And the Winner is …………
The Boulder 5 event was truly amazing. The 9 teams cranked, coded, and persevered all weekend long to showcase their final project on Sunday at 5pm. The 4 judges tested the teams knowledge about their market, revenue model, competition, application, and the overall use. The teams were very well prepared and one judge commented that his head was about to explode due to the complexity of one particular presentation. After the final pitch presentation the judges handed in their score cards and we compiled all the data and then announced the top 3 teams. We started by announcing 3rd place which was given to the WishYou.nu team. The 2nd place team was idweeds. The 1st place team SimClip, was the team of 4 that faced problems on many levels throughout the weekend, including finding an available API to use. SimClip , Coupons without the hassle was the 1st place team. The judges gave very positive feedback to the team and felt that their solution could change the way coupons are used and created from the Manufacturer to the Consumer. In closing we congratulate everyone on a very successful weekend and we are looking to bring it strong for StartupWeekend Boulder 6 (date to be announced soon).
Sunday 2/27 Update Final Build Day
Here we are again on Day 3 of the event. Most of us are running on fumes and on less than 10 total hours of sleep since Friday morning. We brought in RedBull and 5hr Energy drinks today and with in a matter of minutes everything had been taken and thus we are waiting for the teams to start spinning in whirrling dervishes looking for more projects/startups to launch. I was told by one team member lastnight that he “created a time machine travel into the future to see if his Sunday pitch was the winner”. I have not seen nor heard him today so I wonder if he is stuck in a blackhole vortex. Teams are coding and working on their pitches right now and trying to fix any last minute bugs.
Saturday 2/26 Update
The teams have been decided and here they are:
idWeeds.com: IdWeeds is a web based inventory management system that allows dispensaries to communicate surpluses between peers. The foundation of IdWeeds is to eliminate shortages for individual dispensaries, in turn improve overall customer service for the medical marijuana industry.
SixthGear.me: To promote growth for athletes who need equipment and money to advance to the next level by connecting them to the resources that allow them to develop efficiently and effectively. Athletes can upload profiles of their athletic undertakings, become validated in their accomplishments and seek professional sponsorship for their continued growth and success. Sponsors have the ability to search for athletes for the right fit to promote their gear and professional name.
BridgeMyPath.com: Where are you going? What path are you traveling? Benefit and learn from those that have been down that path. As you advance, help those that are following behind you
SimClip.com: coming soon !!!!
RightFormation: RightFormation attempts to revolutionize the way people think about and organize teams for projects. Through a process involving project owners, developers, designers, technical managers, and others, projects are presented and teams form through existing and new networks to tackle existing projects together. As teams compete for and complete projects, they prove their individual reputations to the community at large.
edyou: is a community for users to come and engage in structured online learning from the best educational content from all over the web. edyou students can become experts in a topic in an hour. From there, users can take a deeper dive into topics, learn in their preferred style and speed, and engage with other community learners.
SnapGames: snapgames is developing the first ever do-it-yourself social gaming web app to make it ridiculously easy for anybody on earth – individuals, small businesses and big brands – to create and launch a Facebook social game on their fan page.
DoodyDuty.net is a GPS based tool to help parents find the closest and cleanest facilities for changing a diaper on the go. You can also use it to find related places for food, places to play or emergency medical care. Because !T HAPPENS, you might as well have fun, stay clean, and be rewarded! Earn your “stripes” with valuable coupons and offers on products and services you already use everyday!!
Friday Night 2/25
StartupWeekend Boulder started off with a bang. We had OneTrueFan, Trada, SnapEngage, PivotalLabs, and Graphicly as speakers for the event. The pizza was sponsored by the SendGrid team and Technical Integrity brought in a keg of beer. There were 65 that attended last night and we had 36 pitches. To build team spirit we conducted a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors and the champion of the event got a StartupWeekend Boulder Track Jacket. 
Here’s the Past, You’re the Future !
Here are some Startup Weekend success stories to get the juices flowing. Will a Boulder team be the next to make headlines?
Startup Weekend Oklahoma City Launched http://keynot.es/users/login
Startup Weekend Tulsa launched https://www.dinerconnection.com/ who got this cool coverage from Mashable http://mashable.com/2011/01/12/diner-connection/
Startup Weekend Philly had http://launchrock.com/ go from a pitch Friday night to a TechCrunch article the following Tuesday. Someone I talked to last week said “We have been around for 3 years, and still havn’t made it to TechCrunch, that’s nuts” Yes it’s nuts, but it’s also the power of Startup Weekend. See the TechCrunch article herehttp://techcrunch.com/2011/02/01/launchrock-rocks-launches/
Startup Weekend San Fransico is where http://www.foodspotting.com/#/ was born. Foodspotting was named by Time Magazine as one of the 50 best website of 2010. You can see the Time article here. While I’m sure that was exciting for them, I bet it was not quite as exciting as the $3,500,000 funding from BlueRun Ventures they received a few weeks before the article came out.
Jumping across the pond to Startup Weekend Copenhagen is wherehttp://www.memolane.com/index.html was created. They went on to receive $2,000,000 in funding and relocated to San Francisco.
There are many, many more Startup Weekend success stories and here you can see other Startup Weekend Alumi companies http://startupweekend.org/past-companies/
All this is why Forbes called Startup Weekend a name you need to know in 2011. http://blogs.forbes.com/helencoster/2010/11/16/names-you-need-to-know-in-2011-startup-weekend/
What idea from Startup Weekend Boulder will be the next success story, who knows, it’s up to you. If you haven’t signed up, go do it now. Check out this video from Startup Weekend Philly and see what their attendees had to say about Startup Weekend.
