Bit of a ‘Throwback Thursday’ type post, but I figured that because I harassed everyone on Facebook / Twitter / everyone I work with to vote for me, you might want to hear about what happened when I went to pitch for Slapdash at The Pitch a couple weeks back now.
The big day started with THE worst morning of my life. Woke up fine (miraculous at 6.50am), got ready and tottered out the door of my friend’s house in Bristol (who has the bed of my dreams, SO comfy and up a ladder, with a desk underneath. Incredible). Then the nightmare began.
I went to pay for my car parking, realised I could only stay for 3 hours max and this white van man only added to my small drama by dramatically telling me ‘ooo love, you’ll definitely get a parking ticket if you stay over three hours!!’ every time he walked past me (which was many a time whilst he got his tools out the van, let me tell you). Time ticked by and I slowly came to the realisation that my booked taxi wasn’t turning up. Cue a rather nervy call to my Mum, I was meant to be at the place for registration for 8.30am, by now it was approximately 8.25am, and I decided the best option was to wake my friend’s housemate up so I could get back in the house, get my sat nav and drive to the place myself. Being an independent woman and all (ha).
Frantic apologies about getting the housemate to open the door so early in the morning over, I ran back to my car and received a call from the taxi. ‘I’m nearly there, just around the corner, sorry got caught in traffic. Where abouts is your house?’ … He was so ecstatic about me no longer needing the taxi he hung up on me. RUDE.
Let’s just say by this point I’m flapping big time. I try and drive in my heels, realise it’s impossible, kick them off and drive barefoot. In a blind panic I pull out a junction stupidly and have to reverse back into it, as I’m getting beeped at by traffic trying to come up the road. As I’m reversing I definitely did not lightly bump into a very nice black car. (Don’t worry, no damage, it’s all good. And I’m also a very good driver normally, promise). So by this point, I’m driving along in a major flap, hysterically crying every time I stop at traffic lights / in a traffic jam. Which when I think about it, was probably fricking hilarious for any pedestrians passing by. I get lost a good few times before I make it to where I need to be, and when I finally do, I could not find a parking space for the life of me…
A while later I finally park, compose myself, put my shoes back on and get out my car. On my way to walking to the building I feel something splat on my head. Yes, later that day I had to pitch to a room of people with bird poo in my hair. To look on the bright side, at least I’m brunette and the bird poo was brown…
I turned up 45 minutes late and sat in a daze about what just happened for the next 45. Let’s just say when my Dad and Stepmum turned up to support me and take me for lunch, I have never ever been more grateful to begin to be able to laugh at my nightmare!
Slapdash was in the ‘One to Watch’ category; for businesses which have yet to begin trading. We had three minutes to pitch our business idea to the panel of judges, some investors and the rest of the spectators in the room. I can’t say I remember my pitch but I felt it went well and I finished within the three minutes. We then went to question time and I got hit with ‘I just don’t understand your idea… why wouldn’t you just shop online?’. I genuinely felt like screaming ‘I have bird poo in my hair, please just give me a break!!’, but I passionately tried to explain that I’ve found that people don’t like paying delivery, hassle of returns and possibly the biggest factor (which I forgot in the heat of the moment) that people like to feel and try on before they buy. Honestly, I started to doubt that Slapdash was a realistic idea after that. However, afterwards I got some amazing feedback from other people who had seen my Pitch, who agreed there was a need for Slapdash and that the judge was too harsh. Which was a great round off to the day, along with the free pie and mash from Pieminister!
Unfortunately I didn’t win my category (Congratulations to those that did, check out www.thepitchuk.com), but overall it was a great experience; apart from the morning, ‘great experience’ not so much, but hilarious now I look back on it!
Apologies for a bit of an epic post, but I hope the hilarity saw you through!
SJW x
SJW: Queen of Slapdash 