Social E-Challenge 2nd Round Event
Last Friday the Social E-Challenge held its 2nd Round event. 17 teams spanning the whole spectrum of social enterprise gave their pitches to judging panels chaired by prominent Bay Area thought leaders in the social entrepreneurship and investing space. And wow what a day it was!
Despite the events feel-good vibe, karma was not on our side. It was Admit Weekend at Stanford, so the campus was jam-packed with prospective freshmen (ProFros) and their parents. As a result, our parking plans took a severe hit. We also dropped the ball frankly on effectively handling how to direct judges to the event location after they had parked. Michael discovered his car dead in the parking lot as he left to get lunch for the judges. Being the resourceful logistics go-to-guy that he is, he commandeered a roommate’s car and sped off to Whole Foods. Later he started shuttling judges from their parking spots to the venue. Salina’s reliable printing location failed (I love how Stanford locks the paper trays for its printers…thus if it runs out of paper you can’t do anything but wait for someone else to refill it) and she ended up hitting the labs in 6 different dorms to get her stuff printed. We had split the teams into 4 rooms, each with a judging panel. With 30 minutes until showtime, we found that one our rooms was double-booked — and the prof refused to make room. Our VP’s seized an empty room on the same floor and quickly got it prepared.
Despite the hiccups, our team responded strongly and things got underway without too much delay. I was present in one of the rooms and got to see five presentations. It was very interesting to see the teams and listen to the sheer variety of their pitches, even though I had to play the timekeeper. I saw good chemistry with the judges, and I was so impressed with the amount of preparation they came with — unlike a lot of the VCs on Sand Hill Road, they all had read each teams’ 20 page business summary!
By 4:45pm, we all were waiting anxiously as the last judges deliberated their decision. I munched on some leftover cookies to make up for skipping lunch all together. We moved downstairs and hosted all the teams for a mixer. The Social E-Challenge team each got to chat with the contestants, but it was really nice to see the various teams talk to each other and exchange ideas and connections.
Unfortunately, I had to bounce early — apartment reunion at Radio Africa City up in the City!