Tweener Madness CHAMPIONSHIPS: ZW ML vs InviteJet
Selection Committee: Team TweenerFund: Robbie Allen, Nikita Ramaswamy , Scot Wingo
Tweener Madness wouldn’t be possible without our awesome sponsors:
Smashing Boxes - A Durham based lean design-centric digital transformation company.
Bank of America – BofA’s Transformative Technology Group helps game-changing tech businesses and founders realize their boldest ambitions across a wide range of technology sectors. With hands-on support, world-class resources, and an extensive network – BofA provides the stability and scalability that tech companies need to rapidly grow today and into the future.Whitley
Recruiting Partners - Whitley Recruiting Partners specializes in recruiting top tech talent for growth-stage startups in the Triangle. We target industry-specific, entrepreneurial employees who drive immediate results through a fast, accurate, and scalable recruiting process. Special offer for Tweener Times subscribers: Free survey of available local talent for one of your openings.
Aligned Technology Group - Navigating cloud costs as a startup? ATG helps you maximize AWS Activate credits—up to $100K for startups and $300K for AI-driven startup businesses. As an AWS Advanced Tier Partner, we streamline your cloud journey, optimizing security, scalability, and cost efficiency. Startups move fast. We help you build smarter. Let’s unlock your AWS credits today.
Robinson Bradshaw - A full-service business law firm with a passion for supporting the Triangle entrepreneurial ecosystem. Learn more about Robinson Bradshaw’s startups and venture capital practice here.
ExtensisHR - As a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), ExtensisHR empowers tech founders and growing businesses to scale smarter. We take HR administration off your plate—managing payroll, recruiting, employee benefits and retirement plans, compliance, risk, and more—so you can focus on innovation. For over 25 years we’ve leveraged a people-first approach, customer-centric mindset, and deep industry expertise to ensure employers have the tools needed to stay competitive in today’s market.
EisnerAmper (formerly HPG) - One of the world’s largest business consulting firms, with a dedicated technology practice offering outsourcing, accounting, tax, and advisory services. Our experienced professionals serve more than 2,000 technology companies, from early-stage startups to public enterprises. Discover how EisnerAmper’s stage-specific solutions and industry expertise can help you achieve your milestones whether startup, international expansion, M&A, or IPO: eisneramper.com/tech.
Also huge shout out Raleigh Founded for being our coworking podcast studio host and Earfluence, recently aquired by Walk West. They are crushing it on the edits!
Triangle Tweener Times is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Championship Bracket
It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for…
The Tweener Madness Championship!!!!
ZW ML and InviteJet are facing off in the finals, but who will win the trophy - a $25k investment?
If you missed the Exceptional Eight, check them out here →
And if you didn’t see the Fab Four, make sure to catch up!
Championships Selection Committee
Our selection committee for this round is:
Robbie Allen - Tweener Fund GP
Nikita Ramaswamy - Tweener Fund Partner
Scot Wingo - Tweener Fund GP & Tiebreaker
How To Watch/Listen?
To watch the final battle between ZW ML vs InviteJet, you can view in-line or on our YouTube channel:
Check out the audio here for all your favorite podcast links, or listen right from substack:
Takeaways
The judges have to choose one, but know that this final round served as a crash course in how to defend a vision under pressure, think long-term, and communicate like a founder building for the next decade (not just the next round).
ZW led by Robert Fu, applies advanced AI to manufacturing optimization. The judges pushed Robert hard on:
Whether his platform is truly scalable or still reliant on services and custom POCs
How he plans to protect IP and fend off larger competitors with more resources
Whether sales and marketing strategies are mature enough to break into slow-moving industries
The go-to-market risks of needing highly specialized domain knowledge to succeed
InviteJet, led by the duo Paul Davis and Brian Watson, is carving out a new category in calendar-based marketing. Their approach sparked curiosity and judges emphasized:
The surprisingly difficult technical stack behind calendar invites, which creates a hidden moat
Strong early traction with notable brands and strong ROI per invite
Their strategy for educating a market that doesn’t yet search for “calendar marketing”
A smart focus on retention and platform integrations to increase switching costs
🎬 That’s a Wrap on Tweener Madness!
And just like that, Tweener Madness 2025 comes to a close. After weeks of voting, surprises, and some serious community energy, the tournament is officially over.
We'll be celebrating the winner in style at the Tweener Awards — and you’re invited!
👉 Register here to join us
A huge thank you to everyone who nominated, voted, shared, and rallied behind your favorite startups. You made this fun, unpredictable, and totally one-of-a-kind.
Until next year… stay driven, stay innovative, stay Tweener.