Bostonians and New Yorkers headed to Yawkey Way Wednesday night, but not for a Red Sox-Yankees game. WeWork hosted the first-ever Fenway Fast Pitch event, a competition between six startups – three from the Big Apple, three from the Hub – in its co-working communities.
After a bit of mingling, each startup had three minutes to pitch their company to the crowd, followed by three minutes of question and answer. Boston contenders included: Spotlight Parking, the self-proclaimed "Uber of valet parking"; cloud-based patient care platform startup Verbal Care; and Generation Citizen, a not-for-profit organization aiming to introduce a civic engagement curriculum into high schools around the country.
The winner’s selection came down to an audience vote. Ultimately, Verbal Care took home a no-strings-attached check for $15,000. What’s more, WeWork founder Adam Neumann decided to give away a surprise smaller sum of $5,000 to Generation Citizen. According to Neumann, WeWork is still trying to figure out how to bring non-profits into the fold.
Congrats to Verbal and Generation Citizen!
