Startup Weekend Memphis 2

Hi All,

I just wanted to give an update on the projects that came out of SUW Memphis 2. Again we had a great weekend with a lot of strong ideas coming out of the 48 hour event. Marks Menus pitched at the LaunchMemphis Investment forum and the roll play is really taking off. As a recap, we had 70 participants and we ended up with 5 projects. All projects are still progressing. Below is a summary of each idea and a recent update. Please get involved and join one or a few of these ideas.

The Roll Play

The Roll Play (www.therollplay.com) is a new web system to allow students, writers, and others to build stories collectively with other members by assuming the role of a character of their own making.  The members in effect make a “rolling” play or even a debate.  The site is up and running with new differentiating functionality coming out weekly.

The Roll Play is still progressing well. We have been live for 45 days and are up to 59 users. To date, 20 roll plays have been created, with the most active consisting of more than 200 posts.

The originl group has been staying in touch through Twitter and the Roll Play Facebook page, but no formal business entity has been formed. I have primarily been responsible for implementing fixes and developing new features. The biggest challenge has been finding time to work on it while keeping the day job. Still several key features that need to be implemented so we are still considered to be Beta testing. Testers can create an unlimited number of roll plays and/or characters during the Beta period at no charge.

Vesion 2.0 is in the works and will be released soon so please become a fan of our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter so you won’t miss a thing. Please help us grow by joining a story or creating your own. We are very grateful for the support!

59 Users

20 Stories

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Marks Menus

Mister Menus changed to Marks Menus (www.marksmenus.com) is a site that allows a user to upload menus of their favorite restaurants and to rate menu items.  This enables other users to search where to eat using criteria like dish ingredients and menu items.  This way if you need to find the best vegan dishes in the city you can easily locate them and know where to go.

At this time, Mark’s Menus has 30 registered users and, this week, we got our first restaurant manager to enter their OWN menu on the site!

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CheezyWeezy

CheezyWeezy (www.CheezyWeezy.com), another project that built a beta launch product and business plan in 48 hours, encourages the world to “Take a Smile Break” by heading to their site to view and rate photos of cute kids.  Grandparents unite and rate your grandchildren to the top!

We’ve completed our alpha testing and starting a private beta last week.  Expect to see a public beta by the end of the week.  After that, my team will be meeting on how best to market and get the word out.

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Rezzie

Rezzie focused on designing an innovative business model for the real estate and print news industry.  By providing previously unavailable data to consumers on agents and brokers on print news web sites, all parties can benefit with revenue and savings.  This idea easily could provide large returns to investors and the team is moving forward with technical specs.

Interest declined after SUW and a few parties trotted the idea out to potential customers and there was interest but they wanted to see something. We’ve got a meeting scheduled Thursday evening at the Launchpad to discuss technical requirements and team members roles and responsibilities.

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GameWavMedia

GameWavMedia focused on providing a new cross functional gaming platform to change the way games are designed, distributed and played.  At the center of the idea is object oriented gaming independent of game functionality.  Sound complicated — it is — but the idea has some merit, especially since the average age of a gamer is over 35.

Currently we are looking at the project and resource constraints. So we are evaluating options to either reduce the scope or partner with other organizations to have more resources.

Here is a post I wrote for MemphisConnect.com here that I have place below: http://www.memphisconnect.com/2009/06/10/how-was-the-weekend-intense-and-creative/

Enjoy!  

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On May 29th, 30th, and 31st, 2009, seventy (70) Memphians came together for one of the most intense, creative, and entrepreneurial events of their lives.   In just 48 hours (6pm Friday to 6pm Sunday) these creative class members from all walks of life pitched 14 ideas, selected 5 for startup, and launched 3 beta products.  In its second year of operation, LaunchMemphis brought Startup Weekend back to Memphis to support entrepreneurial action!

Why the excitement?

Last year, LaunchMemphis hosted over 100 people at EmergeMemphis and one idea was selected and born, Spynner.  That concept eventually died, but one other idea pitched that weekend went on to form a team, build a product, achieve user base, and garner revenue in 2009.  That company is NRange (www.nrange.com), a golf GPS app for smart phones that is cheaper but just as accurate as $300-$500 range finders golfers buy.  Now that’s entrepreneurial action!  This year with an enhanced entrepreneurship ecosystem and a dedicated group of 70 people, LaunchMemphis Startup Weekend delivered five new business concepts to our local economy. 

Will all of these startups succeed?  

According to Tulane University business Professor Lisa Amos, the average for entrepreneurs has 3.8 failures before finally succeeding.  At LaunchMemphis with programs like Startup Weekend, we encourage people to form teams, build startups, and ‘fail fast’ so that they can learn and get right back into the ecosystem of entrepreneurship to start again.

You did what?

When asked, “What did you do this past weekend?”  most may reply with the details of sporting events, yard work, and/or relaxing with a book.  Not for this crew of Memphians.  They can proudly say, “I launched a new business in 48 hours!”

What are the 5 startups?

Here I provide a very brief summary of the 5 ideas that moved forward.  Stay tuned to learn about how these startups evolve.  We will have a Startup Weekend Reunion on August 27th, 2009 to hear about how these businesses have progressed and if any of the other ideas not-selected moved forward, like NRange (www.nrange.com) did last year.  Learn more about Memphis Startup Weekend at www.LaunchMemphis.com.

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The Roll Play (www.therollplay.com) is a new web system to allow students, writers, and others to build stories collectively with other members by assuming the role of a character of their own making.  The members in effect make a “rolling” play or even a debate.  The site is up and running with new differentiating functionality coming out weekly.

–

Mister Menus (http://mistermenus.com/) is a site that allows a user to upload menus of their favorite restaurants and to rate menu items.  This enables other users to search where to eat using criteria like dish ingredients and menu items.  This way if you need to find the best vegan dishes in the city you can easily locate them and know where to go.

–

CheezyWeezy (www.CheezyWeezy.com), another project that built a beta launch product and business plan in 48 hours, encourages the world to “Take a Smile Break” by heading to their site to view and rate photos of cute kids.  Grandparents unite and rate your grandchildren to the top!

–

Rezzie focused on designing an innovative business model for the real estate and print news industry.  By providing previously unavailable data to consumers on agents and brokers on print news web sites, all parties can benefit withrevenue and savings.  This idea easily could provide large returns to investors and the team is moving forward with technical specs.

–

GameWavMedia focused on providing a new cross functional gaming platform to change the way games are designed, distributed and played.  At the center of the idea is object oriented gaming independent of game functionality.  Sound complicated — it is — but the idea has some merit, especially since the average age of a gamer is over 35.

We have received a few questions regarding Startup Weekend so we thought it best to give the answers to everyone.

Q1: Is this an overnight thing?
A1: It is up to the participants. Some of the coders like to work into the night. We’ll have Red Bull and Starbucks as sponsors along with Dominos so for the late nighters they can sustain themselves.

Q2: Where is it?
A2: It is at Emerge Memphis, 516 Tennessee St. Memphis, TN 38103

Q3: What is the differentiation of the selections to purchase tickets (For example the PR option is sold out)? Does it matter what you register under?
A3: The tickets are general place holders so we have a variety of skill sets available for the startup companies. If we had ONLY have PR people showing up we wouldn’t be able to get graphics done or websites up. But if we don’t have PR people, then we how would the word get out to the right channels. For you or anyone, if a slot is filled up then pick the next slot that most fits your skills or where you can contribute. These are loose distinctions that will quickly dissolve when you show up on site Friday.

Q4: What are the times if this is not an overnight event and can you attend part of the conference.
A4: You can attend part of the weekend and contribute as possible based on your schedule. I would say that most people will be on site Friday 6pm-9pm, Saturday 9am-9pm, and Sunday 9am-6pm. The most important parts of the weekend are Friday night and Sunday 5pm-6pm. The rest is loose and self-directed by the startup teams.

Q5: Food and drink?
A5: We provide all your meals, snacks, and drinks as part of your ticket price. If you have special needs contact anna@launchmemphis.com

Q6: My question wasn’t answered here. Who do I contact?
A6: Contact Eric or Harry (eric@launchmemphis.com harry@launchmemphis.com)

Thanks and be sure to buy your tickets here: http://memphis2startupweekend.eventbrite.com/

We are only two and a half weeks out for start up weekend (May 29-31). We will start at 6 PM on Friday and end Sunday evening. There are still some tickets left and you can get yours here: http://memphis2startupweekend.eventbrite.com/.

This year we will have a  pre-event gathering to present ideas. We will video record them and post them to a face book group page. Don’t worry, if you can’t make that you can still present your idea on the first day of the event. No decisions will be made until Friday, May 29th.

We are pleased to announce that Startup Weekend will be returning to Memphis one year after the highly successful inaugural weekend.   Join us May 29th-May 31st, 2009 to support even more entreprenuerial activity in Memphis.  Unlike last year, multiple ventures will simultaneously move forward creating an action packed weekend with hopefully the launches of more than one venture. 

Be sure to grab a ticket early because this event sells out and is limited to the first 100 people that sign up.  Just like last year all of your corporal needs will be taken care from caffine to food and beyond.  We hope to see you there.

The LaunchMemphis Team

Startup Weekend is coming back to Memphis May 29-31, 2009!