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Damien Gauthier running a pitch workshop
Pitch Workshops · Incubators & Innovation Programs

Your cohort has the ideas.
Give them the pitch to match.

Pitch communication workshops for incubators, accelerators, and university innovation programs. Formats that fit your event — from a 2-hour masterclass to a multi-session program. Practical, immediate, built for people who learn by doing.

EPFL HEIG-VD Startup Weekend InnoPeaks

Technical founders are not naturally great communicators. They're great at building. The pitch — the translation from "what we built" to "why you should care" — is a different skill, and most programs don't have time to teach it properly.

That's where I come in. A well-run pitch workshop doesn't just improve scores at a final event. It changes how teams think about their idea — and forces the kind of clarity that makes better founders. The team that can explain their idea in 2 minutes to a non-technical jury has understood it better than the team that can't.

Formats that fit
your event and your cohort.

Format A

2h Pitch Masterclass

Fast, practical, immediately deployable

The essentials of a great pitch — structure, message, delivery — in 2 hours. Works with groups of 20 to 200+. Teams leave with a framework they can apply the same day.

I've run this format at EPFL Changemakers and EPFL SPARK across 4+ cohorts, and for the full 200-student cohort at HEIG-VD Crunch Time.

Best for: Hackathons. Intensive programs. Events where time is short and stakes are high.

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Format B

2×2h Deep Dive

Structure, story, and delivery in two sessions

Two sessions allow for real work. Session 1: pitch structure and message — the architecture of a compelling story. Session 2: delivery — presence, physical expression, props and demos. Between sessions, teams practice and come back with something to refine.

Best for: Programs with 2–3 weeks between sessions. Accelerators who want more than a surface-level workshop.

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Format C

Table Coaching

Individual team feedback, at scale

After a masterclass, I move table by table — 15 to 20 minutes per team — and give direct, practical feedback on each team's actual pitch. One specific fix. Immediate application. This is what turns a workshop into real preparation.

Best for: Hackathons and demo days with real-stakes pitches. Can be combined with Format A or B for a full-day format.

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Format D

Custom Program

Built around your event and your cohort

Every program is different. Some need a single intensive session. Others need coaching spread across several weeks. I can design a format that fits your timeline, your audience profile, and what you want participants to be able to do at your final event.

Best for: Programs with specific constraints, multi-week schedules, or mixed-level cohorts.

Let's Design Something →

Repeat hire.
Real stakes.

Damien Gauthier workshop at EPFL
EPFL Changemakers & SPARK

4 cohorts. Two programs. One consistent problem.

EPFL's Changemakers and SPARK programs bring together some of Europe's most technically talented early-stage innovators. They know their domain deeply. What they struggle with is translation — taking what they've built and explaining it in 2 minutes to someone who doesn't share their background.

I've delivered the pitch communication workshop across 4 cohorts of Changemakers and for the SPARK program. The format we landed on: a 2-hour session that gives teams the pitch framework they need, fast. Participants leave with a rebuilt story structure and the tools to keep improving it.

The programs keep inviting me back. The participants notice a difference before the cohort's closing event. That's the measure.

4+ cohorts delivered
2 EPFL programs
Repeat hire every year
Damien Gauthier coaching teams at HEIG-VD Crunch Time
HEIG-VD Crunch Time

200 students. 5 days. Real companies waiting at the end.

Crunch Time is HEIG-VD's flagship hackathon: 200+ students in teams of 5, building solutions to real challenges issued by sponsoring companies, then pitching their results to those same companies at the end of the week. The jury isn't a professor. It's the people who funded the challenge.

I run a 2-hour masterclass for the full cohort — pitch structure, what sponsors actually want to hear, how to present a prototype that isn't finished yet. Then I spend 2 hours moving table by table, giving each team one specific fix before the final day.

Three editions. Same result: teams who came in not knowing how to start their pitch, leaving with a story structure and the confidence to stand up and use it.

3 editions
200+ students per edition
Real corporate jury

Built for the startup context.
Not adapted from corporate training.

Most communication training isn't built for founders. It's built for executives who already know how to present. Your cohort is different — they're idea-driven, time-pressured, and often skeptical of anything that feels like performance coaching.

The approach I bring starts where they are. It begins with pitch structure — the architecture that VCs and juries expect — because that gives technically-minded people a framework they can hold onto. Then it adds story, because structure without narrative is a slide deck, not a pitch. Then delivery: not "be more confident" advice, but concrete tools — how to use a prop, how to demo, how to recreate a situation so the audience feels what the product does before they fully understand it.

Practical. Immediate. Built for people who learn by doing and distrust theory for its own sake.

Beyond communication coaching, I have a background in innovation strategy, design thinking, lean startup methodologies, and Value Proposition design. I've worked with organizations in Switzerland and internationally where the challenge wasn't just communication — it was helping teams find what makes their idea genuinely different and worth backing.

That background informs the workshops. I understand the startup problem from the inside, not just as a coach observing it from the outside.

PMI Codesign-it Human Centricity LYCRA

The format adapts
to your constraints.

Group size 20 to 200+ Masterclass scales; table coaching adapts
Duration 2h to multi-session Depending on depth and timeline
Format In-person or hybrid On-site at your facility or event
Language English & French Delivered in both languages
Location Switzerland & beyond Available for travel
Pricing Contact for a quote Depends on format, size, duration

Running a program and want to talk formats?

Tell me about your cohort, your event, and your timing. I'll come back with a format proposal. No commitment, no pitch.