Validation Validation

Aka: Sweaty Armpit Day.

Boy did I sweat that day. It was a gorgeous October morning, cool, perhaps a slight breeze, and I felt every drop of it in my drenched arm pit. I'm not a very sweaty person, but you get me in the right situation, and apparently I pour like a summer monsoon in the desert.

But I digress. The cause of my nervousness was that I was competing in the Business Pitch Competition at the Governor's Conference on Business for Nevada. It had been a long road to get there. Filling out forms, business road maps, and then making it into the final top 10.

The purpose of the competition was to pitch your business to a panel of judges who were successful business owners and representatives in the business community. I had some awesome competition, a few companies who were already in business and had the comfort of knowing that their concept worked. There were other companies who were doing some amazing work with kids, or trying to help out individuals in other industries get their ideas off the ground. What chance did I have to succeed?

I had been told that when delivering a presentation at a contest, you never want to follow one that focused on kits or animals. Of course, I was immediately after a business whose goal it was to help at risk youth with better critical thinking skills. I had a spiel, one that I had practiced all week. When the time came for me to actually deliver that spiel, I think I only remembered half of it. I think I finished it about 30 seconds early, flopped my arms in front of me, and said, "well, yeah, that's it."

Then it was Q&A time. The judges fired them off left and right, and I zigged and zagged to get the answers for them. I think I did alright, but what did I know, I was just a puddle of sweat by that time. On my way off the stage I got a few congratulatory high-fives from competitors which I couldn't tell if they were out of courtesy or because I had actually nailed it. Lo and behold, when it came time for the presenting of the winners, Frameless came in 2nd!

This was a landmark time for us. After our dismal failure with our Kickstarter, we were downtrodden. But this gave us that validation, the spark we needed to confirm that we were on the right path. Soon, we would defeat "Big Frame" and liberate the world from it's tyrannical reign.

For your enjoyment, I've given you a lovely collage of the most horrible faces that they captured that day. Did they take any with a photogenic, magazine cover face? Not a chance! Hmmm, maybe it's just my face.

Aka: Sweaty Armpit Day.

Boy did I sweat that day. It was a gorgeous October morning, cool, perhaps a slight breeze, and I felt every drop of it in my drenched arm pit. I'm not a very sweaty person, but you get me in the right situation, and apparently I pour like a summer monsoon in the desert.

But I digress. The cause of my nervousness was that I was competing in the Business Pitch Competition at the Governor's Conference on Business for Nevada. It had been a long road to get there. Filling out forms, business road maps, and then making it into the final top 10.

The purpose of the competition was to pitch your business to a panel of judges who were successful business owners and representatives in the business community. I had some awesome competition, a few companies who were already in business and had the comfort of knowing that their concept worked. There were other companies who were doing some amazing work with kids, or trying to help out individuals in other industries get their ideas off the ground. What chance did I have to succeed?

I had been told that when delivering a presentation at a contest, you never want to follow one that focused on kits or animals. Of course, I was immediately after a business whose goal it was to help at risk youth with better critical thinking skills. I had a spiel, one that I had practiced all week. When the time came for me to actually deliver that spiel, I think I only remembered half of it. I think I finished it about 30 seconds early, flopped my arms in front of me, and said, "well, yeah, that's it."

Then it was Q&A time. The judges fired them off left and right, and I zigged and zagged to get the answers for them. I think I did alright, but what did I know, I was just a puddle of sweat by that time. On my way off the stage I got a few congratulatory high-fives from competitors which I couldn't tell if they were out of courtesy or because I had actually nailed it. Lo and behold, when it came time for the presenting of the winners, Frameless came in 2nd!

This was a landmark time for us. After our dismal failure with our Kickstarter, we were downtrodden. But this gave us that validation, the spark we needed to confirm that we were on the right path. Soon, we would defeat "Big Frame" and liberate the world from it's tyrannical reign.

For your enjoyment, I've given you a lovely collage of the most horrible faces that they captured that day. Did they take any with a photogenic, magazine cover face? Not a chance! Hmmm, maybe it's just my face.