The startup competition kicks off with introductions to key sponsors, panelists, and a keynote speech. Following that, the finalists each deliver pitches in front of a live audience, followed by short demonstrations of their product development, and are challenged by Q&A from the panelists.
Startups compete head-to-head in three individual rounds. The winners of each round, determined by live audience voting, advance to the final round where the remaining 3 startups deliver a 30-second appeal to engage with the audience once again. Upon conclusion of the last appeal, the Judges announce the winner of the Judges’ Choice Award, and the live audience then selects the “Champion” of each event at a grand finale by voting using ProTexting’s SMS Voting Platform.
However, we have a saying here at CodeLaunch… every CodeLaunch Finalist has already won by being paired with a professional software development team to work on their products!
Following the startup competition, the Startup Expo kicks off with high-energy and usually lasts until about 9 pm.