Two GW students take BitGrid pitch to SF’s Cleantech Open

Two George Washington University students have trekked to the West Coast this week. Their goal: to change how utilities communicate and track infrastructure data.
Their company, BitGrid, is competing as a finalist in the Cleantech Open Global Forum, held Wednesday and Thursday in San Francisco. As a Cleantech Open Southeast finalist, BitGrid won $20,000 in cash and in-kind services. It is now competing for a national prize worth $200,000.

RT @BitGrid: Excited to be presenting at @cleantechopen #ctogf2014 today. Time to show judges how we can bring mutual aid into 21st century!

— Cleantech Open (@cleantechopen) November 12, 2014

This all started last winter at the GW Pitch George Competition, where now-CEO Charles Taylor presented the seeds of his idea for BitGrid: a platform that digitizes utilities companies’ infrastructure data, allowing them to coordinate faster responses in the event of an emergency.
He didn’t win, but at least one judge — Collin Gutman, a partner at Acceleprise — thought the project had potential. Through Gutman, a senior associate at the accelerator and venture firm got wind of the project. He “reached out to Charlie to see if he needed help and whatnot, and the rest is kinda history,” fellow GW senior Justin Hyde said in an email.
Hyde, who is now BitGrid’s president, became the business brains of the operation, helping refine Taylor’s concept. “Charlie really understands both how utilities really work, and the energy industry at large,” said Hyde.
Then, BitGrid went on to win second place overall in the GW Business Plan Competition, and combined prizes of $25,000 and a six-month membership at WeWork.

BitGrid received 2nd Place Overall, Blank Rome’s Best Undergraduate Prize, and a We-Work 6 month membership. pic.twitter.com/MCWC38fcXY

— BitGrid (@BitGrid) April 12, 2014

That was “easily the most nerve-racking experience of my life,” said Hyde. And that’s how they “set out to prove that what we were saying wasn’t just some university pipe dream.”
They also won second place, energy category, at the 1776 DC Challenge Cup.
As they await the Cleantech Open’s verdict, let’s cheer them on from the bleachers.