I was at a Demo conference in 2001, in Phoenix, AZ. Demo2001. I was selected to maybe do a pitch, which they called "the hot seat". Some fifty startup entrepreneurs were located in the front of the room, and every half hour they'd call two names, and when your name came up, spotlights were pointed at you, people with huge cameras would rush towards you and film you from two feet distance, just to make it scary, and while your face was on a big screen in the front, you got two minutes for a pitch. Now, you weren't sure your name would come up. The people who weren't called, were nervous throughout the conference, because they didn't announce when they'd call someone, it just came up suddenly. Nerve wracking, because the room was full with investors and other important people, I guess there were 1000 people in the room.
My name came up second, right after the key note. I got to relax and listen to the presentations, while most of my fellow hot seat entrepreneurs were still waiting for their name. It's always good to have your pitch or presentation right at the start. I was second, which is even better than first.
On the last day of the conference, I was ill. High fever, maybe because of the heat, I stayed in bed. At the end of the day I talked to one of the programmers who'd manned our booth, and he said "there was a lady asking for you today". I asked if he caught the name, and he said "yeah, her name was Ann Winblad". I never shout at people, but this time I did. "then why didn't you call for me? Why didn't you run to my room, bang on the door, and get me down there in the booth?" and some words I won't repeat here. The poor guy didn't know who Ann Winblad is. I sent her an email, called her office, to no avail.

The company didn't make it, in the end. Me talking to Ms Winblad might have made the difference.