Reverse pitch flips the roles: the company shows the market verifiable challenges, and suppliers propose approaches. We break down the preparation, the agenda and the move into a pilot.
A reverse pitch is needed when a company wants to first show the market its challenges and only then listen to proposals. Process owners explain the context, constraints and desired effect. Suppliers respond with an approach to a specific challenge instead of a general product presentation. The format helps gather different solution options, but it does not replace validation, a pilot and the procurement procedure.
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What is a reverse pitch and when is it appropriate?
A reverse pitch is a working name for a meeting at which the client company is the first to present its challenges or development priorities to the market. Suppliers receive the shared context and decide which challenge to respond to. The format is appropriate before a specific solution has been chosen, when the task is already real but the way to address it has not yet been defined.
A conventional pitch starts with the product. Here the order is different. The process owner explains where time, quality, safety or revenue are being lost. They show the current workflow, the known constraints and the criterion for a useful change. After that, participants ask questions and prepare short proposals.
At Aventura, we treat a reverse pitch as a business event with a follow-up. It must have task owners, information-disclosure rules, a single response format and a clear next step. If all that remains after the stage is an exchange of business cards, the company has got a conference, but not a mechanism for finding solutions.
For the overall architecture, you can rely on our business event management service. The content of the challenges and the selection rules remain with the company's business, procurement and legal teams.
The boundary between a meeting and a procurement
A reverse pitch does not promise a contract and must not look like a hidden tender with a pre-selected winner. At the meeting, the company opens up its challenges, aligns the context and gathers interest. Commercial terms, qualification, security checks and supplier selection take place separately under approved rules.
Before the announcement, state the status of the event in one paragraph. Indicate whether a response leads to an introduction, an expert session, a request for further information or selection for a pilot. Separately, write that participation does not guarantee a purchase. Such a framework protects the expectations of both parties.
Do not mix stage confidence and solution suitability in a single assessment. A good speaker may bring a weak hypothesis. A strong team may explain its approach calmly and without flashy slides. So the stage segment is needed for understanding, while the decision on the next step is made according to pre-known criteria and materials.
How to choose challenges for an open pitch
Bring a challenge to the market if it has an owner, an observable problem and a willingness to test an external approach. A broad topic will attract promotional presentations. With a closed challenge, a supplier will not be able to propose a meaningful path.
Check each candidate against six questions:
- Who is responsible for the process and will be able to answer participants' questions?
- What does the problem look like now and where does it manifest itself?
- What effect will the company be able to verify after the change?
- What constraints must not be violated?
- What data can be disclosed to everyone, and what only after separate clearance?
- Is there a team and resources for the next step after the event?
A good challenge fits into a short card and remains open to different approaches. A request like "we need a platform with such-and-such modules" already pushes the market toward one class of product. A description like "we need to reduce manual reconciliation of requests without transferring personal data to an external environment" leaves room for solutions and sets an important constraint.
We do not recommend bringing a challenge to the stage if there is no internal agreement within the company on the owner, the success criteria or the available pilot environment. The event will boost market interest, but it will not fix internal uncertainty.
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Challenge brief for the supplier
The challenge brief should give the supplier enough context to make a decision without revealing too much. It is prepared jointly by the process owner, procurement, information security and legal. A single template for all tasks makes it easier to compare responses.
The table summarises the key points of this section: Field, What to write, What to avoid. Use it as a quick reference when preparing the event.
| Field | What to write | What to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Situation | where and for whom the task arises | a long company history |
| Observed problem | what is happening now | an assessment without an example of the process |
| Desired effect | what change can be verified | promising an exact financial result without a baseline |
| Users | who works with the process | participants' personal data |
| Constraints | integrations, timelines, security, geography | closed schemas and secrets in the public version |
| Next step | a meeting, clarification, pilot or request for materials | a vague "we'll be in touch" |
Prepare two versions. The public brief is needed for the announcement and the general briefing. The extended version is issued only to those participants who have passed the required checks and signed the approved documents. If there is no extended version, do not promise data on stage that the team will not be able to share.
The task owner's speech follows the same logic. First the process and the problem, then the effect and constraints. At the end, they explain what response they expect after the meeting. A product demonstration is not needed at this point: the company is still explaining the scope of the task.
Who to invite and how to ensure equal access
The quality of the proposals depends on who takes part. You need companies that work with the relevant class of tasks, as well as new teams with a different approach to solving them. The invitation must explain the topic, the response format, the selection criteria and the deadlines in the same way to everyone.
Build a long list from public sources, industry associations, your current supplier base and expert recommendations. Then check the minimum participation requirements. These may relate to experience, geography, information security, product maturity or the ability to run a pilot. The requirements are published in advance and applied equally to all.
If the number of places is limited, explain how selection works. Do not create the impression of open access if invitations are issued only to companies you already know. Participants also need a single channel for questions. Any answer that changes the understanding of a task is sent to all admitted teams, not just to one correspondent.
For an in-person event, check the route, audibility and availability of materials in advance. A systematic choice of venue will help with this. For remote participants you can add a livestream and a shared question channel, but the rules for access to closed materials remain the same.
Event scenario: from task to response
The programme must set aside time for questions and short, substantive answers. A long plenary session turns a reverse pitch into an ordinary conference. It is more useful to send a basic package in advance and, at the meeting, go through the context, the differences between tasks and the conditions for the next step.
A workable scenario looks like this:
- Opening: goal, status of the event and rules for handling materials.
- Shared context: the strategy for the area and the scope of the search.
- Pitches by task owners using a single template.
- General questions without discussion of closed data.
- Thematic tables or short meetings on specific tasks.
- Explanation of the response form, criteria and deadlines.
- Networking with designated company representatives.
It is better to allocate the same basic slot to each task. The host keeps an eye on the structure and does not let one owner take up everyone else's time. Questions that require closed data are recorded and moved to a separate secure environment.
It is convenient to build the technical direction on the principles of organising conferences: a single presentation template, a timer, a backup version of materials, microphones for questions and a speaker coordinator. The difference is that the main speakers are the owners of business tasks.
How to collect responses without a beauty contest
A single form can help compare responses. Ask participants to describe their understanding of the task, their approach to solving it, the data they need, constraints, the scope of the pilot and the conditions for scaling. A full commercial proposal is only needed once the company is ready to consider it.
A useful form includes:
- the selected challenge and a brief understanding of the problem;
- the proposed hypothesis, without a promotional biography;
- what will be required from the company;
- risks, dependencies and assumptions;
- the measurable result of the pilot;
- timelines and roles for the next step;
- links to materials that support the approach.
The criteria are announced before responses are accepted. Evaluation may cover fit with the task, feasibility, security, integrations, the company's resources and the quality of the pilot design. The project team determines the weighting of the criteria. Do not publish the exact formula if it relates to an internal procurement procedure, but participants must understand the logic behind the decision.
Moving from the meeting to the pilot
After the reverse pitch, there needs to be a short path with designated owners. First, the team checks that the materials are complete and that there is no conflict of interest. Then the task owners hold clarification sessions. Only after that is a decision made on a pilot, a request for additional information or ending the dialogue.
A pilot answers a narrow question and has pre-agreed boundaries. Define the test scope, data, owners, timeline, stop criteria and evaluation method. Do not launch a pilot just to keep the conversation going. If the company cannot allocate a process, people and access, it is more honest to record a pause.
Once it is over, all participants need an answer within the promised timeframe. It can be brief, but it must state the status: moving to clarification, shortlist, rejection or a change of task. Silence after a public invitation quickly undermines trust in future initiatives.
The event itself is evaluated separately from the outcome of the pilots. For the meeting, what matters is the quality of the participants, the share of responses addressing real tasks, the number of clarifications held and compliance with feedback deadlines. The economic effect is assessed later and only for those solutions that made it to implementation.
Risks, data and honest expectations
The main risks of a reverse pitch are over-disclosure, unequal access and promises made without the resources to back them up. These are addressed before the announcement. The team separates public and private materials, assigns an owner to every response and has texts reviewed by a lawyer and the security service.
The registration form should collect only the data needed for admission and contact. Before the form goes live, the project lawyer determines the legal basis for processing, the content of the notice, the retention period and the rules for sharing data with contractors. In the form text, the company states the purpose of collection and does not ask for information that is not needed to take part.
Special categories of data are usually not needed in such a form. If a scenario does require sensitive information, the team first verifies the legal basis and a secure way of handling it.
Photos and videos require a separate decision. The invitation states which parts of the event will be filmed and where the material is planned to be published. Consent to the use of images and the applicable exceptions are reviewed by the project lawyer. Participants are given a way to ask a question off the record, and closed themed tables can be held without filming.
For an accessible event, plan in advance for clear materials, high-contrast slides, microphones for questions, captions for the stream and a way to report any participation requirements. These decisions are best built into organising a forum or seminar rather than added after the invitations have been sent out.
Reverse pitch preparation checklist
Start with the company's readiness to continue the conversation after the stage. Then assemble the tasks, documents, participants and programme. The final rehearsal should run through the real cards and involve the employees who will be responding to the market.
- Appoint the programme owner and task owners.
- Select the challenges based on readiness for an external search and a pilot.
- Separate public and confidential information.
- Agree the event's status with procurement, legal and security.
- Prepare a single template for the card and the presentation.
- Publish the terms of participation and the logic of the next step.
- Set up a shared channel for questions and a log of answers.
- Assemble the proposal form and the review criteria.
- Hold a technical and content rehearsal.
- Set the feedback deadlines and appoint the pilot team.
Frequently asked questions
Reverse pitch is a working name for a meeting at which the client company is the first to present its problems or development areas to the market. Suppliers receive the shared context and decide which challenge to respond to. The format is appropriate before a specific solution has been chosen, when the task is already real but the way to address it has not yet been defined.
A reverse pitch does not promise a contract and must not look like a hidden tender with a pre-selected winner. At the meeting the company opens up its tasks, aligns the context and gathers interest. Commercial terms, qualification, security checks and supplier selection take place separately under approved rules.
Bring a task to the market if it has an owner, an observable problem and a readiness to test an external approach. A broad topic will attract advertising presentations. With a closed task, a supplier will not be able to propose a meaningful path.
The challenge card must give the supplier enough context to make a decision without revealing too much. It is prepared jointly by the process owner, procurement, information security and legal. A single template for all tasks makes it easier to compare responses.
The composition of participants determines the quality of the proposals. You need companies that work with the relevant class of tasks, as well as new teams with a different approach. The invitation must explain the topic, the response format, the transition criteria and the deadlines in the same way to everyone.
The programme must leave time for questions and short, substantive answers. A long plenary part turns a reverse pitch into an ordinary conference. It is more useful to send a basic package in advance and, at the meeting, go through the context, the differences between the tasks and the terms of the next step.
Preparing a reverse pitch for suppliers, technology companies or partners? Request a quote via the form. Specify the number of tasks, the city, the format and the expected composition of participants.
Sources
- GOV.UK: Preliminary market engagement
- Procurement Journey: Preliminary Market Consultation Notice
- European Commission: Innovation procurement
- W3C WAI: Making Events Accessible
- Federal Law No. 152-FZ: principles of personal data processing
- Civil Code of the Russian Federation, Article 152.1: protection of a citizen's image
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