The Pitch That Won SXSW: Building Elita in 6 Weeks

Six weeks before SXSW Sydney, Paloma Newton and Jackson Gritching made a decision that would define their startup: pivot their entire business strategy, build an MVP from scratch, and compete on one of the world's biggest stages.In this episode, Abhinav talks with the co-founders of Elita Blueprint about how they won their category at SXSW Sydney while simultaneously building their pet health platform on Bubble. Paloma shares her pitch strategy‌ — ‌from synthesizing a complex biotech story into 3 minutes to getting booed from the audience (in a good way). Jackson reveals what it's like building the product the night before launch. Together, they break down the new playbook for pitching under pressure.Topics covered:Why SXSW became their forcing function for the pivotChoosing Bubble with zero dev experience and a 6-week deadlineThe pitch strategy: Telling a human story in 3 minutesWhat actually happens when you win (and the judge who got booed)Their playbook for pitch competitionsFind this episode’s full show notes here:https://bubble.io/blog/the-new-build-01-elitaLinks:Elita Blueprint:elita.petSign up to be a Elita Blueprint Beta user herehttps://install.page/elitaFollow Elita on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/elita.pet/Follow Elita on Tiktok:https://www.tiktok.com/@elita.petFollow Elita on Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/company/elitapet/Start building on Bubble:bubble.io* * * * *Chapters[00:00] Introduction to the episode and the Elita founders[01:59] The origin story: how a pandemic puppy named Edgar sparked a pet health startup[05:59] How stem cell banking for pets actually works[09:14] Why everything pointed toward building a digital platform — despite no software experience[14:09] The SXSW Sydney deadline and getting investor buy-in on the pivot[19:17] “Being the robot” — why Paloma manually handled the first 50 concierge requests[23:29] The Cindy Gallup moment: telling a hero “I’m about to quit my job and start a company”[30:51] The hardest part of crafting a three-minute pitch for a complex business[36:07] Pitch day nerves and why being anxious shows you care[40:56] The moment they knew they had won — when the audience booed a judge[45:52] The playbook for pitching: iteration before practice, and knowing when to play[52:57] Hot take: entrepreneurs aren’t paying enough attention to their customers[57:47] Most memorable career feedback: “You have an unhealthy bias toward action”[1:03:41] Bubble updates, Academy refresh, and Bubble Tip of the Week* * * * *The New Build is a bi-weekly podcast from Bubble exploring how solo founders and small teams are shipping real products to millions of users with modern tools. Subscribe for their playbooks — and start building yours.