“A life-changing experience” is how one WeWork member described it. A “huge deal for my startup,” is how a second member put it, while the woman standing next to her replied that it would be “so incredible for our company.”
They were among the 14 winners at WeWork Demo Day, held last weekend all over Los Angeles. They had competed against 45 startups that have memberships at various locations around the city.
“I was blown away,” said Bill Lennon, CEO of SportsPay. The company makes it easier for youth sports organizations to collect money. “Getting exposure is one of the most valuable things for an early-stage company, and that was all I was hoping to get out of this. Not only did we get great exposure, but a really nice prize. It’s validation we can share as we grow our business.”
In total, WeWork founders Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey gave out more than $600,000 to these companies. The grand prize winner was Daquan Oliver, who blew the judges away when he described his nonprofit company’s focus: providing mentorship for low-income middle and high school students. The WeWork Promenade member’s focus on breaking the cycle of poverty also seemed to touch Neumann and McKelvey.
“This award was originally supposed to be $100,000,” said Neumann before a packed crowd at the Globe Theatre at Universal Studios Hollywood. “But why don’t we round it up to $180,000?”
Oliver said he was shocked when he realized he won the grand prize.
“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, this is only January!’ and knowing that with this opportunity, the team and I were going to really crush it this year,” he said.
The event is considered a beta test for other similar events in the future, said Neumann, including another Demo Day to be held in L.A. later in the year.
The event started two days earlier, when nine different WeWork buildings—Gas Tower, Fine Arts, Hollywood, La Brea, Culver City, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Promenade, and Playa Vista—all hosted a Demo Day competition at exactly the same time.
Coordinating this was a massive undertaking, making sure that all 45 presenters were prepped on the process: a five-minute presentation, followed by five minutes of questions from the judges.
For many of the presenters, it was their first time pitching their business in front of an audience. One of those was Justin Jia, a member at WeWork Gas Tower.
“I think all of us were nervous,” said Jia, founder of a new dating app called Blur. “How do you explain everything about your company? And how do you do it in just five minutes?”
A panel of judges at each building selected a winner to advance to the finals. At Gas Tower it was Rachel D. Wilson of Lady Rebranded, a company that helps and empowers women-owned business.
“When you showcase your life’s work and your passion in front of people you don’t know, it can be scary,” said Wilson. “You’re really vulnerable. But the reception and feedback I received was incredible. I knew that the work that I’m doing really matters and that other people support me in making it happen.”
The votes at each building were often by a razor-thin margin. The judges at Gas Tower also chose a second member to move onto the finals: Mel Keedle of a nonprofit for children with incarcerated family members called POPS the Club.
“As a small nonprofit still getting our name out there and trying to raise awareness for the young people we serve, this event was huge,” said Keedle. “To be given the opportunity to share the stories to a wider audience was amazing.”
Lennon and Wilson were among nine members who won $25,000 for their businesses. Other winners included Sam Marley of the photo-sharing platform Blurr, Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff of a nonprofit fighting plastic pollution called 5 Gyres, Sandy Peacock of a nonprofit aiding people in transitional housing called Back on My Feet, Danielle Nagel of the clothing company Dazey L.A., Marchelle Sellers of a platform to simplify charitable donations called Charity on Top, Aric Ohana of the ride-sharing platform Envoy, and Dane Scarborough, creator of a high-tech tape measure called QuickDraw.
“The prize money is greatly appreciated,” said Scarborough, “but the real impact on my business is the inspiration from this event to look for opportunities where we, as a company, can have a greater positive impact on the world.”
Besides Keedle, winning a $50,000 prize were John Smelzer of the sports app ScoreStream, Jill Bigelow of the new mothers’ products company Pelv-Ice, and Erica Buxton of the children’s emotional learning platform EQtainment.
“We always have a list of things we’d like to do but don’t have the budget to implement,” said Buxton. “It is going to allow us to make some new updates to our app to improve the user experience, which should create faster growth and possibly hire an additional team member.”
Gathered together on the stage at Universal Studios, the winners said they were all blown away by the scope of the event.
“I had no idea whatsoever how large the competition was going to be,” said Wilson. “I was in complete awe of how big the closing event was! I’ve never seen anything like this before. It really inspired me to continue to create my life’s work and showed me that my big ideas can become big realities.”
Photos: Lauren Kallen, Katelyn Perry