Open Runway is a finalist in the Mass Challenge

We are excited and honored to have been chosen as a finalist of MassChallenge – the world’s largest global start up competition. We are one of 110 companies chosen to move on to the accelerator stage. The competition was designed to accelerate the development and success of high-growth, high-impact new businesses, while stimulating job creation across Massachusetts and beyond.

As a finalist, for the next 3 months we’ll receive free office space in a brand new building overlooking Boston and the harbor at Fan Pier in South Boston (how will we get any work done with such an amazing view?) and mentors assigned to us. In October, an expert panel will identify 20 startups to share the 1 mllion in prize money.

We are looking forward to getting help refining our business and getting access to some top notch mentors.

There are 3 stages of the competition. First we had to send in an executive summary which got judged and rated. There were 450 or so applicants and we were one of 300 companies that made it to the next round.  The 2^nd stage had us pitch to 3 judges last week.  We were quite happy  with how our  pitch went. The judges were very engaged and genuinely interested and excited about what we were doing.  Of the 300 companies that pitched, 110 of the world’s most promising startups  (including Open Runway) were chosen to move on to the 3rd stage – the Accelerator phase.

We are very excited about how things are moving along for Open Runway. Being an entrepreneur has its highs and lows, but the highs always make up for the lows. This is definitely one of those highs that reinforces why entrepreneurship is so addictive.

You can read about the contest here:

http://www.masschallenge.org/blog/masschallenge-finalists-announced-today-press-release-event