On April 25 over 80 people gathered at McMaster Innovation Park to kick off “Startup Weekend Hamilton 4.” Startup Weekends are 54-hour events where developers, designers, marketers and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, build products and launch startups!
The weekend began with a quick-pitch session. Interested attendees had one minute each to pitch their idea. Participants then voted for their favorite ideas and organically broke into ten teams – Gaggle, ILoveMyPussyCat, Mind Erva, Q-Health, Rentoku, Say Hey, Split Ideas, Squig.ly, Urban Treasures and VASA. Each team worked for the next 54 hours to build their businesses.
On Sunday afternoon, the teams presented what they had come up with to attendees and a panel of judges: David Carter (Innovation Factory), Dr. Lotfi Belkhir (McMaster University), Stephanie McLarty (REfficient) and Ben Zlotnick (INcubes Technology Accelerator).
After all the presentations, Q-Health was ultimately named the grand-prize winner; Say Hey took second place; and third place was a tie between Gaggle and Rentoku, with honourable mention going to Urban Treasures. The top teams took home some great prizes, all aimed at helping launch their new start-ups.
Overall, Startup Weekend Hamilton 4 was a huge success bringing together numerous community partners and innovation supporters. We’re already looking forward to the next event!
