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.

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.

• 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.

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.

Friday Night's Featured Speaker at Startup Weekend Jackson

A motivating speaker and inspiration for Mississippi’s entrepreneurs, Joel Bomgar Founder & Chief Executive Offi cer Bomgar Corporation Bomgar, 29, has over a decade of experience in network engineering, and plans to share his experiences taking his business from a startup to global corporation. Join us that evening to get an inside look at the challenges startups face, and how to navigate the way to success.

Craig Brewer commented on LinkedIn • “Joel is a great example of a true business leader. I encourage everyone to check out his company’s core values at http://www.bomgar.com/values.htm. I’ve had the opportunity to meet him and spend a little time with him and I can tell you that he “walks the walk”. Whether you’re a person of faith or not, these are solid principles that any business leader should use as a daily guideline. I know there are other great business leaders in Mississippi but Joel is one that has provided inspiration for me. I think he’s a fantastic role model for the next generation (or even the current generation) of business leaders. I really look forward to hearing him speak at Startup Weekend.”

Join us Friday night to take part in the initial pitches and gain some priceless knowledge from one of Mississippi’s greatest entrepreneur leaders. Also, check out Joel’s rather impressive bio below!

In 2003, while working his way through college as a systems engineer, Joel Bomgar created the concept for his company’s remote control support product, the Bomgar Box™, as a way to provide helpdesk and technical support to disparate users without leaving his desk. Since founding Bomgar Corporation that same year, the company quickly grew to revenues in excess of $20 million and continues to see more than 80% year-over-year growth to this day. Bomgar has had a history of focused achievement. During his seven year tenure in the Mississippi Air National Guard, he honed his networking and computer skills and earned more than 16 network certifi cations, along with the Air Force Achievement Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal and recognition for participation in the security forces squadron in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. Bomgar graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor of science in business administration from Belhaven College in May 2003, receiving the Trustee’s Award for the highest GPA in his graduating class. He worked his way through college as a systems engineer at Business Communications, Inc. (BCI), a systems integrator, and used his experience supporting remote users to develop the technology that would later become the Bomgar Box™. Unlike traditional remote control software, this technology allowed him to provide immediate technical support to any computer, anywhere in the world, in a matter of seconds – all without leaving his desk. In 2003, Bomgar founded Bomgar Corporation, a software company located in Ridgeland, MS, to take the Bomgar™ technology to market. Surging demand for the Bomgar Box™ prompted Bomgar to seek venture capital to support aggressive growth and ultimately secured $20 million in growth capital from Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company and GulfSouth Capital, headed by Skytel founder and former US ambassador to Portugal, Mr. John Palmer. Since the company’s inception, Bomgar has been responsible for leading Bomgar Corporation in its acquisition of over 4,500 customers in all 50 states and 48 countries internationally, including numerous global deployments and enterprise customers listed on the Fortune 500, Fortune 1000 and Global 500. In addition, Bomgar Corporation has established strategic partnerships with the two leading service management solution vendors, BMC and HP. Bomgar has served as the primary spokesman for the company, which has been recognized in publications including ComputerWorld, Entrepreneur Magazine, Fast Company, InformationWeek, Red Herring, Small Business Computing, and Mississippi Business Journal, which named Bomgar Corporation one of the “Best Places to Work in Mississippi”. Mr. Bomgar also appeared on ABC New’s “Ahead of the Curve” and on NetworkWorld’s “Hot Seat”. Additionally, NetworkWorld named Bomgar Corporation one of the “Top 10 Security Companies to Watch” and gave the Bomgar B200™ a rating of 4.65 out of 5 for their “Clear Choice Test”. CRN recommends the B300 with a top rating of 5 stars. Bomgar Corporation was one of the fi nalists for eWeek’s Excellence Awards and was honored with a DEMOgod award for one of the 10 best presentations at the DEMO 2006 technology conference. Bomgar Corporation was the subject of both a paper and a video case study by Google and was invited to Google headquarters in California to present to all Google staff regarding Bomgar Corporation’s success. Bomgar Corporation has been recognized as a “Cool Vendor in IT Support” by Gartner, a leading analyst fi rm, as one of the ten fastest-growing software companies in America in the Inc. 500, and as the 28th fastest-growing technology company in America in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500.

Currently, his efforts are aimed at strengthening processes to maintain fantastic client service, as well as growing and developing the talented management team at FNC. Prior to co-founding FNC, Rayburn co-founded two other successful ventures—a residential real estate development company, and a seminar and training company. He also served full-time on the finance faculty at the University of Mississippi for 12 years where he taught graduate courses in financial institutions and real estate investment analysis. Rayburn worked his way through graduate school selling enterprise telecommunications systems with a major firm. Active in both local and state-wide communities, Rayburn “gives back” by serving on the Girl Scouts Heart of the South Council board of directors (including serving as chair of the finance committee); the Boy Scouts Yocona Area Council board of directors (including serving as the District Fund-Raising Chair); the board of directors of the Oxford Ballet Association; and the board of directors of the Mississippi Technology Alliance. He is also an active supporter of 4-H in Mississippi. Rayburn holds a doctorate in finance from the University of Memphis, is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and an MAI (inactive). He completed his undergraduate degree in business at the University of Southern Mississippi. An eternal optimist, his favorite phrase is, “Have a Fantastic day!”

Creating and launching an Internet startup in just over two days may seem impulsive or even impossible.

But at Startup Weekend Jackson, prospective entrepreneurs with an idea could develop a website design, a business plan and a working database in 54 hours. And if the idea’s any good, a meeting with potential investors wouldn’t be too far behind.

Startup Weekend, founded in 2007 by Andrew Hyde in Boulder, Colo., comes to Mississippi for the first time this February at the Millsaps College Leggett Center. Nearly 400 events have been held worldwide.

“We believe events like this really give a boost to innovation activity in the community,” said organizer Tasha Bibb, also entrepreneurial development manager for the Mississippi Technology Alliance.

“This is an inaugural event, but we hope it will become an annual event,” Bibb said.

MTA, Millsaps College Else School of Management and ActionCoach business coaching are the event sponsors.

Joseph Donovan, director of entrepreneurial development at Millsaps, said Startup Weekend aligns with the mission of the school’s Center for Entrepreneuriship, which was established one year ago.

“This event is not just for students, but any potential entrepreneurs,” Donovan said. “This is a great opportunity to give back to the community.”

The weekend starts with pitches on Friday night. Participants will vote on the top ideas at that time and form teams to execute those ideas. Teams will be paired with seasoned mentors to build their ideas into a viable businesses. The weekend concludes with teams presenting their finished prototypes before a panel of judges.

Guest speakers will be sprinkled throughout the marathon weekend, including Joel Bomgar, founder and CEO of Ridgeland-based Bomgar Corp., and Bill Rayburn, CEO of Oxford-based mortgage technology company FNC.

“The time constraints can make things rather stressful, but it’s a worthwhile exercise that forces entrepreneurs to focus on the more critical aspects of the venture,” Bibb said.

Winning teams receive in-kind prices from local sponsors such as free mentoring services, free office space or server space. More than 36 percent of Startup Weekend startups are still going strong after three months, according to the event’s website.

C. Scott Hamilton, a certifed business coach for ActionCOACH in Ridgeland, will serve as a mentor. Like Bibb, Hamilton said the rapid-fire pace removes a challenge facing some business owners – lack of focus.

“Many times people have great ideas, but it’s hard for them to work through all the steps required to take a great idea and make it a great plan, much less execute the plan,” Hamilton said. “This event is a great start.”

On average, half of Startup Weekend’s participants have technical backgrounds, the other half business backgrounds. Bibb said startup novices, as well as developers, designers, coders and those with marketing, law or finance backgrounds are encouraged to attend and network.

“The main purpose of this event is to encourage collaboration among people with diverse backgrounds,” Bibb said. “Friction in a business relationship can be a good thing. A difference of opinion can spark a discussion that could lead to new, more efficient, more effective ways of doing things.”
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