Startup Weekend winners are all smiles

Despite an intense and exhausting 54 hours, the winners of Auckland’s sold-out Startup Weekend are all smiles.

Smile Today took out the competition with the heart-warming idea of giving a smile in return for donating to charity. The team also won Massey University’s Audience Choice Award.

Smile Today’s prize package includes a place in the ecentre sprint programme valued at $4500, an MYOB startup services package, a StartupPack™ of legal services from Lowdnes Jordan, and a $500 cash prize on company formation.

The Catapult Prize was won by Herepin for their micro-networking business linking people to community information and offers in real time. This prize, which includes airfare, accommodation, and a desk at the Kiwi Landing Pad in San Francisco for four weeks, is awarded to the team with the venture that is the most scalable in the US market. Herepin will also receive a place in the ecentreSprint programme.

Second Prize was awarded to Jump On Board for their idea of creating a way for travellers to access local knowledge when visiting unfamiliar places.

Startup Weekend is a non-profit organisation supported internationally by the Kauffman Foundation. Local sponsors for Auckland event included Massey University, MYOB, Microsoft NZ, Lowndes Jordan, the ecentre, Coffee Supreme, Unified Inbox, iWantmyName and Pita Pit.

The event inspires and facilitates constructive collaboration between entrepreneurs, designers, software developers, and marketers. Participants pitch ideas on the Friday night and teams form around the most inspiring ideas. Each group then sees how far they can work towards launching a real business in 54 hours. Events have been run in 93 countries worldwide.

Startup Weekend Auckland facilitator Dave Moskovitz was impressed with the high quality of ventures at this year’s event. “The quality of the ventures emerging from Startup Weekends just keeps getting better and better,” he said.

“In addition to helping the ventures, these events help build up local entrepreneurial ecosystems. The people you meet at Startup Weekend may be your next co-founders, contractors, suppliers, clients, or investors. There’s no better way to get to know how people really work under pressure.”