Getting to Wow: What I Learned at Startup World Cup
The following is taken from a LinkedIn post from our founder and CEO:
Last week, I returned to Hong Kong from San Francisco, where I represented IXON at the Startup World Cup Grand Finale. Out of thousands of startups from around the world, IXON was one of 99 regional champions selected to compete for the US $1 million prize.
We didn’t make it into the top ten. But I came home with something even more valuable — a new way to think about how we tell our story.
When you’re standing on a global stage, surrounded by founders building rockets, robots, and AI systems that predict the future, it’s easy to feel small. Our company doesn’t build apps or algorithms. We work with something much more ordinary — food.
But that’s also where our magic lies.
At IXON, we’ve spent the last ten years developing a way to keep food fresh for years without refrigeration — through a technology we call Advanced Sous-Vide Aseptic Packaging (ASAP). It combines gentle cooking, sterilisation, and aseptic packaging to lock in taste and texture naturally, with no preservatives. In other words, a barbecue pork made last month can still taste freshly cooked next month — and the month after that.
Learning from the Best
At the Grand Finale, I had the privilege of hearing Bill Reichert, Partner at Pegasus Ventures Capital and Chief Evangelist of the Startup World Cup, speak about how to “Get to Wow.” His lecture distilled what separates a good pitch from a great one — and it was one of the most eye-opening sessions I’ve ever attended.
He explained that every successful pitch, no matter how short, rests on three pillars: Be clear. Be credible. Be compelling.
Most entrepreneurs, he said, try to squeeze their 85-page business plan into 60 seconds — flooding the listener with jargon and adjectives. Instead, we should aim for something simple, specific, and human — something that makes both the head and the heart say “Wow.”
I realised I had been doing parts of this instinctively for years, but Bill’s talk helped me understand why certain words and structures worked — and how to sharpen them.
At the Grand Finale, all the finalists were invited to give a one-minute elevator pitch on stage. Here’s the version I delivered:
Looking back, I can see how it ticks the boxes:
Clear: What IXON does is immediately understandable.
Credible: We’ve spent ten years perfecting it and are now scaling globally.
Compelling: It’s surprising, emotional, and leaves the listener curious to know more.
After dozens of competitions and hundreds of conversations with investors, I’ve learned that pitching isn’t about memorising scripts — it’s about helping others see what you see.
Here are four lessons I brought home from San Francisco:
Simplicity beats sophistication.
If you can’t explain it simply, you probably don’t understand it deeply enough. The best pitches sound like conversations, not technical papers.Curiosity is stronger than conviction.
You don’t have to say everything — just enough to make people want to know more.Emotion connects before logic convinces.
When people hear about a “barbecue pork that stays fresh for two years,” they don’t think about sterilisation curves — they imagine the taste.You don’t have to win to win.
Every time you tell your story clearly, someone new understands your vision. That’s how momentum is built.
Final Thoughts
Bill Reichert reminded me that pitching isn’t about showing off; it’s about inviting people into your vision. You can’t force someone to be impressed — but you can help them imagine what the world could look like if your idea succeeds.
At IXON, our goal has never been just to extend shelf life. It’s to make refrigeration optional, so food can travel further, reach more people, and waste less.
We didn’t win the Startup World Cup. But we left the stage knowing that one day, when the world finally sees what we see — the Wow will take care of itself.