Laura Elise Arvisto: expertise is the key to a good pitch
Laura Elise Arvisto is a co-founder, board member and co-CEO of Sales and Relations at GaltTec, a University of Tartu spin-off company. This autumn, she was one of the best in a pitching competition in Berlin and won the Audience Favourite award. Read how Laura Elise came to set up a successful start-up and find out her advice on how to make a great pitch.
Learn magic!
Laura Elise grew up in Tallinn and studied for twelve years at Tallinn School No. 21. A dancer most of her life, she was curious about everything as a child and loved to learn. "When I was in school, people would ask me what my favourite class was and ask if it was recess – that was actually my least favourite,” laughs Laura Elise. “All the other classes were much more interesting.”
She entered university when the physics, chemistry and materials science curriculum opened. In fact, she wanted to study anything but that – philosophy, philology, dance in Viljandi. "All sorts of thoughts went through my head. I accidentally stumbled upon a presentation of the curricula of the University of Tartu's natural and engineering sciences. They talked about materials science. It was my first time hearing the phrase. There was talk of graphene and zero-energy houses – it felt like magic to me. So I decided to go and learn this magic."
Microtubes and stuff
At one point, Laura received a call from a former classmate who told her that someone he knew was looking for a new student to join his lab. That's how Laura Elise ended up in Tanel Tätte's lab, where she worked until the end of her Master's studies.
Because of Covid-19, Laura Elise went on academic leave for some time and graduated in January 2022. She then applied for several jobs, but did not immediately find anything suitable. "To keep myself busy, I kept going to my supervisor's lab to do experiments. Sharing an office with Tanel was his former supervisor, Glen Kelp, who by then had become an associate professor and was watching us from the sidelines. Initially, we only planned to publish a few articles. What a fascinating topic – microtubes and stuff! Glen, however, said there was potential to do something much more exciting." As it happened, after Laura Elise finished her Master's degree in January, by 10 November they had already registered their GaltTec company.
"Simply put, GaltTec makes electricity sources, more specifically fuel cells, where fuel goes in and electricity comes out,” says Laura Elise. “A chemical reaction takes place inside the device so that the fuel is used to the maximum. It produces far fewer emissions than analogous equipment.”
According to Laura Elise, there are currently two types of commercialised technologies in the field. "There are some that are suitable for mobile equipment, but they have their own problems: if it's very cold, for example, they won't work well. The other type are those that are very flexible, but big and bulky. We took the same materials that are normally used to make large bulky devices and put them in a very small package. Basically, we can have a fuel cell that is suitable for mobile applications, but also has the same flexible characteristics as those that are the size of whole cupboards.”
Full speed ahead
"After the creation of GaltTec, we discovered that the University of Tartu had exactly the kind of programme for spin-off companies that would support the likes of us. We participated both there and in the Tartu Science Park incubation programme Sparkup. At the same time, we also got office and laboratory space behind Lõunakeskus in the Tartu Science Park."
However, GaltTec being selected as a member of NATO's DIANA accelerator programme was exceptional. The programme aims to support deep tech start-ups that contribute to national security and defence by bringing together talented innovators and end-users of new technologies. "It was extremely competitive. To put it half-jokingly, we were three unknown scientists doing something that nobody really understood very well. Suddenly we were the only Estonian company to get in. More than 1,300 companies across the Alliance applied, and 44 were selected."
The perfect job
Laura Elise finds life interesting and full of exciting coincidences. She is happy to have semi-stumbled upon a job that suits her perfectly. "I get to apply my research, but it's much more than just doing science,” she says. “I love the versatility of my work. It's always interesting. I can apply my strengths and skills by constantly developing them. After all, in the world of business, everything is constantly changing. I believe we are making the world a better place through our actions.”
As the company's co-CEO of Sales and Relations, Laura Elise's most important task is to deal with sales and customers. In addition, she also goes to competitions and abroad to represent GaltTec. "We aim to deliver the product to our first customers by 2026,” shares Laura Elise. “To achieve this, we are already signing pre-sale contracts today. I'm going out and looking for companies that are willing to commit and take a risk on such a brand new technology. There is a lot to be gained from this for them and for us.”
Successful pitching competitions
This autumn, Laura Elise went to Berlin to take part in the Stage Two pitching competition, where the best start-ups from European universities competed. She was one of the winners and also won the Audience Favourite Award.
"The aim of a pitch is to explain to the audience and the jury in a short time – two, three, sometimes five minutes – who I am, what I do and why I do it. You have to explain your business plan and the content of your company's work," says Laura Elise, who already has a lot of experience in pitching. In addition to competitions, she has also made various presentations. These performances have always been a success. For example, she came in the top five in the Startup Day pitching competition and was awarded third place at the Latitude59 startup and technology conference which is why she was selected to present at the Silicon Vikings New Nordics Pitch Competition.
The pitching experience also has a practical purpose outside competitions. "I was recently in the UK with a delegation from the Estonian defence industry, and every day we had to give up to three one-minute speeches to introduce ourselves,” says Laura Elise. “The aim was to determine who we could do business with and who was worth talking to afterwards.”
Practice, practice, practice!
The young start-up entrepreneur believes that the secret to a successful pitch is to find the key to saying as much as possible in a limited amount of time, without making it overwhelming, and to make sure people really get the message. "I have a foundation on which I build my speech,” she describes. “I make little changes every time.”
Laura Elise likes to talk and perform. She can go on stage and talk for an hour, but the most stressful thing for her is preparing the plan and drilling. "I take my time, I practice, practice, practice. Even backstage, I'm still going through the text in my head and making sure the speech fits in the time frame. I can't improvise on stage, otherwise I might go over the time limit. In that case, they come on stage and ask you to give up the microphone."
Contrary to popular belief, Laura Elise believes that stagecraft is one of the last things the jury looks for in a pitch. "The jury will still value the business plan the most: whether there is something innovative, whether there is a real need for the product, whether there is a market for it, whether there is a vision of how to sell it on the market. On the other hand, it's the audience that gets the most out of a unique performance."
Laura Elise thinks that her strength in pitching lies in her knowing her stuff. Thanks to all the accelerators in which GaltTec has participated, the company has a very good vision of what to do now and what to do next. As a board member, Laura Elise has the best insight into her business, especially the innovative side of technology, which she knows intimately. "At first I was very scared of the questions from the jury. I was afraid I wouldn't know how to answer. The first couple of times I was asked something I hadn't thought about before, but with the adrenaline rush I was able to think of an answer. Now, however, I’ve done it so many times and answered so many questions that the fear has disappeared."
Laura Elise sees her future as being tied to GaltTec for now. "I plan to put all my energy into it. Our fuel cells could replace batteries and engines worldwide."
The Startup Day pitching competition is open for registration until 17 December. Read Laura Elise's five recommendations for other pitchers.
- Science may be the most important thing for your company, but the jury wants to know how it makes money.
- However, science must not be completely forgotten in the speech, because people want to understand what is being done and why. When you’re figuring out how to explain the science, think about how to say it so that your grandma would understand it.
- Practise your speech!
- Get to know your business, your technology, your market, so you don’t get stumped by unexpected questions. Talk about your business to people who know nothing about your profession and business, and pay attention to what they ask.
- On stage, enjoy the fact that people are listening to you. It does not happen often in life – you in front of a huge audience, cameras and everything. These are special moments to remember.
Author: Liana Zeigo
