This past Thursday at the Startup Weekend Reunion, at EmergeMemphis downtown, five new enterprises presented the progress they’ve made in the first 3 months since Startup Weekend. Two of these businesses have managed to achieve revenue and all five were able to report on valuable lessons learned. Furthermore, at the reunion, several members of the group were recognized for their contributions to Startup Weekend.
The Roll Play allows users to collaborate in interactive storytelling. It was awarded the title Business Most Likely to Succeed.
Other distinctions from the night were awarded to Mark Dinstuhl, Caitlin Woodward and Kevin Yancy celebrating their enthusiasm and contributions to Startup Weekend and their respective teams.
Kevin Yancy, the founder of The Roll Play, who was recognized as the Participant of the Weekend stated, “The most inspiring thing about the Startup Weekend experience is the incredible pool of local talent.” Yancy credited his team’s successes to the relationships he formed with his fellow participants.
Beyond the recognition, many of these entrepreneurs used the Reunion to share their ideas and build publicity for their growing concerns.
Mark’s Menus provides a searchable online menu database for local restaurants. They outlined their use of Twitter and Facebook to promote their enterprise. On one occasion, a single tweet scored 43 hits to their website by offering free dinner to Twitter users who came to a tweetup.
CheezyWeezy, a photo-sharing site that allows users to upload and rate pictures of cute kids, discussed their plans for recruiting users at local festivals this fall, like Cooper-Young Fest, Germantown Arts Festival and the River Arts Festival. Nnaemeka “Meka” Egwuekwe of CheezyWeezy offered free advertising on CheezyWeezy to all Startup Weekend projects.
Kevin Yancy of The Roll Play has been using Startup Weekend participants and their families as boosters and beta testers. He noted that they will be introducing premium features in September with their 2.0 version. “It’s great to see families around the community come together and support one another’s entrepreneurship.”
Events like Startup Weekend are popping up all over Tennessee. Chattanooga will host a 48 Hour Launch in November, and Memphis will host a 48 Hour Launch in the spring. Interest in entrepreneurship continues to grow in the Mid-South and these events promise to bring phenomenal participants and teams together for collaboration – and, of course, cold Red Bull for participants also helps.