The preparation

One fine day Martin came into my office and asked, "Hey Klemens, do you know 2 Minutes 2 Million?" I replied, "The start-up store on Puls4?" Martin responded, "Yes, we have to prepare something there. I have registered us and we are pitching the Vitalmonitor in the Puls4 studio in Vienna. However, it's only the preliminary round for now."

No sooner said than done. 2 hours later we sat in our meeting room and racked our brains about how we should ever manage to present the Vitalmonitor in just 2 minutes. After brainstorming with Martin and Berny, the topics were clear: the measurement, heart rate variability, regeneration, training recommendation, stress level, plus bio-age. 2 more hours later we realized: it doesn't work that way. The show is called 2 minutes 2 million, not 10 minutes 10 million. So we had to start all over again and cut out everything that wasn't absolutely necessary. What remained was stress and regeneration.

The preselection

A few weeks later at the Puls4 studio in Vienna. Martin and I (Berny was unfortunately prevented) came with everything that could possibly be interesting: Flipcharts with business development, target groups, marketing plans, rollups, Vitalmonitor, Fitness-Vitaltest and Vital Supps. The pitch took place in front of two Puls4 employees. Additionally, it was recorded on video. Despite the manageable audience, Martin and I were quite nervous. I admit it openly: it was probably due to a lack of preparation. We are both used to giving impromptu presentations. However, with 2 Puls4 employees and a camera, who together would decide about a good part of our future, our usual relaxedness was not far off. Luckily for us, we were allowed to repeat the presentation after a completely botched attempt. After the recording was halfway done, we were asked the usual questions: How much money do you want? Who are your customers? How did you come up with the idea?

After the pitch was over we went back to Linz and again we had to wait.

The pitch

Weeks later, we finally got the redemptive news "You're in the show." The next step was a pitching crash course at the Puls4 studio in Vienna. Martin and I (Berny was again prevented) sat in a meeting room with 9 other founders, who all presented exciting projects: from medical marijuana to smart garden irrigation, city tours for homeless people, to super-fast internet on airplanes. All exciting projects. But there was one thing we thought we had ahead of the others: a finished product that works, a few thousand customers and, as a bonus for the first investor, a vital monitor signed by Dominik Thiem.

So we went into the preparations for the show in good spirits. We would not make the mistake of lacking preparation again. This time we will learn everything by heart. Sounds uncool, but it is highly recommended when you are nervous. So Martin, Berny and I spent hours filling out 2 minutes in such a way that there was room for everything important and yet it didn't sound too memorized. We filmed, analyzed and optimized each run-through. Since there was no more room for the bio-age besides regeneration and stress, we integrated it in such a way that the jury almost had to ask for it after the 2 minutes: we simply printed our current bio-age on our shirts:

The show

What did the jury say? How much money do we actually want? Why is my bio-age so lousy?

Read on here: 2 Minuten 2 Millionen - Teil 2

All Images (c) Gerry Frank