Ten years later, in September 2013, we got to pitch at TechCrunch Disrupt. This event is like the Super Bowl of startup competitions. Past winners include the likes of Dropbox and Mint—and we have been accepted to participate. 

Potential investors at TechCrunch included Mark Zuckerberg, billionaire twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and Marissa Mayer, the then-CEO of Yahoo. The whole thing would be covered by major media outlets across the globe. The HBO show Silicon Valley even planned to film the event for one of its episodes.

As I tweaked our pitch, it began to feel a bit…hollow. Indeed, when I showed it to one of the YC partners, he said it “lacked heart.” This certainly didn’t do justice to my core drive, the personal why fueling my decision to become a founder in the first place, let alone how our vision for Regalii could impact the world. 

I suddenly felt an urgent need to tell my story—but more than that, to honor my aunt and my grandmother. So I found a photograph of these women who had raised me, and I made it the opening slide of our presentation. It was an unconventional choice for a startup pitch, but then again, family support formed the core of our product solution. 

When I stepped out on that stage, my heart jumped into my throat. I swallowed hard as I gazed out at the audience of more than 2,000 people. I had three minutes to make my pitch.

And there I was, about to show them all a photo of my tía and abuela.

But guess what? It actually worked. Out of 100 companies that pitched that day, we ended up among the five selected for finals—where I repeated our pitch and then fielded rapid-fire questions from industry titans like Marissa Mayer, Keith Rabois from Founders Fund, and TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington. It felt like a far more intense version of Shark Tank—all broadcast live on CNBC and TechCrunch. Instead of choking on stage, I realized I felt energized by the crowd.

Although we didn’t win first place, we ranked as a runner-up and earned massive worldwide exposure that day (including a background cameo of yours truly in HBO’s Silicon Valley). In the months following TechCrunch Disrupt, we would go from having raised almost nothing to raising $3 million of seed capital because of all the great momentum. Sometimes, a single event can be the catalyst that makes all the difference.