TechStars I-Day… (it all comes down to one good pitch)

I’d like to try and express what a difference that this summer has made in the way I see start-ups and my place in the world of entrepreneurs.

If you know anything about the struggles that Seb and I have been through, then you know how grateful we are to have had the opportunity to participate in TechStars. I think we took advantage of the opportunity as much as possible.

One quick side note… we were originally rejected from TechStars. The program’s director, David Cohen, sent me one of the nicest rejection letters I have ever received… and I’ve received many. Basically, he said, we ranked 11th out of about 300 teams – but the program could only take 10. We were an alternate. Luckily, exactly two days later, one of the original teams was rejected and we got our chance. I don’t know what happened but I plan on plying Cohen with alcohol until he gives me more details.

Yesterday was I-Day, as it has come to be known. Investors from around the country came to see our pitch as well as the pitches of the nine other TS teams. It was also the end of TechStars 2007.

I know the product so well that I wasn’t nervous. I have given important pitches to some of the most important and influential people at the largest corporations in the country. I wasn’t nervous… just anxious. Sitting here writing this, what I realize was that I didn’t want to do well for just me and Seb… I wanted to do well for the directors, Brad Feld, Jared Polis and the two Davids – Cohen and Brown. They gambled on us, gave us the shot that no one else, in three years of effort, was willing to give. And there, standing before their peers, I wanted to make sure that we reflected their good judgment… that we were worthy of being there.

Then… in walked Elvis.

We needed a pop. We needed to make sure we could not only make the product understandable to the investors in attendance, but to make the presentation memorable. We used Search-To-Phone to find an Elvis impersonator and, right on cue, in he walked.

It was one of the best pitches we’ve ever done.

Afterwards we were treated to lunch by Dave Drach from Microsoft and both Dave and David Gold of Access Venture Partners spent almost the entire meal brainstorming with us, giving us ideas and hearing about some of our future plans and past failures. Thanks guys.

Last night, all ten TechStars teams, our mentors, advisors and a bunch of other people went to The Kitchen in downtown Boulder to eat, drink and finally… relax. I think it was the first time I relaxed since I got here.