Ozan SonmezFounder, The Brutally Honest Mentor · Building Brutally Honest Tools helping global startups and ecosystem players become better

Zillion App Final Pitch in Draper University Hero's Training Graduation by Ozan Sonmez

Name: Zillion App Final Pitch in Draper University Hero's Training Graduation by Ozan Sonmez
Uploaded: 2023-10-16T07:42:43+00:00
Duration: 2 min 45 s
Channel: Ozan Sonmez
Description: In this Draper University graduation pitch, Ozan Sonmez introduces Zillion, a mobile/web app designed to help startup founders improve their investor…

16 Oct 2023 · 3 min

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2:45

In this Draper University graduation pitch, Ozan Sonmez introduces Zillion, a mobile/web app designed to help startup founders improve their investor pitches through structured practice. He argues that most early‑stage startups fail because they do not practice pitching enough, not because of resource constraints. Zillion offers a three‑step workflow: (1) watch a curated library of peer pitches for inspiration, (2) record and submit your own pitch for peer‑to‑peer feedback, and (3) receive AI‑generated metrics on clarity, pacing, and energy to benchmark progress. The business model relies on in‑app purchases and premium subscription packages, with plans to explore additional revenue streams after reaching 10,000 users. Go‑to‑market tactics include distributing free credits to accelerators and business‑plan competitions to drive early adoption. The team has built an MVP during the Draper University program, collaborating with ten startups, and secured agreements with competitions and conferences for beta testing. Ozan requests a $500,000 seed round to scale the platform to 50,000 pitch sessions, fund further product development, and expand market reach. He highlights a seasoned advisory board and ends with a call for mentors and founders to join the platform.

Chapters

We are Zillion, and we are here to help startups pitch better to get to their next milestone. Startups fail at 3 things when they begin. They fail at pitching, they fail at pitching, and they fail at pitching. The reason is not that they don't like— they have, you know, they don't have enough resources. The reason is they don't practice enough, and I'm here to change that. Zillion is an app where you will be able to get to startup founders quickly. My name is Ozan, and I've been helping startup founders for the last 7 years in different accelerator programs and international competitions. And I have seen what difference it makes when a startup practices enough. With Zillion, we will do what investors and founders give advice you to do. You will be able to practice. As you see here, you'll be able to get online to our app, watch other founders pitch to get inspiration, and then you'll be able to put your own pitch to get peer-to-peer feedback. It's practicing with peers that will make you more successful. Also, we're adding an artificial intelligence to support you in your decisions— how clear you were pitching, what pace, and what energy levels you were giving out. you'll have a benchmark to improve from. Our business model is simple: in-app purchases and premium packages. After 10,000 features, we'll start exploring different business opportunities. Taking proxies like us and AngelList, we know that there's a million founders that will use our app periodically. Our go-to-market strategy is simple: giving free credits to startup accelerators and business plan competitions. So we'll start acquiring startups too. We have been developing our MVP during the Draper University program stage, working closely with 10 startups. We are already in agreement with business plan competitions and startup conferences to test our beta application. Until the end of the year, we'll finish the app bootstrapping, and after that, we'll start fundraising. We'll be asking for half a million dollars. that will take us to 50,000 startup pitches going to our app and enabling them to practice better. We are a team that lives and breathes startups, and we also have advisors that worked in different institutions that are helping in our journey. As Bruce Lee said, fear the startup that practiced their pitch. My name is Ozan. Please come find me during networking sessions. I'll be very happy to sign you up as better mentors and startups. Thank you. Woo!