3 Reasons Pitch Contests Are Beauty Pageants With Blindfolded Judges

Have you ever watched a pitch contest and wondered why the best idea (in your opinion) didn’t win?

Decisions in a pitch contest are mostly based on instincts about which venture has the best chance to succeed based on the pitch and presentation, not based on proven entrepreneurial skills.

However, the reality is that about 99% of 87 Billion-Dollar Entrepreneurs succeeded based on their strategy and skills – not on the idea or product innovation. This suggests that pitch competitions can be compared with beauty pageants with blindfolded judges.

Can even top VCs reliably spot unicorns from a pitch?

If you think that VCs have great financial instincts, here are some sobering thoughts:

• About 10 VCs rejected Steve Jobs when he was starting Apple. He just turned out to be one of the greatest entrepreneurs in history. Why didn’t these successful VCs invest in him?
• About 12 VC rejected Google – one of the greatest ventures in history. And one of them, Bessemer Capital, has shown the character to put this on their web site along with all the other very successful ventures they had rejected.
• Even after being very selective, VCs fail on about 80% of their ventures.
• Most VC successes – both among ventures and VCs – are in Silicon Valley. When Andreessen Horowitz expanded to Miami, they eventually had to leave – because VCs don’t create unicorns (https://www.forbes.com/sites/dileeprao/2025/02/10/vcs-dont-start-unicorns-the-1-lesson-from-andreessen-horowitz/). VCs jump on the venture bandwagon after the entrepreneurs do the heavy lifting from idea to Aha!

If seasoned investors can’t consistently spot unicorns, why would we expect a 5-minute pitch panel to do better?

3 reasons pitch contests are flawed

Here are 3 reasons pitch contests are fundamentally flawed—and why it’s time to prioritize substance over showmanship.

Reason 1: Pitch competitions reward style over substance

Pitches are designed to attract angel and VC funding, not to build sustainable, profitable ventures, based on the assumption that ventures need VC. In reality, 94% of billion-dollar entrepreneurs took off without VC (https://www.forbes.com/sites/dileeprao/2023/03/14/the-1-secret-of-billion-dollar-entrepreneurs-94-took-off-without-vc/). Pitch competitions mainly reward polished delivery over real entrepreneurial ability – skills that may only become clear after an entrepreneur has executed successfully.

Sam Walton (Walmart), Dick Schulze (Best Buy), Richard Burke (UnitedHealthcare), Gaston Taratuta (Aleph), Joe Martin (Boxycharm.com), and Fawn Weaver (Uncle Nearest) succeeded due to their skills. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/dileeprao/2024/09/18/the-unicorn-strategy-6-key-tactics-from-fawn-weaver-of-uncle-nearest/)

Would you invest in a pitch that promised to sell nuts and bolts? Yet Bob Kierlin built Fastenal, a $47 billion enterprise, doing just that with $31,000 from his own savings and that of four friends (https://www.forbes.com/sites/dileeprao/2025/02/10/vcs-dont-start-unicorns-the-1-lesson-from-andreessen-horowitz/). Some pitches may not be glamorous – at least until the entrepreneurs become rich. Wealth does have a way to make the ugliest duckling beautiful.

Solution: We need to reward substance over style.

Reason 2: No one can consistently forecast success before it happens

No one can consistently predict which ventures have the potential to win before they’ve proven themselves, especially in emerging industries where the rules are still being written. That’s when VCs invest. And even then, VCs fail on about 80% of their investments. In fast-changing, emerging markets, the ultimate winners are the entrepreneurs who craft the right strategy before it’s obvious to others.

• Sam Walton (Walmart) located his big stores in small towns.
• Bill Gates (Microsoft) formed an alliance with IBM for his PC operating system.
• Michael Dell (Dell) sold direct to consumers.
• Jeff Bezos (Amazon.com) started selling books on the emerging Internet and then developed the backbone to help others sell.
• Mark Zuckerberg linked students first (Facebook) to beat MySpace and Rupert Murdoch.
• Brian Chesky focused on landlords (Airbnb) to help them rent space.

Solution: We need a better way to consistently evaluate founders – and their skills. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/dileeprao/2018/07/23/how-vcs-identify-successful-ventures-five-kinds-of-entrepreneurial-aha/)

Reason 3: Success is not about the idea. It’s about the Entrepreneur

94% of the Billion-Dollar Entrepreneurs succeeded due to the real skills, passion, and dedication of the entrepreneurs at startup, launch, and leadership stages. When entrepreneurs have not proven their leadership skills, early-stage VCs replace the entrepreneur with a professional CEO – they do so up to about 85% of the time. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/dileeprao/2024/11/04/7-ways-unicorn-capital-outshines-vc—-one-critical-weakness/). However, even after replacing the entrepreneurs, VCs fail on about 80% of their deals. If VCs can’t judge entrepreneurial potential after seeing strategic traction, how can they evaluate potential from a pitch.

Solution: We need to prioritize entrepreneurs over ideas.

MY TAKE: Let’s redesign pitch competitions to identify potential Unicorn-Entrepreneurs – those with the skills to build enduring, billion-dollar ventures. If we want to find the next generation of great entrepreneurs, we must stop rewarding polish and pedigree, and start developing ecosystems to identify finance-smart founders with the intelligence and street smarts to build, lead, and grow – without desperately seeking VC. Proof-based competitions that highlight real-world execution, not just pitch delivery, are the first step toward shifting the power imbalance from VCs to entrepreneurs – and building an economy that works for more than just the elite.