A good meetup pitch fits in 25 minutes: 2 minutes to introduce yourself, 3 to frame the problem, 5 on your secret sauce (what you learned building with AI), 3 for a demo, 5 on distribution, and about 7 for Q&A. End by asking the room for one specific thing.
The 25-minute pitch, section by section
This is the format for the two builder pitches at every Building with AI Charlotte meetup. The prepared part runs 18 minutes and the rest is Q&A. The 25 minutes is a hard stop, so a section that runs long eats your questions.
| Section | Minutes | The question you answer |
|---|---|---|
| Introduce yourself | 2 | Who are you and what are you building? |
| Framing | 3 | What is the problem, who has it, and why does it matter? |
| Secret sauce | 5 | What did you learn building this with AI? |
| Demo | 3 | What does it look like when it works? |
| Distribution | 5 | Who is the customer, how do you reach them, how do you make money? |
| Q&A and the ask | About 7 | What does the room want to know, and what do you need from it? |
1. Introduce yourself (2 minutes)
Say who you are, what you are building and why you are the one building it. One sentence on the product is enough here.
- What is your name and what did you do before this?
- What is the product, in one sentence a stranger could repeat?
Common mistake: reading your resume. Keep the one piece of background that explains why you care.
2. Framing (3 minutes)
Describe the problem, the person who has it and why it matters. One real situation works better than a market overview.
- Who exactly has this problem?
- What do they do about it now, and what does that cost them in time or money?
Common mistake: describing the solution before the room believes in the problem.
3. Secret sauce (5 minutes)
This section is what makes it a builder pitch. Talk about what you learned building effective AI agents and tools: which models and tools you used, how you set up your workflow, the decisions you made and what failed along the way. The room should learn something useful even if nobody there ever uses your product.
- What did you try that did not work, and what did you switch to?
- Where does a person still make the call, and why there?
Two examples from past meetups. In October, the founder of Stubbly, who does not come from a traditional coding background, described planning with Grok and building with the Replit agent while owning the idea, the plan and the final check himself (October recap). In November, Gridramp walked through its process: Claude interviews the founders about a feature first, screens get mocked up before any code, and Cursor agents build in a local sandbox (November recap).
Common mistake: saying "we use AI" and moving on. Name the tools and show the workflow, failures included.
4. Demo (3 minutes)
Show the product doing one thing from start to finish. Pick the path that matches the problem you framed.
Common mistake: touring every feature. Three minutes covers one workflow well or five badly.
5. Distribution (5 minutes)
Cover three things: your ideal customer, how you reach them and how you make money. It gets as much time as the secret sauce.
- Who is the ideal customer, described narrowly?
- Which channels are you using or testing to reach them?
- What do you charge, or what do you plan to charge, and how?
Common mistake: "everyone could use this." A narrow first customer is easier for the room to help you find.
6. Q&A and the ask (about 7 minutes)
Take questions, then close with your ask. The common mistake is ending on "any questions?" and letting the clock run out. If questions are still going with a minute left, cut in so the ask still happens.
Copy this template
Paste this into a doc and replace the brackets.
PITCH: [Product name], [date], 25 minutes total 1. INTRODUCE YOURSELF (2 min) I'm [name]. Before this I [one line of relevant background]. I'm building [product], which [what it does in one sentence]. Today it is [idea / prototype / live / has paying customers]. 2. FRAMING (3 min) The problem: [what goes wrong, in plain words]. Who has it: [specific person or type of business]. What they do today: [current workaround and what it costs them]. Why it matters now: [one reason]. 3. SECRET SAUCE (5 min) How I build: [tools, models and workflow, step by step]. What failed: [something I tried that did not work]. What I changed: [the decision I made and why]. Where a person stays in charge: [the step I do not hand to AI]. 4. DEMO (3 min) One workflow: [starting point] to [result]. Backup: [recording or screenshots saved locally]. 5. DISTRIBUTION (5 min) Ideal customer: [narrow description]. How I reach them: [channels I am using or testing]. How I make money: [pricing and model]. 6. Q&A (about 7 min) Questions I expect: [two or three]. 7. THE ASK (last 30 seconds) I'm looking for [number] [specific kind of person] to [specific action]. Find me [where and how] tonight.
Make the ask specific
The meetup's format names four fair asks:
- Early user testing
- Introductions to a customer profile
- Feedback on the app
- A coffee to talk through go-to-market
A good ask says who, how many and what you want them to do. The lines below are our own illustration, not a real pitch.
- Vague: "Let me know if you have any feedback."
Specific: "I need five people to try the signup flow on their phone tonight and tell me where they got stuck."
Both pitches at the November meetup closed this way. Gridramp asked for warm introductions to people who develop renewable, battery storage or data center projects. ClearlyKept asked for three to five Charlotte founders on QuickBooks Online to beta test its free report, introductions to local tax CPAs, and coffee chats about product-led growth. See the November recap.
Short on time? 5-minute and 10-minute versions
Many demo days and pitch nights give you far less than 25 minutes, often with little or no time for questions. The same order still works. These splits are our scaled-down suggestions, not the meetup's format.
| Section | 25 minutes | 10 minutes | 5 minutes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Introduce yourself | 2:00 | 1:00 | 0:30 |
| Framing | 3:00 | 1:30 | 0:45 |
| Secret sauce | 5:00 | 2:00 | 1:00 |
| Demo | 3:00 | 1:30 | 0:45 |
| Distribution | 5:00 | 2:00 | 1:00 |
| Q&A and the ask | About 7:00 | 2:00 | 1:00 |
At 5 minutes, the secret sauce is one lesson and the demo is one screen or a short clip. If the event has no Q&A, spend the last block on the ask. Check the organizer's rules first, since some events set their own format.
Slides or no slides
Either works. At our meetup presenters can use slides or just talk, and the demo can be shown however you see fit.
- Show the real product. A rough working build is more convincing than polished mockups.
- Record a backup. Save a screen recording of the demo on your laptop. Venue wifi, logins and live AI calls all fail at the worst moment.
- Rehearse with a timer. Run it once out loud, and give the ask its own slide if you use slides.
Pitch it in Charlotte
Building with AI Charlotte has two pitch slots at each monthly meetup, held at Hygge Coworking in the Belmont neighborhood. It is free and open to all skill levels.
- Book a chat. To get a slot, book a 30-minute chat with organizer James Pentalow and tell him what you are building.
- Join the list. Mailing list subscribers hear about open slots first. Sign up here.
- Come watch one. The next meetup is Wednesday, December 2, 2026. Dates and RSVP links are on the events page.
FAQ
How long should a startup pitch be?
It depends on the event. Demo days often give each founder only a few minutes. Building with AI Charlotte uses 25 minutes including Q&A, with about 18 minutes of prepared content.
What should a demo day pitch include?
Cover who you are, the problem and who has it, how the product works (with a short demo), who the customer is and how you make money, and a clear ask.
Do I need slides for a pitch?
No. At Building with AI Charlotte presenters can use slides or just talk. Either way, show the real product and keep a recorded demo as backup.
What do I ask for at the end of a pitch?
Ask for one specific thing the people in the room can actually do, such as early user testing, introductions to a certain type of customer, feedback on the app, or a coffee to talk through go-to-market.
How do I get a pitch slot at Building with AI Charlotte?
Book a 30-minute chat with organizer James Pentalow and tell him what you are building. There are two pitch slots per meetup, and mailing list subscribers hear about open slots first.