Last night, the eight finalists gave their Startup Weekend – Boston presentations. From the presentations and overall vibe, I could tell it had been a friendly, highly productive weekend.
The general principle behind Startup Weekend is that you pitch an idea and/or be a volunteer to be on a startup team. The best ideas are selected via an audience vote and teams form up to start the company. Winners received some consulting from Techstars and Cooley, a law firm that has a startup practice and undoubtedly a great deal of market interest. Friday night started with over thirty short pitches that were narrowed down to eight. After the event, the team can decide if they continue.
The winner was Doodlebugging. Doodlebugging is a Twitter-based one to one marketplace application. I think they won hands down. Here’s why:
- The application/service is insanely simple.
- Their pitch: “Doodlebugging is like Craigslist but it doesn’t suck” adequately conveys the message and generates interest.
- The name, while being a bit long is very sticky.
- They create value by connecting people who are selling something with potential buyers – extremely quickly and efficiently. Imagine tweeting “I’ve got a kindle to sell” or “I need a kindle” and you get matched with a buyer or seller - right away!
The Second Place Winner was ReleaseQ. ReleaseQ lets you track upcoming releases of movies, books, music, and videos. Here’s why I think they won:
- Their target market is huge: Lots of people who love a movie or book topic want to know when new content is being released.
- Their revenue stream is extensible: Amazon, Netflix, or any reseller or distributor will want to promote their wares through the site.
- The software creates a highly effective community, informing its users of new promotional media and giving them a queue of the things they might look forward to and allowing them to connect to other users with similar interests.
It would be great to see these startups and the other ideas get to market! BTW, if you want a taste of what a startup is like, I encourage you attend Startup Weekend. You’ll have a great time and there’s no particular obligation past the weekend. You might just end up being on the team that creates the next big thing!
