March marked 2 important milestones for MSM’s 8th cohort of the EMBA, otherwise known as MSM RO8. The last course of the 2 year MBA, which took place on the 16th of March and The Pitch, which represented the end of the Innovation and New Business Ventures (also known as Entrepreneurship) course.
Taking place in Prague and involving all the MSM RO8 students, The Pitch puts them in front of investors, to which they will pitch a business idea developed together with their colleagues. This equips them for the moment when they need to pitch their businesses or start-ups after graduation, an important part in a company’s development.
In total, 4 teams were formed and Irina Paraschiv was part of the one pitching Progressio. Below, she describes her experience at The Pitch, the stress, the preparation of the Pitch and the exhilaration of having passed the final step before the thesis.
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It all started with a broken engine. Literally, as the plane’s engine has some misfits before we left. It fitted just fine, as we had some adjustments to make to our business budget.
As I got to the hotel, I was excited to be in Prague but anxious about my first pitch and the feeling was the same for most of my colleagues. My team still had to make some final adjustments to the presentation and also rehearse (a lot) to make sure we were on time and to the point.
Of course, the last-minute adjustments turned into a delicious dinner and a walk in Prague, and we were left with a few hours before bed to take care of all that and make my intro speech.
Then came The Pitch day. I think that we were all feeling like we were going to present our final thesis as the expectations had been set really high both by Andreas Antonopoulos (Senior Adjunct Lecturer of Entrepreneurship @MSM Romania) and the previous cohort.
The marvelous hotel breakfast was complemented by rehearsing the presentation and realizing that we must cut and rephrase a whole deal. We finished designing the roles for the pitch that morning, as Gabi was waiting for us (me and Alex) with lemon water at their (Gabi & Uba) hotel. ☺
From there things got in a straight line: walk to the University, ask a colleague to borrow an USB drive (hello, 2008!) then Andreas making us sit in our designated places (hello, mid school!) and then The Presentations.
Our group was the last to present, and I remember that I became calmer as the first team started. We were in Prague, the Pitch started, and all our hard work (that we have put in the last 3 weeks 1 week 5 days) was waiting on the PC for us to start.
The best part was when the presentations ended, and the panel left to debrief. We all went out on the classroom terrace and felt the most relaxing feeling like we got over something really big.
For me, it was double stressful because it was the first time that I left my 1-year-old at home and the first business pitch. I had no idea to what to expect on both fronts, but as the days went by, I realized that this was the exam that brought together all of the experience and courses that we had all 1.5 years.
It was intense, out of comfort zone, frustrating and rewarding. And after it was all over, my feeling is that we came out better professionals.
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