My networking app crashed during a big pitch event in Austin last Tuesday

I was at a startup mixer in Austin last Tuesday with 40 people I wanted to connect with. My app froze right when I tried to scan a QR code from a VC I'd been trying to meet for 6 months. I ended up having to write their info down on a napkin with a pen I borrowed from the bartender. It was a mess but honestly I made 3 solid leads by just talking to people without my phone. Has anyone else had a tech fail at the worst possible moment during networking?

3 comments

3 Comments

sean7821mo ago

Wait you seriously wrote someone's contact info on a napkin with a borrowed pen from a bartender during a pitch event? That's next level desperation meets old school hustle, I can't even picture doing that in front of a VC you've been chasing for half a year. I would've just frozen up and pretended my phone needed a reboot or something, not go full caveman with paper and ink. Props though for turning a total tech meltdown into three legit leads, that's honestly kind of legendary. Most people would've just stood there sweating and staring at a black screen.

oscarc531mo ago

My buddy Louie once did something similar at a wedding of all places. His phone died right as he was trying to get a photographer's number for a side gig he was pitching. Dude grabbed a cocktail napkin and a crayon from the kids table, wrote down his own number with a drawing of a camera next to it. Handed it to her like it was the most normal thing in the world. She actually called him the next day laughing about it, said the crayon made it memorable. They ended up working together for like two years after that. Sometimes the weirdest moves are the ones that stick in people's heads, you know?

sandraflores1mo ago

Start by calling out the romanticizing going on here. Yeah you got lucky, but that napkin move could've backfired hard if that VC was in a hurry or thought you looked disorganized. Most people aren't going to laugh about a phone fail during a serious business chat, they're going to write you off as unprepared. Tech fails at the wrong moment don't make you look scrappy, they make you look like you don't have your act together. I've seen investors walk away from people for smaller screw ups than pulling out a ripped napkin.