It is a funny thing how much more our losses teach us, than our wins

I think it’s important to share about our losses and not just our wins.

Yesterday, after months of preparation and a lot of hard work — we did not go through to the finals of a prominent pitch competition in Colorado.

Looking back, I think we could have done the following better:

1. Provided a more in depth answer to the final question we received in Q&A “What are your risks?”

2. Gone more in depth about the problem and my own story and underscored the importance of this solution.

1. As for the question on risk:

It’s an interesting question to get at the very end of a pitch and at the very end of the Q&A, since your whole pitch should be one big show of how you are combating all of your risks. And I DO think the pitch did that well:

• We’ve built protectable IP that includes software to differentiate us, protect us from competition, and provide ridiculous amounts of value.
• We’ve built a brand that can’t easily be copied.
• We’ve shown that the market has money and that they are spending money on production.
• We’ve built a solid founding team with connections, industry expertise, passion and grit (we’ll be publicly announcing our newest team member soon!).
• We’ve added revenue streams to include residual income to enhance profitability.
• We have a detailed roadmap to get new customers.

….. Unfortunately, this is NOT how I answered the question.

In hindsight, I should have answered by giving an overview of the deck (as I just did above) — but I instead answered the question only briefly, talking about the first point — IP and differentiation — and also adding some nervous rant about the pricing model (??).

So, I’m curious to hear from my network — what are some of the best ways to answer the question about risk?

2. As for underscoring the problem and importance of this solution (ItyDity):

It is just speculation, but I feel that perhaps the judges did not see the problem we’re solving as “big enough”. Sometimes I like to chop that up to: Colorado may not be the place for a music/entertainment startup. But at the end of the day, it is MY job to educate others about the problem and rally them around this much needed solution. I need to be open about the power imbalance that exists between artists and producers, what a vulnerable position artists are in, working with no 3rd party oversight to ensure they are heard creatively, that they are getting quality work at a fair price, and that their safety and legal security is protected in a workplace that takes place almost entirely behind closed doors with the producer entirely in control of quality of product, pricing, contracts, behavior, results, and workflow. And I need to speak up about how this negatively impacted my own music and my own life — how it took other women coming out in the news, speaking up about producers pursuing them and using their power and control to manipulate them and stifle their careers — for me to come to terms with my past and to not feel so ashamed about the time when this had happened to me, too.

What I learned from yesterday’s “failure” is that I need to continually work on being more vulnerable. On talking about my own story and being a voice for others.

It is hard to look at ourselves as the person who can actually make the change we wish to see in the world. Especially when making that change requires upsetting people who would rather that change not be made and who would rather remain in control and keep things as they are. It’s not easy to be that person and it’s not easy to convince yourself that you are the person who can bring about such boat-rocking change. But for whatever reason, I know deeply that this is what I have been called to do with my life at this moment in time — and because I know this, I also know this is a change that NEEDS to be made and that I am the person to do it. I guess what I mean is — it’s about time I let myself rock the boat.

Of course, there were so many great companies pitching yesterday — there are startups doing incredible things in the health field to save lives and create a better quality of life in many different industries. And the startups that went through to the finals all absolutely 100% deserve a spot in those finals (and after a long day of pitching, many of them are my new friends!) However, I am seeking to learn, understand and grow myself, so that I can do better in the future.

It is a funny thing how much more our losses tend to teach us, than our wins.

View our pitch presentation below (an earlier version, but it’s close to what was presented in the competition)!