Hello Ture Eknor, President of LINC! Can you tell us about the Swedish University Pitch Competition?
“It all started with a meeting in April 2024, where the presidents of some of Sweden's most active student associations in finance decided to launch a competition where the country's most ambitious students could compete against each other and represent their association and university. Since then, the associations have selected their best equity analysts and prepared for several months before finally meeting at the end of January to present their pitches and crown a winner. We at LINC are extremely proud to have hosted the very first edition of what we hope will become an annual pitch competition.”
Which finance associations are participating?
“The finance associations that are currently part of the council organizing this competition are also the organisations that get the opportunity to send teams to the competition. This year, teams from Lund University, Örebro University, Jönköping University, Stockholm University, and Linköping University competed. What these universities' organisations have in common is that they all have educational programmes focused on equity analysis and a positive attitude towards the challenge of competing against other organizations.”
How did the competition proceed?
“Each association could send up to three teams, with a maximum of three people per team. Each team then had ten minutes to deliver a pitch of a stock they like, supported by a PowerPoint presentation, and then answer questions in a Q&A session. In the first round, four out of ten competing teams advanced to the final round, and we at LINC are, of course, very proud that both our competing teams secured a place in the final.”
“These four teams then pitched once more in front of nearly 100 spectators and our judges for the day: Danske Bank. The format for the final was the same as in the qualifying round, and after some quite intense questioning from the highly appreciated judging team, one of our LINC teams emerged as the winner: Axel Andersson and Marius Fischer!”
How was it to host a new competition, and are you satisfied with how it went?
“It was one of the most enjoyable events of the year! It was very nice to welcome ambitious students from other universities to Lund and LUSEM, but it was also very exciting to see and hear how they run their respective organisations and, of course, to gauge the quality of their stock pitches.”
“But above all, it was fun for us at LINC to rally behind our two competing teams and cheer them on to victory! Competitions are most enjoyable when it feels like a lot is at stake, and when it was time for Danske Bank to announce the winner, it was clear how much it would mean to win for everyone present. Next year, it's someone else's turn to host, but we will do our utmost to ensure the trophy stays in the LINC lab!”
The winning team Axel Axel Andersson and Marius Fischer are members of LINC and formed the winning team.
Congratulations on the win! How does it feel?
“It's always fun to win and a relief not to disappoint the association – we of course want to be the best.”
What was the secret behind your success?
“We believe there were three main factors. Firstly, our case was ‘actionable’, meaning it was a stock pitch rather than a company presentation. We presented something we believed could make money here and now. Secondly, we answered the judges' questions concisely during the Q&A without digressing or talking about unrelated topics. And thirdly, our presentation had a minimal amount of text, which made the judges focus more on what we said rather than trying to read the PowerPoint.”
How did you prepare for the competition?
“We did a lot of research, but the most important thing was to understand what actually affects the company's value and focus on that, instead of trying to cover ‘everything’. When preparing the presentation, it was about the basics – writing a script, memorising it, and practicing answering potential questions.”
Do you have any tips for students interested in finance and equity analysis?
“I would strongly recommend joining LINC. It's a great organisation that provides preparatory knowledge for anyone who wants to work in finance, and perhaps more specifically in areas such as Investment Banking, Asset Management, Private Equity, and Sales & Trading.”