Startup Weekend Jackson 2012 Winners!
Winners for Startup Weekend:
1st Place: Gotcha: Gotcha Universe is an automated, web and text messaging-based solution to playing games of Campus Assassin. Campus-based organizations are able to use Gotcha Universe to make running their games faster, easier, and more profitable for raising funds.
2nd Place: AugVantage is an IT staffing agency focused on employment opportunities for individuals with autism.
Honorable Mention: Order Window: Avoid time-consuming order lines at your local fast food restaurant with Order Window. Order via this mobile app for quicker, more convenient food service.
Honorable Mention: TipsyTab: Website and mobile app that allows users to be virtually connected to the nightlife scene. Users can decide where to eat, drink and congregate based on friend’s information. Users can interact virtually with each other, restaurants and bars to purchase drinks.
Both these teams received a copy of The Guardian Angel: Every Entrepreneur Needs One by H. Randall Goldsmith.
Startup Weekend Pitchfire
Check out all the ideas we heard Friday night at SW Jackson. The Bolded ones are the ideas that were picked to be worked on for the weekend!
1. Made in MS BBQ Trail: Activity for tourists that would help tourists spend more time and money in MS.
2. Aut-Space: 85% unemployment in autistic community. Website for matching autistic people with employers and job opportunities seeking people with certain skillsets autistic people generally have.
3. Land of the Past: Website that provides property history for future homeowners.
4. Cool Wagon: Wagon combined with removable ice chest and with table option for kids activities, tailgating, etc.
5. Southern Bounty: oyster mushrooms, a healthy food source to overcome obesity
6. Boom Cities: Website for small businesses who need advertising. It encourages local shopping at local stores.
7. Video Brush: Digital makeup for bad lighting, etc on facetime, skype, etc. AKA digital cleaning;
8. Augmented Arena: App for creating games from pictures.
9. Tailgating.com: GPS enabled app that makes it easy to find friends, parking lots, food, at sporting events.
10. Pic Subject: website/mobile app. Connect world through pictures. gallery of pictures under common topics
11. Paykwick: accounting software
12. Uni-one, college application process solution, web app single application for all colleges
13. Gotcha: assassin gaming community platform to automate stats during game
14. Snapperly: website that allows users to snap, send, and sell items online
15. Responsiphone: smartphone software that allow parents to control phone apps. parents can set parameters around usage for kids
16. Farmville Live: Help veggie farmers return, stats are hard to find. farmville live will aggregate info on soil types, what to plant, market stats, etc:
17. Forget me not: makes details about sig other accessible at all times.
18. Powerplay: educational board game, looking to convert to online version.
19. TipsyTab: web base mobile app that rewards users for going out. Users can pay for tabs with phone. loyalty based
20. Rocketply: job seekers arent well equipped for pre application process. Automates process
21. Mobile app would give info on bus routes and other school-related info for current students
22. Nonymous: App that has maps that can locate products using RFID tech
23. Pocket wardrobe: users can put all clothes on app to decide what they want to wear. can use while shopping or at any time to make decisions without being in closet
24. Smartvoter.com; mobile app to help voters get info and engaged in voter process. Can find info on candidates, do weekly polls, play games, etc
25.Treasurebook. coloring book with qr codes
26.Babble: takes info from text files that generates keys and replaces info from text files.
27. Phonecourt: need app to track info for people taking tennis classes. Apps for data.
28. Fast Food Idea: software package for fast food business idea
29. Bizwhacks: website to help find construction companies
30. Startup Global: ability to link in with other startup weekends in real time to collaborate on business ideas
31. Competitive Intelligence Agencies to give lit analysis
32. Conext: to connect college students via social network.
33. IOTAlist: fraternities have trouble keeping up with guest lists. Members can add folks to list, one button checks folks in and out.
34. Proxydate: match.com and foursquare combined. App can allow folks to get free drinks, and find matches at bars, events, etc.
35. Website: college nightlife, can lookup college towns and see whats going on in town, specials etc.
36. Picturegoogle, take pic upload to Google and it describes it
37. Startup Superheros: game location based superhero game, push notifications for when superheros are in same areas; you get to battle other superheros in your area.
LAST DAY TO WIN A FREE TICKET TO STARTUP WEEKEND JACKSON!!!
You could win a free ticket to Startup Weekend Jackson! Post an idea you would like to work on during @SWjxn to our Facebook page. The idea with the most “Likes” by TODAY at 11:59PM wins! Start promoting your ideas and recruit your friends’ support! Good luck!!!
Startup Weekend Jackson Prize Pool!
Here is a list of the prizes to win at Startup Weekend Jackson! Thanks so much to all of our sponsors for the support!
• One month of free business strategy mentoring and coaching, provided by ActionCoach business coaching
• Three months of free cubicle space including full utilities, copier, fax & printing access and a copy of The Guardian Angel provided by the Mississippi Technology Alliance
• Six months free cubicle space with full access to utilities, fax, coffee machines, etc provided by the Renasant Center for IDEAS in Tupelo, MS.
• Free web hosting services from RedLaser Technologies
• Eight hours of free marketing consulting provided by Southern growth Studio
• $100 Gift certificate for either web or SEO consulting, or towards a website build provided by Connect Technology
• 2 free months of space and mentoring provided by ExecPlex in Ridgeland, MS
• Two hours of legal consulting provided by Balch and Bingham
• Code for a $200 credit from Amazon Web Services
• 6 months of office space at The Accelerator in Hattiesburg, MS including access to shared resources (meeting rooms, product launch lobby, printer/copier, coffee machines, etc) and access to Accelerator’s monthly company events.
From the Entrepreneur Center at the Mississippi Development Authority the prize will consist of:
o One-on-one technical assistance for up to one year. (this will be negotiable between the winner & coach at MDA)
o A book package consisting of a beginners library of best-selling books on business topics important to success in a new venture and customized according to the winners interests and needs, but may include such topics as:
Good To Great by Jim Collins
The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelly
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
The 7 habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters
You need to Be a Little Crazy by Barry Moltz
Boomtown by Jack Shultz
o A copy of our award-winning Entrepreneur’s Tool Kit and a copy of our Entrepreneur Training Program textbook.
o An Entrepreneur Center gift tote/ice chest – handy to keep beverages cold and materials secure.
Startup Weekend: What to Expect and Judging Criteria
What to bring
• Laptop
• Business cards
• Something to take notes on
• Lots of energy
Pitches
Pitches on Friday night be in a “pitch-fire” format, which means you will have just 60 seconds to get the audience interested in your idea. You will have no slides or props – just a microphone and a smile. You won’t have time to go over features, so just focus on the core of the idea and make your enthusiasm contagious. Here is the format for pitches that we recommend:
• Who are you and what is your background? (5-10 Seconds)
• What is the problem that you product is solving? Or, begin with a story (10-20 Seconds)
• Explain the product and how it solves the problem (10-20 seconds)
• Who do you need on your team (a developer, marketing, designer?) (5-10 seconds)
• Finally, make up a name for your startup so the facilitator can give it a title
Voting & Forming Teams
After pitches, you will have more time to mingle. If you pitched an idea, this is your time to start recruiting others that are interested in your idea. If you did not pitch, or if you are having trouble finding others to join your team, use this time to seek out those that pitched other ideas that you found interesting.
Next, the crowd votes on their favorite pitches. This is a simply a way to encourage quick team forming. This is by no means an exclusive process and if you pitch an idea and it is not voted as one of the top ideas, you are more than welcome to work on it if you find some other people who want to work on the idea with you. From there we will form teams and these are the startup ideas that will be worked on over the weekend.
The Startup Weekend judging criteria is broken up into three sections. Teams are judged according to the following 3 criteria (weighed equally):
1. Business Model –
The heart of it all. If you haven’t got answers to these questions, you’ve spent too much time on frills & features and need to get back to the basics:
a. Who is your customer?
b. What is your core value proposition?
c. What are your key activities?
d. What are your revenue streams?
e. What is your cost structure?
f. Who/what are your key partners/resources?
g. What are your distribution channels?
h. What is your roll-out strategy?
2. Customer Validation – Have you taken the proper steps to ensure that the people who matter (your future customers) support and reinforce your assumptions? Think of Customer Validation as ‘evidence’ to back up the core structure of your ‘theory’ (your Business Model). The more feedback you gather (quantity), the more this feedback comes from your specific target market (quality), and the more you’re able to actually integrate this feedback into the Business Model and product development (execution), the better.
3. Execution – The nitty gritty: what has your team been able to actually build over the weekend? Even the strongest of Business Plans are useless in the hands of those who can’t properly execute on them. Getting as far as possible in the development of your product/prototype not only helps give Judges a tangible vision of what the final product could be, but proves your strength and skills as a team. This is what truly matters: investors don’t invest as in ideas so much as teams.
