In 54 hours, one salsa instructor’s idea went from just a dream to a funded reality.
About 100 participants gathered at Gainesville’s Sun Center on Friday for the kickoff of Gainesville Startup Weekend.
Developers, designers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiasts came together to brainstorm, create and market one startup company in full during the 54-hour event.
At the end of the event, Rob Castellucci and his group won the competition with DropBeat, an app to keep dancers on beat. Castellucci, an instructor with the Gator Salsa Club and a co-founder of startup RoomSync, and his group won a few thousand dollars and other prizes such as free consulting.
“I felt great for everyone on the team,” he said.
Orrett Davis, a startup enthusiast and one of the event organizers, opened the event at 7:30 p.m. Friday. John Spence, UF alumnus and international consultant, was among the opening speakers.
“You’re not in competition. You’re in co-opetition,” Spence said during his speech. “Working by yourself is the No. 1 route to failure.”
About 50 participants had one minute or less to pitch their startup business ideas at the front of the Gainesville Hackerspace basement. Then attendees voted on the top three spots.
These votes were used to cut the roughly 50 ideas down to 15.
David Segev, a 19-year-old UF economics and psychology sophomore, was one of the 15 chosen. He said he got his idea for Layover Suites, a business that would install beds in airports, after being stuck in an airport for eight hours in Rio de Janeiro.
“I’m here to take advantage of the opportunity to bring my idea into a reality,” he said.
On Saturday, participants worked in their teams with mentors at their sides.
Tilton Taylor, strategic partner development manager at Grooveshark and Startup Weekend mentor, said he was excited to help everyone nurture their “babies.”
“It becomes a marsh pit of excitement, Red Bull, no sleep, music, no showering,” said Taylor, a 24-year-old UF alumnus. “It’s something that you just can’t get in a classroom.”
The weekend frenzy ended Sunday night with presentations in front of Gainesville business leaders. Groups were judged based on customer validation, business model and execution.
“This event is about ‘Don’t talk about it, but be about it,’” said Anjali Kundra, co-director of Gainesville Startup Weekend. “What distinguishes Gainesville from others is that we really leverage all of our resources.”
