Losing and Other Wins
I forgot what it felt like to lose.
I recently competed in the McGill Dobson Cup finals for a chance to win cash prizes fueled by National Bank. As I’ve shared, the bootcamp leading up to the finals was super valuable and I gained so much knowledge and support from the Dobson team, the expert presenters, and the other competitors. I loved “going back to school” at McGill, my alma mater, learning how to launch and grow a business, and having the practical guidelines to put it into practice.
I felt confident and ready to showcase my hard work and product after making it through to the final round.
I had a brief description of each team’s business, no idea what my competitor’s pitches sounded like, and, as I was participating in the program sessions remotely from Toronto, only the ability to meet a handful of the team members in our tech category. With no ability to size up the competition, I went in ready to do my best.
In the end, I didn’t place in the top 3. With a panel of such experienced judges, who have heard many pitches in their careers, I’m certain they knew what they were talking about when selecting the finalists.
I quickly realized I hadn’t lost, especially doing anything I REALLY cared about, in a while. I was gutted.
I don’t play team sports anymore, I don’t bet, and I never had a concrete definition of winning/losing in my job as a teacher. Sure, there have been plenty of days where I felt like I hadn’t won - as a teacher when I couldn’t do enough for my struggling student or I didn’t rock the execution of a lesson- but losing is a whole other feeling than not winning. And let me tell you it’s a tougher pill to swallow.
After many months of experiencing the rollercoaster that is building a business, I am at a point where I know I need extra motivation. Someone to fall in love with our solution, a growing wait list, a helpful message from an expert in the industry. Most days I am pumped up however the low moments come and it can feel really really tough to keep going.
But of course, I didn’t get the motivation I wanted. Instead, I got an unsolicited plate of humble pie, a bigger fire under my butt, and the chance to reframe and refocus. Which has some pretty great outcomes for the teachers we are gearing up to serve.
With the CoLab team working nonstop to build our first version and get it into the hands of teachers, a major milestone is upon us. Getting user feedback and figuring out what to do with it is what I have been itching to do.
We are even more dedicated to improving the lack of collaboration among teachers and will work tirelessly to keep cracking at the solution.
And if you’re not a teacher or don’t work in education, I invite you to get fired up about this problem because when teachers struggle to collaborate their ability to do their job well suffers. And when their output suffers your children, relatives, friends, neighbours, future colleagues, and fellow citizens are not gaining the quality education they deserve to propel themselves forward.
We know how this story ends.
Don’t you want to see an alternative ending?
We do and we’ve just expanded our team to bring us closer to this goal. W
e are welcoming 5 undergraduate students from across Canada through the Venture for Canada Intrapreneurship program!
