Most people can't say they've been a part of both the pitching and judging for 1776's annual Challenge Cup competition.
Tyrone Poole isn't most people.
That's why 1776 and Revolution, who are co-hosting the final round of the competition tonight at The Anthem, went with Poole to emcee the event.
Poole, a Portland, Oregon-based entrepreneur, got his start with the Challenge Cup competition in 2016, when his startup won the People's Choice award at the final festival round.
Each year, 1776 hosts a multi-round startup pitch competition, starting out in 75 cities around the world. In each city, startups have been pitching for an opportunity to represent their startup hub in the competition, and from there, semifinals are hosted between each winning startup. The competition ends tonight at The Challenge Cup Global Finals at The Anthem in Southwest D.C., and one startup will win a $100,000 grand prize from Revolution.
Poole has experienced all of this — from both the entrepreneur's and the judge's perspective. In December 2015, Poole pitched his app then-called NoAppFee in Portland's stop of the Challenge Cup. He won there and advanced to the San Francisco-based regional semifinals. Once he came out victorious, he advanced to the D.C.-based Challenge Cup Festival to pitch against 64 other companies from around the world.
NoAppFee, which later rebranded to OneApp Oregon, works with homeless and low-income Oregonian residents to find housing. Half the battle of finding housing is finding the funds for the application fees. To help with that, Poole's startup works to create a pre-qualification stage with landlords and property managers, so applicants know whether or not they can even be approved for an apartment before potentially throwing money away on a denial.
OneApp Oregon didn't win the 2016 Challenge Cup Finals' grand prize, but instead, the company walked away with $20,000 by winning the People's Choice award.
"It really helped validate the business model," Poole said about the 2016 competition. "I'm a minority startup. I'm black in the whitest city in the nation, so it is challenging for me to be in a position to have a lot of people notice what I'm doing. Ranking in the competition as high as I did, it brought a lot of value."
"It opened doors that wouldn't have normally been opened."
Obviously, Poole's journey with the Challenge Cup didn't end there. In 2017, Poole found himself on the other side of the event. Rather than being on stage, trying to share everything he and his company are about in two minutes flat, he was on the receiving end as a judge at the Portland event.
"I ended up being a judge for the Portland local market, which was really fun because I really knew what 1776 was about and what their point system was," Poole said. "Because of that, I knew the companies that would have the biggest impact there."
Ultimately, the judges, including Poole, selected Madorra, a Portland-based women's health company looking to treat vaginal dryness. Madorra won its semifinal rounds, and founder Holly Rockweiler is now gearing up to compete at the final round against 19 other finalists.
And at that event, Poole will be the one hyping up the crowd, getting important messages across and making sure the energy of the event is where it needs to be. That's the role of an emcee, after all.
Poole has hosted a few panels and more formal events, but he's never emceed an entire pitch competition. So, what is he doing to prepare? Well... nothing.
"I probably won't do any prep," Poole said. "I'm sure there are some things that need to be said, but outside of that, I'm really just going to feel the crowd out. That's what I'm going to be watching more than any scripted content really."
Which falls right in line with Poole's advice for the startups pitching at The Anthem. If anything, Poole wants to see the startups "Bring it." They get one shot at a two-minute sale. There's no room for mistakes or jitters, he says.
"This is the platform to let it go. Don't get caught up in the pitch deck or the fundamentals," Poole said. "Really focus on what the problem is and drop your solution and your unique way of looking at it. Bring energy."
