Four minutes to pitch. Two minutes for questions. One minute for feedback. Then it is time for the next founder.
Every Thursday during the Sprint phase of the redesigned QSTP Fall 2026 Incubation Program, founders step into The Room, a weekly pitching session designed to test not only how well they can present their startups, but how much their thinking has progressed since the week before.
The Room sits at the center of the four-week Sprint. Each week approaches the startup from a different angle: The Claim, The Proof, The Machine, and The Case. As founders move through workshops, deliverables, mentoring, and customer discovery, what they learn during the week has to make its way back into the way they explain their company on Thursday.
Before the pitch comes the practice
The work begins hours before anyone faces the judges. In the morning, founders pitch in small groups, listen to one another, exchange feedback, and then do it again with a new group of listeners. They also get time to work independently on the feedback they have received before heading into their assigned rooms for the afternoon.
By 1:30 PM, the practice gives way to the real test. Founders present to judges, answer questions, receive immediate feedback, and make room for the next startup. The strongest pitches from each room then move on to the showcase, where founders present again in front of the wider cohort.
But what makes The Room interesting is not simply who advances. It is what changes from one Thursday to the next.
That progress is something the founders themselves are beginning to notice. For Chris Akoury, Co-Founder of Mowafeq, the improvement has been about communicating the startup more clearly. “I think it’s better than last time because I was able to frame what I’m doing and why,” he said after one of the sessions. For other founders, returning to The Room each week is also building confidence and familiarity with the experience.
I think I’m getting the hang of it, so I definitely felt more comfortable.
Louiza Chitour, Co-Founder of GutGuru
A different test every Thursday
Pitching repeatedly does not mean repeating the same presentation. The lens changes each week alongside the Sprint itself, moving from the initial claim and the evidence behind it to how the business works and, eventually, the investment case. The program describes this weekly pitching format as a way of turning claims into evidence, alongside the workshops and daily deliverables founders complete throughout the Sprint.
That means feedback from one Thursday can shape what happens before the next. A hesitation can become a clearer explanation. A difficult question can reveal a gap that needs work. A pitch that once felt uncomfortable can begin to feel familiar.
Across the founders’ reactions after The Room, one phrase kept returning in different forms: better than last time.
And perhaps that is the point. The Room gives founders a place to test their thinking in public, listen, adjust, and return the following week ready to make their case again, only stronger.
Ready to put your startup to the test? Apply to the QSTP Incubation Program and take the next step in your founder journey.
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