Run the audience vote at a startup pitch competition
Pitch nights usually have a judging panel and an audience award, and the audience award is often a show of hands that rewards the founder who brought the most coworkers. After the last pitch, put a Rankd link on the screen with every company listed in pitch order. The audience ranks all of them from their phones, so the company that pitched first competes on equal footing with the closer. Classrooms and internal innovation days work the same way.
- Fernly: plant care subscriptions
- Shiftly: scheduling for nurses
- Loop Bins: reusable takeout containers
- Tally Kids: allowance app for families
- Groundwork: soil sensors for small farms
Free. Add your own options (these are just examples), then send one link to your group.
Why ranking beats a regular poll here
- Listing companies in pitch order helps people recall the early pitches.
- Ranking every startup stops one founder’s crowd from deciding it alone.
- Results come back right away, so the winner is announced before people leave for drinks.
How it works
- Add the question and 3 to 30 options
- Send one private link to the group
- Everyone ranks privately, in about a minute
- You reveal the winner
Tips
- Add each startup’s logo or title slide as the option photo.
- Keep the panel’s decision separate, and present the audience choice as its own award.
- Set the reveal for after the panel finishes deliberating, so both awards land together.
Questions
Can the judging panel use Rankd too?
Judges can rank in their own Rankd, separate from the audience. Every ranking counts equally, so it works as a quick panel ranking rather than a replacement for a detailed scoring rubric.
Can people see how I ranked?
No. Each person’s order stays private. Everyone sees the group’s final order and where they personally landed, never anyone else’s individual ranking.
Is it free? Does everyone need the app?
Rankd is free and runs in the browser, so there is nothing to download. Friends open the link from any group chat (iMessage, WhatsApp, Slack, email) and rank in about a minute.