As you may be aware, import•io has been supporting the Silicon Valley Comes to UK Startup Weekend, and my venue was the Manchester Startup Weekend at Techhub as a mentor for the teams.
I never cease to be amazed by what comes out of these type of events, and Manchester was no exception. Not just the innovative businesses and ideas that are created, but the friendships and bonds too. Watching competitors at the start, you could clearly see the transition from a room full of people who didn’t know each other one iota, through to the germination of relationships, alliances being formed, and eventually some very well-rounded teams created.
The standard in Manchester was incredibly high, I really wouldn’t have wanted to be a judge, and it was great to have played a part in preparing the teams for their final pitches. Kudos to goannotate.com for their win with a fascinating idea around online critiquing of writing.
Heads down for the final sprint
A well deserved 2nd place went to rightcrowd.co.uk with a challenge-based recruitment platform (which incidentally I intend to use for our hiring). Third place went to Prevu, which Martin Bryant of The Next Web deftly described as “Pinterest for Professors”. It was great to see how well they’d executed their vision – just after the winners were announced they’d set up a board for everyone to send text messages and photos in to.
A special mention must go to jobr.io, who used data from data.gov.uk to provide insight into the market for particular jobs, allowing applicants to make smart decisions about which posts to apply for. I’m looking forward to seeing what the other five centers have come up with at the final this Thursday, at Google Campus.
Extra special thanks to all the attendess, and in particular Danielle, Doug, Shaun, Kat, Ben, Martyn, and Nikita, for making it a thoroughly enjoyable weekend. Loved it.
by Rich Wilson, VP Sales & Marketing