Startup Weekend ended on Sunday evening in exemplary fashion as it was one of the smoothest run events we have had to date. We helped cultivate 13 wonderful teams on their entrepreneurial journey and saw cutting edge technologies come to life such as VR and natural language processing.

Fast Facts”

  • 13 teams formed
  • 85+ participants
  • 15 mentors
  • 14 sponsors including you which we greatly appreciate!
  • 180+ people in total including demo day attendees, participants, judges, and mentors
  • 60%+ of participants were first time attendees
  • 31.4% of attendee were female
  • 39.2% of attendees were racially/ethnically diverse (not white)
  • 54.4% were ages 30+
  • 42.3% were ages 18 – 29

Our Winning Teams:

  • 1st โ€“ Willowย (mobile tool to search and facilitate the pet adoption process along with pet product marketplace to purchase kits/food for once you adopt)
  • 2nd โ€“ TeachVRย (experiential learning through VR experiences for pre-k through 12 — they had a $4k proof of concept offer by Sunday evening)
  • 3rd โ€“ Insta-Rebateย (digital rebates for instant cash)
  • Honorable Mention โ€“ Worldline (the “Kayak” for space training experiences)

 

Some quick notes:

We are seeing the quality of companies/ideas elevate which is something we have been working to improve. More thought out ideas and effective validation. One of the top teams had a proof of concept offer of $4k from a leading education conglomerate by Sunday evening which was remarkable.

ScriptDrop was a great venue and Nick and Amanda were excellent hosts. Nick shared his story of how Startup Weekend helped catapult him get a job at CMM even after they told him no, which eventually led him years later to founding ScriptDrop. He is a tangible example of how Startup Weekend can bring clarity and ignite the entrepreneurial/tech passion inside people. It was wonderful having him share his story which inspired the attendees. Our hope is that attendees catch the spark and bring that energy back to their everyday life or embark on a new path with clarity.

Our sponsors and mentors had some wins this weekend as well! A couple of our sponsors and mentors made us aware that they met new potential partners and customers from connections they made throughout the course of the weekend.

Talent is another great opportunity through Startup Weekend and our mentors/sponsors were able to vet a handful of candidates for open tech roles at their companies by keeping an eye out for the most talented attendees.

We had the opportunity to catch up with folks from Grange Insurance, FUSE by Cardinal Health, State Auto, Rev1 Ventures, Nationwide Financialโ€™s Innovation Group, Leading EDJE, Big Kitty Labs, Startup Grind, Big Kitty Labs, AWH, Rhove, Thompson Hine, Dickinson Wright, and the Ohio Innovation Fund to name a few.

This was the first time we hosted a Startup/Innovation Showcase on Friday night where we were able to help attendees become more familiar with local startups and innovation groups like Rapchat, Safechain, ScriptDrop, SHARE, Rev1 Ventures, Nationwide Financial, RISE Mental Fitness, Leading EDJE, and Grypshon. 9 tables of companies for the Showcase and 80+ attendees on Friday led to great conversation.

Thank you for your support and help throughout the weekend. Your support helps to cultivate the Columbus tech and entrepreneurial community which ultimately helps drive fundamental economic growth in the region as attendees build new businesses or take their knowledge back to employers helping to create new solutions.

Vijay

Vijay Yadav

Columbus Startup Weekend Organizer