The days are getting shorter and the cool, brisk air of autumn is upon us, but that didn’t stop a great turnout for our monthly 5k Run, Eat, Drink, & Pitch event – Close to 100 people came Monday, September 19th, to see what all the buzz has been about!
Nikki Higgins led our stretching squad to kick off the evening, and then we were off along the water’s edge.
The cool breeze off the water pushed some runners & walkers around almost as much as the balloons that were marking turns, as Lenny Grover from Screener.co almost ended up at the Boston Garden as a replacement player for the Boston Celtics!
With everyone safe and sound back at MassChallenge, we returned to the 14th floor where we were treated to Peak Organic IPA, mix1 protein shakes, Magners Cider, vitaminwater, Popchips, and Boloco burritos. Thank you to Elisabeth from SittingAround, who actually picked up the burritos for us (a job that I posted on TaskRabbit) & made my life a lot easier.
We had a bit of a twist this time for the pitch sessions, as Alain introduced David Friend to kick off the evening by giving the pitch that helped raise $100 million to start Carbonite.
Carbonite allows users to back up all their info for just $59 a year.
David was followed by Dan Croak. Dan’s from thoughtbot, which is a full-service, full-time team of web designers and developers. They focus on providing the design and development services required to build modern Ruby on Rails backed web applications.
Next, Ty Danco quickly spoke about how he’s building a team right now that’s going to have a product that will turn the foreign exchange markets on their heads.
Daniel from Invup described how their product promotes, quantifies and rewards social involvement with the power of game dynamics and social media.
Josiah from Fairbooks shared how his company buys textbooks from primarily college students and resells those textbooks online.
Matt Hooper from SMAK explained how they allow you to check life, not email.
Candice from Day2Night Convertible Heels demonstrated how their shoe converts from heel to flat.
Krishna from UberSense, which enables athletes & coaches to improve using video analysis and social collaboration on mobile/web apps – filmed a few runners early in the evening and gave demos afterwards comparing their running form to proper technique using their app. Very cool!
Brian Mullen of Therapeutic Systems described their Vayu vest, which is a medical device that helps people with autism break down barriers and become more engaged in life.
David Wehner, a student doing research for his graduate degree in Business Administration and Molecular Biotechnology from TU Munich on startups, spoke about his project. He’s looking to conduct some short interviews, so if you’d like to help him, email him here.
Alain Ferry from RaceMenu wrapped up the pitches, and in his 67 seconds gave a quick rundown of how our customizable do-it-yourself calendar, registration, fundraising and marketing tools make events more friendly, more fun and more profitable.
Jay Zagami, race director of the Legacy 5K (and newly elected USATF-New England Long Distance Chair), awarded the $2000 sponsorship package for his race to the team from Roof For Two, since they have a squad of 21 runners going to the race in support of their MassChallenge team! Way to go, fellas – in return for the support of over 20 people, they pledged to their fans they’d dress up like Oompa Loompas! We’re excited to see that in action this Sunday. Come and join us at Legacy Place!
The Weeks Ahead…
We wanted to say “Thank You” to all those that helped us in some way with these events in July, August, and September. All of the vendors were incredible with their support & hard work; the MassChallenge staff; all the other finalist teams that ran with us and/or pitched; and all of you that told your friends and came out to the events.Cross your fingers for an October event – if we’re in the final 26 teams, we’ll try to put one final event together!