What’s It Like To Judge A Pitch Competition

I enjoyed reading a recent Fortune article that provided a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the judges at a Rice University startup competition.  It didn’t hurt that my old friend Robert Winter was prominently mentioned! http://bit.ly/UffMcc However, I think it’s hard for a reporter to truly understand the dynamics of a judging team.  I’ve been a competition … Continue reading What’s It Like To Judge A Pitch Competition

The Power of Surprise

Humans love to be surprised (as long as the surprise isn’t a nasty shock). As thinking creatures, our ability to develop an accurate working model of the world depends on our ability to spot the unexpected. Surprise is a great mechanism for rewarding that ability. Wharton conducted a study of viral videos.  They had research … Continue reading The Power of Surprise

How To Win A Hackathon (or an Oscar)

I had breakfast with a young entrepreneur who was upset that he hadn’t won a hackathon, despite finishing an original, working product with a high degree of difficulty.  I asked him to describe what his team had built. “We built an app that lets you annotate equations.  Clicking on any of the factors in the … Continue reading How To Win A Hackathon (or an Oscar)

BetaBeat’s “The Pitch” web series is smart marketing that should cloned for Silicon Valley

I’ve really been enjoying the pitch videos that BetaBeat has made available as part of its “The Pitch” webisodes. From what I can tell, “The Pitch” applies the classic webisode model (short I just watched a video that showed the founders of Silver Living, a super-Yelp for retirement homes, pitch to Steve Schlafman of Lerer … Continue reading BetaBeat’s “The Pitch” web series is smart marketing that should cloned for Silicon Valley