It’s hard to upstage John Legere, the long-haired, hard-charging and f-bomb tossing CEO of T-Mobile who is shaking up the wireless industry.
But at yesterday’s GeekWire Summit it may have occurred in the form of Brooke Martin, the sweet 14-year-old entrepreneur from Spokane who won our first-ever “Inventions We Love” challenge.
Martin was one of five entrepreneurs who got to pitch their inventions live on stage, joining accomplished entrepreneurs such as Poppy inventor Ethan Lowry, PicoBrew CEO Bill Mitchell , Sensoria CEO Davide Vigano and chief asteroid miner at Planetary Resources Chris Lewicki. (Yes, we had everything from geeky beer machines to smart socks to space telescopes on stage!)
But it was Martin — and her automated dog-treat dispensing device the iCPooch — which really won over the crowd. And Legere, who spoke later in the day at the Summit.
“Give me a break. iCPooch. I mean, kids, dogs. You shitting me. I was pissed right then. I was trying to call in sick. I was saying there is no freakin’ way I am going in after that genius,” said Legere. “She was fantastic.”
Attendees at the Summit voted via Twitter, submitting their picks to the hash tag #gwsummit. As winner of the challenge, Martin will be featured on an upcoming episode of the GeekWire radio show and podcast.
You can watch Martin’s amazing pitch of the device — which she says kind of works like a Pez dispenser and could even thwart my dog Henry’s food-eating exploits — below:
And here’s a look at all of the amazing inventions we featured from the “Inventions We Love” segment: