Enrichment · Passion Projects

Score the business,
not just the stage presence.

A confident pitch is easy to reward and hard to judge fairly. Score each team on seven criteria, from the problem and customer evidence to answers under questioning, with what each level looks like on screen. Enter the time and the organizers’ penalty, write a strongest part and one next step, and see teams ranked by round.

Score a pitchWhat you get

Pitches scored

The worked example is made up: three high school teams in a first round with a five-minute limit. Saved on this device only.

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What you get

Enrichment · Passion ProjectsFree

What you finish with
A record per pitch: date, team code, venture, round, judge code, mentor conflict, pitch length, limit and penalty, seven criteria scored 1 to 5 with descriptors, a strongest part, a next step and the question asked. Totals out of 35 with the time deduction and ranks teams by round; flags a mentor conflict, overtime, a high business model score with thin customer evidence, extreme scores without comment and missing feedback.
Who it is for
Judges, teachers and club advisors running student entrepreneurship and pitch competitions in middle school, high school and college.
Format
Browser rubric with a saved record per pitch. Prints one score sheet with feedback for the team, every pitch in a table or a blank rubric for the judges’ packet; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
Free. No account, no sign-in and nothing to install. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Passion Projects space in Caveat Enrichment.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Before the round, set the time limit and penalty the organizers announced.
  2. Use team codes, and declare any mentor conflict.
  3. Score each criterion against its descriptor as the team pitches.
  4. Ask one question and note the answer.
  5. Write a strongest part and one next step, then compare rankings.

Score a pitch

Judging a student pitch

What judges look for in seven criteriaThe ideaProblem: real, specific,shown with factsSolution: solves it betterthan today’s optionThe proofCustomer evidence:interviews, pre-orders,salesBusiness model: price,cost and margin that addupTeam: why these peopleThe pitchDelivery: clear, on timeQuestions: direct, knowsthe numbers, admitsunknownsWhat judges look for in seven criteriaThe ideaProblem: real, specific, shown with factsSolution: solves it better than today’soptionThe proofCustomer evidence: interviews, pre-orders,salesBusiness model: price, cost and margin thatadd upTeam: why these peopleThe pitchDelivery: clear, on timeQuestions: direct, knows the numbers, admitsunknowns
The middle column separates a good idea from a business. Judges who score customer evidence first tend to agree with each other more.

Evidence over enthusiasm

Student competitions such as those run by entrepreneurship education groups ask judges to reward validated customer demand: conversations, surveys, pre-orders and sales. A business model built on assumptions should score like one.

Time as a rule

Most competitions set a hard time limit. Organizers choose how to enforce it; this rubric applies a set number of points per 30 seconds over, so every judge treats overtime the same.

Feedback students keep

Teams forget their score and remember the one sentence a judge wrote. A strongest part and one next step tied to a criterion turns judging into teaching.

Sources

  1. Blank, S., and Dorf, B. (2012). The Startup Owner’s Manual. K&S Ranch. (Customer discovery and validated demand.)
  2. Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), Business plan and pitch competition judging criteria (nfte.com).
  3. Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education, National Content Standards for Entrepreneurship Education (entre-ed.org).
  4. Brookhart, S. M. (2013). How to Create and Use Rubrics for Formative Assessment and Grading. ASCD.

The worked example is made up. Criteria and penalties are a starting point; your competition’s rules come first. Use team codes, not names. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.