Tournament

8 startups, 21 selection committee members, $25k investment prize.

Voting

Bracket

Meet the Selection Committee

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Tweener Madness shines a spotlight on the amazing Triangle startup ecosystem. The contest involves

8 startups⁠

who will compete for the $25k investment prize and

21 selection committee members⁠

that are local institutional or angel investors.

Each competition in the bracket will feature two companies and their founders facing off with a selection committee of three judges.

Catch up on the episodes:

Exceptional Eight

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MyMatR vs ZW ML⁠

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Moxie vs. Tutorsmith⁠

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CivicReach vs. Valuable⁠

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Deliveri vs. InviteJet⁠

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Fab Four

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ZW ML vs Moxie⁠

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CivicReach vs InviteJet⁠

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Championships

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ZW ML vs InviteJet⁠

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See the bracket

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Tweener Madness will work as follows:

Companies must apply and meet specific criteria to enter the contest.

A selection committee will pick the top 8 companies based on their selection. This creates the first round of competition - the Exceptional Eight.

The community will then vote to ‘seed’ the Exceptional Eight.

Note: The community votes on seeding only the Exceptional Eight. The community does not seed or vote on advancing rounds.

After seeding, a traditional bracket-style competition will place the companies against each other with a panel of three local startup investors acting as a selection committee.

In the first of three rounds, the selection committee’s votes will narrow the field to our Fearless Four.

In the second round, the selection committee will narrow the field to the Triangle Two.

The final championship round will select a winner who will be the 2025 Triangle Madness Champion and receive the $25,000 investment

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Company Criteria

Because the Triangle Tweener Fund already has over 130 portfolio companies with the majority being > $1m ARR (Tweeners), this contest is focusing on those that meet pre-tweener qualifications.

Companies applying must fit this criteria:

Headquartered in the Triangle

Pre-Tweener - less than $1m/yr in revenue ($83k/m)

Have some intellectual property (Companies must own or develop proprietary technology or processes; be a technology company)

No Life Sciences/Biotech companies - specifically, nothing that requires FDA approval

No consulting, service businesses unless there is a new business that is a technology business.

Additionally, by applying you agree:

Participate in a pitch competition and answer selection committee questions, no NDAs will be signed

Be available in-person for 2/25, 3/5, and 3/12 in-studio sessions

Companies applying must be available on specific dates:

The Tweener Madness live in-studio filming will be on the following dates, all applicants must verify they are available for 90 min on each day:

2/25: 9am - 4pm

3/5: 10am -2pm

3/12: 10am - 12pm

For the investment, there are two scenarios:

If there is an existing open round or SAFE/convertible note, Tweener Fund will invest, but reserves the right to evaluate terms.

If there is not a round, Tweener Fund will invest via a SAFE with a 20% discount, MFN, and CAP in the $4-6m range depending on revenue range ($4m pre-revenue, $6m, close to or north of $50k).

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FAQ

How are the 8 companies selected?

The Tweener Fund team is making the selection of the top 8 teams based on a variety of factors including company stage, amount raised, revenue, product progress, founder configuration, space/category and how the company compares to the rest of the candidates.

If selected, we will pitch three local investors. How does that work?

Based on the seeding, you will be competing with another startup to move forward, starting in the Exceptional Eight. You will pitch, and then the committee will ask questions. After hearing the competing company's pitch, the three selection committee members will vote independently.

Is this recorded live?

This will all be recorded (audio/video) in a studio with our production staff and no live audience. The audio/video podcast will be put together in post-production and released.

If we win the first round, what happens next?

You proceed for a maximum of three rounds: 1. Exceptional Eight, 2. Fabulous Four and 3. Championship.

What will happen in the 90m recording sessions?

We're hoping 90m is the max time we'll need. Because we shoot audio and video, there is a lot of equipment and considerations that we need to take into account. Our loose plan is: - First 30 mins: Pitch one - 10 mins of setup, 10 mins to pitch, 10 mins of Q+A - Second 30 mins: Pitch two - same as above - third 30 mins: Judges vote in private and then their votes are revealed

How firm is the Triangle based criteria?

Our preference is headquarters and whole team is here. However if one of your co-founders is here and your plan is to continue to have a base here, we will consider it.

Do consulting/professional services qualify for the competition?

No. We're looking to highlight companies that are looking for 'venture scale'. The one exception is If you have a product with repeatable revenue you plan to spin out, we'll consider that.

Do you have to have employees or can solopreneurs apply?

Solopreneurs are fine, go apply!

How are the 8 companies selected?

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Have a question that is not answered here? Let us know!

contact@tweenerfund.com⁠

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Statement of intent

We celebrate all forms of entrepreneurship and welcome all founders. The selection committee will be given clear criteria to examine companies on. The nature of a contest like this means there will be one winner. This does not mean that other participants are any less accomplished or impactful. It means that the winner was a bit better at pitching, maybe they are further along, maybe their idea sparks the imagination of the selection committee, maybe their TAM is larger, so-on.

If companies aren’t the ultimate winner of the contest, we want the experience to still be positive and help move your company forward. You will have a ton of unpaid media, exposure to a wide mix of local entrepreneurs and investors, and more. Our goal is even if you aren’t the finalist, this event will be a great experience for you as a founder to receive positive feedback, but also a great PR event for your company.

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