- In Archive
- 2015-02-10 20:07:33
- 390 Views
The first Startup Weekend in Blagoevgrad came to an end on Sunday, Feb. 8. After 54 hours of work, Sound Busters took the grand prize of the jury and became the favorites of the audience.
[caption id="attachment_25001" align="alignright" width="352"] Sound Busters preparing to demonstrate their app[/caption]
The winning team developed an application, Sound Bust, which allows people to wirelessly and simultaneously play music on every possible device as long as they are connected to the same network. They were awarded with material prizes and will be provided with € 1,000 worth of accounting services from Antera for StartUps, one of the sponsors of the event. The team was also given an opportunity to participate in Microsoft’s Imagine Cup competition, along with a Nokia Lumia phone.
“We all feel excited and thrilled to win the first place at Startup Weekend Blagoevgrad,” said Gavril Tonev, one of the developers in the team. He shared that they “do not plan to let this project slide by.” They will continue with their work and “hope to bring the features that will truly make the application viral in the next couple of months.”
Team DenTour finished second. Their idea is to provide a travel and dental treatment plan for foreigners who want to fix their teeth in Bulgaria. Third place went to team INPRO and their INPRO App, a software designed for the textile industry that provides middle and senior managers with real-time production insights. Both teams received material prizes from the sponsors. Den Tour also got mentorship from one of the sponsors.
During the first day of the Startup Weekend, Feb. 6, there were 16 ideas from which 10 were voted to continue to the next stage. Deyan Slanchev, President of StartUP@Blagoevgrad, said that for the first time in the history of Startup Weekend, the Blagoevgrad’s club used an IT platform for the nominations and voting. It was designed from a Startup company especially for the event of StartUp@Blagoevgrad.
The second day was devoted to work and all the teams were advised by mentors who were invited by the organizers. The team had the opportunity to get help from prof. Veneta Andonova, who teaches Business Strategy and Entrepreneurship at AUBG, Nikola Valchanov,CTO of Programista, Stoyan Angelov, co-founder of Infozone, Spasimir Dinev, an AUBG graduate and an international creative director at ilyan.com, Hristo Chernev, CEO of TaxiMe, Teodora Toneva, an AUBG graduate and founder of Green Light Macromarketing, and Avgustina Pasheeva, also an AUBG graduate and an investment manager at VoiVoda Ventures.
[caption id="attachment_24994" align="alignleft" width="359"] The teams working on their ideas[/caption]
Pasheeva said that she was “pleasantly surprised” with the ideas of the teams. “Initially all the ideas have a chance, it is much more about execution,” she said and added that she would be interested in what the teams are going to do after the Startup Weekend.
According to Valchanov, Startup Weekend delivers a message to the students that they can build a real business. “If five motivated people gather around a table, they can probably build something that can grow into something big."
Slanchev said that the members of the StartUP@Blagoevgrad club did not expect that the teams will be so devoted. “We were surprised to see them staying at the sport’s hall till three in the morning,” he explained. “They were working constantly.” He shared that the club will try to make the event an annual thing and further expand it through cooperating with other universities.