Startup Weekend Kansas City, an annual event that unites fledgling entrepreneurs from across the city, kicked off Global Entrepreneurship Week with a bang. The ideas flew fast and furiously during the intensive weekend-long session that “focuses on building a web or mobile application which could form the basis of a credible business,” according to SWKC.
Software developers, graphic designers and business people united in a common goal to create a start-up platform, and the results were not only impressive, but downright inspiring.
Horsebot3k, created by Jeff Graves, Justin Graves, Josh Bohde and Aaron Marz, took home the gold as the winner of Startup Weekend. According to an event synopsis from the Kansas City Business Journal, Horsebot3k is “an Amazon.com product review analytics and rating website” that’s “intended to help users make the most of product reviews” with a system that’s based on a reviewer’s intelligence and grammar skills.
The Horsebot3k app is now live, and Jeff says next steps include working “on promotion to get some early users on board to test out the idea and help guide future feature development. We have a lot of ideas on how to expand out what we have, but want to let the customers take the lead in directing our development.”
Bold Predictions received second place. Team members James Flexman, Chad Elliott, Ryan Bennett, Nate Olson, Bruce Lill, Kyle Rogers and Nicole Schumacher created “a concept that allows users to time stamp their predictions about future events, see what their friends are predicting and compete against each other to see who makes a better Nostradamus,” Kyle says.
Kyle credits Startup Weekend for providing the environment and expertise with which to help push an idea from creation to implementation. Some of us need a good swift kick in the pants to get something done, and that’s exactly what Startup Weekend provides.
“Startup Weekend was a driver to throw the concept out to the public for some real-time validation,” Kyle says. “The tools really are a kick in the pants to try something and you also have access to other energetic people who want to make big things happen.”
While watching the Startup Weekend tweets flow fast and furiously this last weekend (check out #kcsw or #swkc if you’re interested), we couldn’t get enough of the passion and enthusiasm radiating from the Cerner Innovations Campus. Renee Kloeblen, a serial entrepreneur and founder of Nene Takes The Cake bakery, participated in Startup Weekend as part of the RepresentinME project and says the event wasn’t only enjoyable—it was addictive, too.
“I will participate next year without a doubt,” she says. “The experience is unmatched, the people are brilliant. It gets you excited for big things. Anything can happen in these weekends. The next huge endeavor could be formed.”
It’s exactly that sort of attitude that has recently put Kansas City on the map as both a technological and entrepreneurial hub—and we can’t get enough of this great energy. From events like Startup Weekend to Building the Gigabit City, Kansas City is emerging as a true competitor, and that not only makes us smile—it makes us want to work harder, too. In fact, we boldly predict that Kansas City entrepreneurs will produce some impactful ideas in the coming years. You heard it here first!
