My Quest to win Ideablob

As some of you know, CommuniTeach is currently a finalist for the Ideablob competition. Whoever has the most votes by tonight at 12:59 CST will receive $10,000 to fund their idea. We are currently in third place, and every vote counts. Please spend thirty seconds voting for us at http://www.ideablob.com/ideas/6091-CommuniTeach-learning-platform

Below is our journey so far…it’s full of hope and woe. Want to make sure it has a happy ending? Vote for us on Ideablob RIGHT NOW.

Day 1-3! The third sprint begins, and CommuniTeach is off! I tell 20 of my friends to vote and they all do!  More friends told to vote. More votes. 99% percentile! We rule!

Day 4: Soft Maps is actually pretty cool. I want to vote for them NO WAIT. Gah!

Day 7: At precisely midnight we see that CommuniTeach is in the Ideablob finals! I’m amazing! Wait err I mean the CommuniTeach idea is amazing NO WAIT IT’S TOTALLY ME! Yeah ok, no, CommuniTeach. Gotcha.

Day 8: In the finals! All hail us! All hail us! Oh dear, we spent all of Day 8 hailing us, and not telling people to vote. We have only 50 votes, and Boycott Marriage Act has 200. Neat idea actually, but not CommuniTeach! We’re in 6th place. Grrrrr.

Day 9: I stumble across a post written my new friend and change.org rockstar Nathaniel Whittemore. Saweet! I talked to him on the phone about Ideablob two days ago! He must be telling people to vote for CommuniTeach!

Day 9, (10 minutes later). I read his post…it’s telling people to vote for Boycott Marriage Act. Blast.

Day 9, later that day: Who cares about the blogs. CommuniFounder Ben and I come up with perfect strategy to win Ideablob – make hilarious viral youtube videos that millions watch!  At the bar, a random patron teaches us how to swing dance so we can film it for the video. This is what CommuniTeach is all about! I love CommuniTeach!

Day 10: First video is up! Second one too! Millions of voters, here we come!

Day 10 (later that night): 200 viewers is not the same as 200 million. blast. Still, up to 4th place. Reaching the limit of how many times I can IM my friends telling them to vote before they hate me. Oops, just passed the limit. Oh dear.

Day 11-12 Emailing out all your friends, family, relevant blogs, and everyone else in the world while also juggling a 65+ hour a week job can’t be as tricky as it sounds. I can easily work 8am to 10pm chugging away at my job.Then go 10pm to 4am doing CommuniPromotion. Simple right?

Day 13 Spend the day storming UIC dorms. Freshman love us! We’re king and queen of the world (while maintaining a platonic CommuniRelationship). All of them will vote! RAs promise to email out other RAs. We move up to 3rd place. I develop weird hacking cough thing, as well as involuntary shivering. I need sleep.

Day 14:  We spend the day at the Bucktown Arts Festival meeting strangers and telling them about CommuniTeach. Get more votes, but still behind the leaders. I consider getting married to spite Boycott of Marriage, but then decide against it. And what on earth is a Kitabu? Oh, it’s a cool sustainable development model. Shoot. Still, CommuniTeach!

Day 15: It’s 4am, and I’m still at the Pumping Station One hackerspace, developing voter strategies during their hackaton. I <3 hackers. They’re so intense and passionate about creating things. Much like me, except with real practical skills. I join their space.  They let me email zillions of hackerspaces.

Day 16 (today): Last day of the competition. My dad emails entire office.  Ben emails all hackerspaces. I write this blog post at 4am, and then curl under blankets…I am so sick. Balancing 65+ hours of work with CommuniPromotion is exactly as difficult as it sounds.

CommuniTeach, even though thou art killing me, I love thee so. And giving up just isn’t very socially entrepreneurial. We are obviously going to win. But  even if we don’t, we’ll keep on building CommuniTeach so that people everywhere can start learning great skills from all the amazing people in their communities for free. CommuniTeach! Rah!