The drinks were flowin’. The ping pong balls were flyin’. The Keytar Bear was…keytar-in’. The stage was set for BostInno’s 2018 Tech Madness Bracket Reveal, and Team WordStream brought the ruckus.
Representatives from 64 Boston-area companies gathered at Game On in Fenway Wednesday night, fueled by endless ‘roni ‘za and $ 7 Gin & Tonics. The stakes? Beantown tech supremacy. Alliances were formed and broken. Votes were extorted. A man dressed like a bear serenaded the crowd with miscellaneous cult classics. And when he got tired, he hopped in a few pics with the early tournament favorites.
Say what you want about Keytar Bear—he knows where to put his money. The WordStream squad was a buzz saw of activity from the get-go—at one point, letting out a yawp so barbaric it had Ted Williams’ head shaking in its cryogenic thermos. And while the sum of our collective power was almost certainly undermined by inner-team ping pong squabbles, we wouldn’t be denied. We got our votes in early and often, and we encouraged others to do the same. Long story short: we got it done.
But the job’s not done yet! In fact, it’s just getting going. Here’s the rundown on the tournament, and how you can help WordStream earn a much-deserved W.
The Tech Madness Bracket: How It Works
Tech Madness is an annual bracket-style competition designed to generate awareness and excitement for the Boston tech ecosystem. In the past, BostInno pitted 150 companies from both the private and public sectors against one another—not so this year. This year, in an effort to even the playing field, and to make evaluation easier on voters, the field has been separated into private, VC-backed and bootstrapped companies in one bracket; and large public companies in another. Because, well, parity and such.
Finalists were selected and unveiled at the March 20th Tech Madness Bracket Reveal at Game On—60 from the private pool (the final four spots were filled by companies who "pitched" themselves at the Bracket Reveal), and 16 from the public. According to BostInno, seeding was based “almost entirely” on funding and market cap; though variables like headcount and growth were also factored in. When all was said and done, here’s how the brackets shook out:
Private, VC-backed, or Bootstrapped Bracket
Congrats to Chewy, iboss, ATOM, and Vulsec on impressing the judges with their 60-second pitches at the Bracket Reveal and earning the final four spots! Best not run into that upstart eight-seed bottom right, though...
Public Bracket
Interested in casting a vote for your favorite Boston-area tech company? Just want to see a rival company get bounced? Here’s how to get in the action.
How to Cast Your Vote
The question BostInno asks participants to keep in mind when casting their votes is the same question Keytar Bear had on his mind when his slid his furry body into our team photo: quite simply, “Who would you invest in?”
Now, you might want to invest in a company for a number of reasons: a dazzling product, a promising business model, a sky-high potential ROI, what have you. Maybe its employees just have sweet quarter-zips and branded polos.
Whatever the reason, the idea is to vote for a company you believe in.
Voting Schedules
Individuals can vote once daily for the company they like in each matchup—or, more likely, for the company they like in each bracket. No, you don’t have to cast a vote for every matchup just to vote for your favorite company. In some countries they call that torture.
Private Bracket Voting Schedule
March 20 – March 25: Round 1 Voting
March 26 – March 29: Round 2 Voting
March 30 – April 3: Sweet 16
April 4 – April 9: Elite 8
April 10 – April 15: Final 4
April 19 – April 19: Finals (recap and announce winner on 4/20)
Public Bracket Voting Schedule
March 20 – April 3: Sweet 16
April 4 – April 9: Elite 8
April 10 – April 15: Final 4
April 19 – April 19: Finals (recap and announce winner on 4/20)
Movers-on will be announced at the end of each round here, on BostInno’s website.
Vote for the winning team. You know you want to.
This is the part of our program where I urge you to stop fighting your feelings.
For the past three years, Boston Business Journal has ranked WordStream one of the top places to work in Massachusetts among companies of its size. We’re the proud recipient of multiple awards from MITX, and we"ve also been recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the Fastest Growing Private Companies. This year, the Boston Globe named us the #30 Top Place to Work among medium-sized businesses. Oh yeah: and when we’re not bragging about ourselves, we’re busy helping clients convert 60% more leads while reducing online advertising costs by 10%.
To vote for WordStream, merely click here and scroll, or pull out your smart phone and point your camera at this baby:
Or, you know. Click the above link and vote for somebody else. If you’re feeling it. You’re making a mistake.
Best of luck to all companies!
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