a company we had partnered with recently. And in the time since had started making sales on their behalf.
This for us was actually a very exciting event, it was the first time I got to pitch AirShare to a room full of people that knew nothing about us. When it finally came my turn to pitch, I was actually nervous. Extremely nervous, which I found ridiculous because I do this all the time and had grown cavalier to the entire process. I won’t make you suffer accounting it word for word. But the highlights are:
- We now are a revenue earning business
- Solving the issues of unused space on light aircraft
- Playing in a $500M Australian market and a $28B global market
- The issue of empty space plagues 35% of all scenic flights and almost all charter flights
- Partnered with 3 charter operators and offer customers access to air tours in 7 cities
- We have been invested in and are using the capital to grow to 30 of Australia’s highest traffic regions by June 2019 and to expand into NZ by October 2019
I think the best thing I personally got out of the pitch night is firstly that a business is never “done”. There is always something else to do. And that even though the program is finished we still have unlimited work to do. And Second, pitching is a great way to meet not just investors but, potential customers and partners. As a result, one of my goals for 2019 is to do six big pitches for the year.
Gauranga Magriplis –
