Although we would have won regardless, the twists and turns made the whole event more interesting. Unfortunately, so are mistakes, dealing with misunderstandings and enduring insults. Overall, isn't this what entrepreneurship is about? Competition, strategy, and partnerships are all part of life. I don't mind that Wheedle, knowing they were in 2nd place, was doing their damnedest to win - I actually thought they were clever to do so. If it were played straight-up, we would have won, but the negotiations added another level of interest to the game. I didn't want to risk our win, so we came to a fair agreement (I owe them a lot of beer). Wheedle was still working it and approached me one last time. They didn't accept and continued to hurl insults at me. I apologized and told them I'd give the marbles back and buy them drink tickets. Again, I tried to explain that we were winning, but Wheedle was trying to pull ahead behind the scenes, and I was trying to level the playing field. A member of one of the teams I approached started yelling at me, saying that he thought I was just cleaning. They said yes, but there was a misunderstanding. I scanned the room as minutes ticked until the end of voting and asked a couple of teams who only had a few supporters if I could have their marbles to secure our win.
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Yes, they could do it, and these guys knew how to negotiate! This was getting fun. Concerned, I began tallying the probability that they could pull ahead. As this was happening, Wheedle was still working deals. Whoever was in the lead between us would receive the other team's share of marbles. She thought about it for a bit, and said, "I don't see why not, yes." In the spirit of "all is fair in love and war," I shifted strategies. Not certain that this was a legal play, I asked a moderator if this was allowed. I noticed them approach one of my friends and verified my suspicions with her. They figured they could join with others to combine marbles and split the winnings, defeating us. I kept my eye on them though and saw them working the room. See, my friends at Wheedle, knowing they were in 2nd place, cunningly tried to make a deal with us.
My team reported that we were in the lead by far. As the finish line neared, the savvy entrepreneurs scanned the room to get intel on their competition. We had dozens of past students, friends and fans join us to help us win. I pitched, summoning attendees our way, as my rock star team worked the room. We had prepared for this event for several days, got a bit of marketing out, invited our supporters, and sweetened the deal by having a drawing at our booth and giving out drink tickets to those who voted for us. Given our social mission, we award our students over $250,000 a year in grants and could certainly use the win.
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My company, We Can Code IT, was one such team. The winner was the company with the most marbles when voting stopped at 7:30. Voters placed marbles in fish bowls of their favorite company to indicate their choice. 40 or so companies had booths, 20 pitched, all vying for Flashstart's coveted $25k People's Choice award. Entrepreneurs, investors, and the tech community filled the halls at Cleveland's Global Center for Health Innovation in order to attend TechInvest last night.