Technology Corridor Happenings

What do you get when you combine over 100 students from 4 different universities and colleges, entrepreneurs, software developers and graphic designers into 12 teams over a single weekend dedicated to creating new businesses…Startup Weekend Storrs.

And what a weekend it was.  I’m still suffering from the total lack of sleep. Things kicked off Friday evening with no less than 64 one minute concept pitches designed to garner interest and attention from the assembled group.  Crowd sourced business development teams self selected into what they dynamically deemed were the 12 best opportunities.  By 10:00 pm, the groups were engaged in discussions outlining the tasks required to successfully present a credible plan, business or product concept, and hopefully, a prototype offering by late Sunday evening when team judging would begin.

Hosted jointly by the UConn Schools of Engineering and Business, and organized by the members of the Startup CT team with help from a dedicated and passionate group of volunteers, the event exceeded everyone’s expectations.  Volunteer mentors, seasoned entrepreneurs with deep domain and varied business experience, wandered the three floors of the Classroom Building throughout the weekend, engaging with the newly formed teams via probing questions and thoughtful challenges. Teams had dispersed into classrooms equipped with multiple whiteboards, numerous energy drinks and broadband wifi.  In my chosen role as a mentor, I bore witness to one breakthrough “aha” moment, as the student leaders of team PlatForum suddenly and profoundly grasped the importance of the challenge question.  As a mentor, it’s critically important to repeatedly poke and probe with leading questions, allowing the team to draw on their experiences and to develop their own solution.  With the team now energized and re-focused, I quietly left their room and moved on to the next.

The hours passed surprisingly swiftly, with teams facing stage or tollgate deliverable deadlines at key junctures throughout the event.  Calls were issued for designer or developer talent, pitch deck and prototype offerings were assembled, reviewed and improved as the event neared the competitive judging.  The intensity and enthusiasm exhibited by everyone was incredibly contagious.  With final preparations made, numerous of the teams, formerly adorned in t-shirts, sweats and jeans, now donned jackets and ties, hoping to make a good impression.

Following a review of the Startup Weekend judging criteria, those of us who had been named to the judging panel took our places at the front of the auditorium.  One by one the teams took center stage.  One by one they pitched.  I marveled at how far they had come in just over 50 hours.  I imagined several of the proposed offerings as mainstream market products.  I watched with amazement as the software applications came to life, only hours after the wire frames had been laid out on the whiteboards.  What an amazingly talented group had been assembled.  With the presentations finished, the judges relocated to complete deliberations.  So close were the overall scores, the top three teams were all declared winners.  The audience vote, captured in real time via text messaging affirmed the judges’ view.  High fives and cheers were shared all around.

As the evening wound to a close I left the Classroom Building with several of the students I had mentored, feeling very proud of their accomplishments.  I was so tired it took me a moment to recall where I had parked.  Physically exhausted, but psychologically inspired, I drove home – already looking forward to assisting these winners make their plans a marketplace reality.