Behind the Screens: Pitch Day
We held our inaugural Pitch Day in mid-May, and since then, we’ve been hard at work developing the winning products. But as our team busily develops sites for a wide range of creatives and enterprise clients, it begs the question: Why do a Pitch Day event anyway?
Here, Mallory and Kelsey share their thoughts behind Pitch Day, including how it came together and why events like this are essential to team morale and the WOTW approach.
What gave you the idea for Pitch Day?
Mallory: The idea for Pitch Day came to us as we were ideating on what the next application or plugin should be on World of the Website’s roadmap. Since we build products for developers and agencies to make their lives easier, it was natural that we should consult our own team of developers and project managers on what would make developing websites more efficient. Plus, they have their fingers directly on the pulse of what is and is not available in the world of the internet, from frustrations to opportunity.
Kelsey: We have been in a period of really exciting creative growth lately and the ~genius~ of our team has been shining through. It seemed like a really fun way to let our wider Week of the Website team into the world we are building over on World of the Website.
How did it come together?
Mallory: Kelsey was the brainchild here. With our background in events, it was an easy thing for us to execute. We just wanted to be sure the team had access to us throughout the day as they were building their pitches so we could answer questions and give direction.
Kelsey: We’re lucky to have the most amazing agency assistant in the world, Samantha. Sam helped us plan the day and communicated with the team. We reached out to our friends at Squarespace to support the day with a fun kick-off talk and it all just fell into place!
What was the day like for both of you?
Mallory: We mostly introduced the concept of Pitch Day, gave the team access to a general pitch deck, and encouraged them to let their imaginations run wild.
Kelsey: The day was great, but I really wished we were able to be in person! When I’ve been at code challenge events in the past, It’s been such an electric energy. I think we missed out on that a bit in a virtual setting, but it made me more excited about future Pitch Days.
Was it difficult to pick a winner?
Mallory: Not at all. Both Katie and Shelly had similar concepts, both of which actually worked well together. So we said, ‘why not both?’ (A common phrase around here at WOTW).
Kelsey: Of course! Everyone is brilliant, but the winners felt like a very obvious choice.
Why spend the time doing something like this for the team?
Mallory: They have the best, most current knowledge of what’s not available to help streamline their work. Selfishly, we’d like to bring that to the WOTW process, but also unselfishly, bring it to the masses, because we have always been about information share.
Kelsey: As a small business, you can’t necessarily send everyone on a big meetup in a fun locale, but we can invest in helping our team members learn and grow. Everyone has innovation inside of them — it’s easy to forget that. It’s a joy to see that come out in our team members.
Why spend the time doing something like this for the team?
Mallory: Only that there isn’t anything like it out there yet and it’s going to make everyones lives a whole lot easier when it comes to bringing websites to life online!
Kelsey: The perfect product fulfills a wish, and just last week, someone on our team was asking for the very resource that got pitched. So it feels like we’re on the right track!
Stay tuned to all things WOTW to find out more about new products, new sites and other innovations.
