In ten years time, I’m likely to forget about the teams who competed in NVC finals with us last year except for one—a team really changed my view about what diversity means at Booth and NVC, and taught me how passion can transform something from normal to extraordinary—a story about a toilet!
I knew Shane Durkin from the very beginning of Booth as we are in the same LEAD cohort and I saw him as a heroic figure—a Navy SEAL member. We discussed entrepreneurship and the trip to New Zealand he was planning back then. But what really surprised me was the business Shane brought to NVC and how great his final presentation was. Don’t be fooled when he casually mentioned his “ability to make the room laugh.” I made the room laugh, too, but I never got to take the second place and $70,000 back home. Their presentation was definitely my favorite among all finalists, including ours 🙂 Let’s hear about what he thinks about that journey now.
Now that NVC season is upon us, I figured a reflection on my team’s journey through the entrepreneurial ringer last year would be a good topic for the Booth Experience blog. To refresh your memory and for those unfamiliar readers out there, Coronado Conservation is a venture focused on developing a new, innovative, ultra-high-efficiency, suction-powered toilet. Yup, a toilet.
For starters, congrats to all those who made it into this year’s NVC cohort. That alone is an accomplishment to be proud of, but the real test is yet to come. Looking back, there are a couple of themes that I would say summed up my team’s experience and hopefully serve as some useful advice to someone out there, whether you’re participating in this year’s NVC, are a prospective student, or just an entrepreneur scouring the ecosystem for tips and words of wisdom.
Do your best to achieve proof of concept. The best thing you can do to prove your venture is to let it prove itself (easier said than done, I know). NVC teams run the full spectrum of startups, from ideas in their infancy to ventures generating cash. In my opinion, you will set yourself up for the greatest chances of success in front of an investment committee if you can distill your venture down to the simplest product or economic unit and demonstrate that it works. In our case, that was getting our alpha prototype to flush three whole bananas using only a quarter gallon of water—the video proof did all the talking. Market data, customer interviews, and financial projections are all necessary and proof of concept is useless without the research to validate the market, but nothing will be more compelling than actual, tangible success metrics that support your business hypotheses. Figure out what success metrics are attainable early on and focus on achieving those.
Add some humor if you can, but don’t force it. I actually think one of our keys to success in NVC was our ability to make the room laugh. Fortunately, there is plenty of bathroom humor to pull from when you’re talking about building a new toilet, however other teams packed some good punchlines, too. More so than trying to be funny, just relax and have a fluid conversation with the audience. Not only are the NVC judges going to have to sit through hours and hours of pitches, slowly grinding their attention span down to the bare minimum, but I think people generally will want to see your genuine personality and passion for the business. Show people you care (a lot), do it with a smile and don’t be afraid to capitalize on an opening for a good joke. After all, you’re pitching yourself just as much as you are pitching your business, so don’t be boring. Seek to demonstrate you have the skills, personality and wherewithal to execute your great idea, otherwise it won’t ever be more than an idea.
Don’t be afraid to rely on the Booth network. I cannot begin to tell you how many Boothies I spoke with last year (not participating in NVC) that were able to provide useful, beneficial connections, contacts, and anecdotes that helped our team navigate the early stages of our entrepreneurial discovery process, even for something like a toilet. I found the resume database to be extremely useful for finding classmates with subject matter expertise in areas I knew little to nothing about. I was overwhelmed how supportive everyone was and gathered so many ideas I could never contrive on my own. People are also generally enthused to share what they know if you are inquisitive, respectful, and appreciative of their time. Just make sure to pay it forward somehow 🙂
Regardless of the outcome, the experience of trying to take an idea and turn nothing into something is a stressful but rewarding journey that is well worth the time. As saturated as the entrepreneurial scene may seem these days, there are still opportunities everywhere and there always will be.
Coronado Conservation is continuing to discover new and novel ways to innovate upon a common household fixture that has remained relatively unchanged for decades. We’re excited to continue sharing our journey along the way and hopefully change the way toilets work in the future. Best of luck to everyone moving forward in this year’s NVC, I’m excited to see how the quarter unfolds. Please don’t hesitate to connect with me offline if there is anything I can do to help. Cheers!
– Shane Durkin is a second-year student at Booth and guest contributor to The Booth Experience student blog.
