Pitch Party Part Deux

A year ago, the Morph team competed with fervor in the Carolina Challenge Pitch Party, a competition uniting startups, usually in the idea and pre-revenue stages, with the chance to earn up to $1,000 in prize money. A year ago, the Morph team came in confidently. A year ago, the Morph team didn't make it into the top 10- we weren't even close.

But this year, we're so much further ahead, and so much more confident than we were even last year. While last year we had an idea (not even a good idea, as it seems), this year we've got proof. We have thousands of dollars in revenue, hundreds of completed deliveries, and some fairly complex technology. I am confident beyond a doubt that we are the furthest along company competing this year. I'm even confident that we're further along than almost all of the companies that finished in the top 10 last year.

It seems, however, that my confidence and the Pitch Party don't mix well. Just like last year, I came in sure of a top 10 finish. Just like last year, I spent time writing and memorizing my 2-minute pitch for the finals, because I assumed, and perhaps with good reason, that I would be on that stage at the end of the night. And just like last year, we fell short.

I could think of excuses. There were only 2 of us (myself and Danny), so our exposure to judges was smaller. We were in the middle, so fewer judges came around than for the teams on the sides. Too many judges knew me and were either uncomfortable giving me votes, or just wanted to hang out and chat.

But none of those really matter. They don't even almost matter. We couldn't move on to the money round because 10 other teams were, in one way or another, better than us.

That hurts quite a bit. It feels bad to be told that you're bad. It feels worse because I've spent well over a year of thought and painful effort, and many thousands of dollars on Morph, while other teams were old if they'd started the idea in September and advanced if they had a PowerPoint slide showing what their app to order beers faster at sports bars might look like.

But, lessons continue to be learned. Don't get overly confident. Don't expect things before you've earned them. Don't underestimate competition. There is always more to do and more to learn, and this Pitch Party, which puts me at a world record 0-2 for the same idea, is proof of that.

Meeting David Gardner

David Gardner is one of the nation's most successful angel investors. By combining an excellent due diligence team, heavy hands-on involvement, and a keen sense for what it takes to make it, Gardner has found returns in angel investing that first draw in, and then inevitably escape the thousands of others who decide to try their hand at the art. The man knows what he's talking about.

So I was stoked to meet him. I drove into Cary on a rainy Wednesday morning, excited to share Morph's plans, visions, and progress. I've had such positive feedback from everyone and on everything these past months that my confidence was high that this meeting would go similarly.

I walk into his office, shake his hand. Before my butt even touches the chair, he turns and says, "so, you're the guy who's competing with Uber."

No supportive smile, no compliments- straight to business. I make my point that Uber's recent arrival into the delivery space makes things harder, but could be a great opportunity for a quick exit, if we scale quickly enough.

He's not having any of it. It was the most efficiently negative meeting I've ever had. Immediately, without hearing anything about what we've done (which, admittedly, is not much) he says that it's time to drop the idea and move on. More than a pivot- a complete hop in another direction. He starts throwing around ideas- like getting into the cooler industry to sell to Uber. No advice on competing. Nothing about scaling. Not a single "good job so far" that I had come to expect.

I walked out of that meeting defeated. Here was one of the most astute investors in the country telling me that all that Morph is, all that I've spent 14 months working on, all that I've invested thousands of dollars I don't have into is less than worthless- it's detrimental.

Hearing such criticism after months of positive feedback is painful. It hurts because I've never had it before. Sure, Jim Kitchen critiqued my pizza delivery idea a year ago, but that was 2 weeks into a class project, with nothing committed. This was different. This was personal. This hurt more than I might admit. But it was also, in some screwed up ways, refreshing.

The next 30 minutes of dramatic lonely walking through rainy, bleak Cary was a hard self-reflection. It hurt. But, I realized- why bother being down? Who would it help, and how? Nobody, and not in anyway, is the conclusion I came to.

So I brought myself to Caribou Coffee, ordered the most sugary, candy-esque coffee I could find, and started writing. I wrote everything I knew about delivery. I listed problems, existing solutions, communication issues. I put stakeholders, weak points, and uniquities of the industry. I created a few small business plans, got excited about one, and wrote it out.

There's something fun about being well dressed in a coffee shop, latte in one hand, pen in another, writing business plans. Kinda like a boring transition scene in a low budget indie film.

Point is, I came out of it with a plan. Maybe not a good one. Maybe even a dumb one. But a bad decision is better than indecision. I need to remain positive. Aware enough to respect the advice of people like David Gardner. Confident enough to believe in myself and the company. Optimistic enough to defeat adversity, in my mind if not yet in reality.

I'll keep you updated, internet.