Thoughtexchange recently beat out seven other companies to win $5,000 in the Innovation Showcase pitch at the BC Tech Summit 2016.
During the showcase, Dave MacLeod, CEO of Thoughtexchange, had four minutes to present on the company, followed by one minute to answer questions. Following all of the presentations, the crowd voted on which company they would be most likely to invest in.
“We narrowly won that competition amidst some very tough competitors,” said MacLeod.
Thoughtexchange launched over five years ago, providing software that allows school districts and other organizations — like the City of Rossland — to “engage tens of thousands of people from diverse backgrounds in a single coherent conversation.”
“We effectively do large online discussion, where we take a wisdom of crowds approach,” explains MacLeod. “So we ask people their thoughts about things, and then people get a chance to review and consider the thoughts of everybody else, and put some stars on the things they like the best. Then we see what comes up to the top, what’s important to a group of people.”
Thoughtexchange has a staff of about 20 in the area — Rossland, Castlegar, Nelson — and offices in Vancouver, with a total staff of 65.
“We were exceptionally proud to be an Interior-based company, with our home office in the Interior, and then win a BC tech prize,” said MacLeod. “We’re also going to be hiring a lot of people this year and we’re going to hopefully hire a lot more people in the Kootenays, as well as out of Vancouver.”
The win helped earn Thoughtexhange a place on Techvibes GoToMeeting Five: Canadian Startups Innovating Today list at the end of January. The company was also recognized as one of the Reader’s Top Choice products by school administrators across North America in District Administration magazine in December.