1776.vc - 

Over the past several years, I’ve had the privilege and responsibility of being a judge at a number of pitch contests. While there have been many differences in these contests, I can always count on one thing: at least one member of the general audience walking away, shaking his or her head and wondering how “that” company won, or another company didn’t.

Serious doubt will be cast on the sanity of the judges. There will be grumbling in the back row and frowns in the front row. And I will hear about it personally multiple times over the course of the following week.

But here’s the back story when it comes to judging: There are a huge number of variables in the basic pitch-contest format.