The car is finally up and running, and the team is test driving the chassis of the car. I can't post any pictures just yet, but trust me it looks pretty cool.
As for sponsorships, I finally got the partnership with Curbell Plastics. It took a long time to process with many emails. It made me realize how much time these sponsorships take to create. At first I assumed it would only take about a week to set up, but they can take up to a month from what I have experienced.
Last Monday was a cool experience for me. I was invited to the ASU Tempe Campus to talk on a panel to other clubs about how to find sponsors and fund raise. It was really weird "teaching" other college kids on how to contact companies, especially when I've only been doing it for 5 weeks and haven't found much luck myself. It was still a good experience to have, and I was glad to be apart of the panel.
The team finally decided on which online fundraising platform to work on. I was working on a separate platform, so I have to scrap my progress and move my work from Indiegogo to Gofundme. We decided not to use the platform provided by ASU because we didn't want them to take a portion of the money we raised.
We are closing in on the competition date and the team really needs to start working on the presentation aspect of the competition. I am really pushing the team to start working on it now so that they cam be more prepared this year and increase their rankings. Hopefully I'll be able to help them out with the presentation in these next few weeks.
Thanks for reading!
It is great to hear of your sponsorship success. Congrats! Will they be on the car? It is always surprising how long things can take, but the learning experience is so valuable. The perspectives on obtaining the sponsor and understanding the sponsor's needs/issues are also useful lessons. Now you will get to see the team's struggles to build, test, and finish the car versus prep for presentation! Understanding the contest expectations for information and questioning will be key--and again, coming from the high schooler is cool. Your analysis of what to cover will be interesting to read. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteYes their name will be on the car, and the team will also send them a personal plaque as a form of gratitude for the support. And thank you, I am very excited to see how the rest of the competition goes.
DeleteHi Jared, what would you say would be the biggest advice you can give someone on how to fundraise and contact companies?
ReplyDeleteI think the most important thing to do when it comes to finding sponsors is being patient and finding ways to get the sponsors attention. You are asking them for money so it's really important to let them know how important they are to your cause and to also let them know what is in it for them. They won't give you the money if they don't get some sort of benefit in return.
DeleteWhat role does the presentation aspect play in their ranking?
ReplyDeleteI am not 100% sure about the actual break down of the points but essentially there are two main aspects of the competition: How well the car performs on the track and how well the team can present and essentially sell their car. In the previous competitions, the team does well on the performance aspect but they lacked organization and clarity with their pitch to the judges. My job will be to help teach them how to answer with simple straight to the point responses as well as organize their overall presentation.
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