6 teams pitch new startups at 2024 LaunchHack Startup Weekend
April 9, 2024
A team seeking to tackle the complexities of scheduling for sand volleyball leagues stole the show Sunday at the final pitch competition for the 2024 LaunchHack Startup Weekend!
The 54-hour event starts Friday nights when participants pitch ideas, vote on their favorites and form teams. Saturday and Sunday, teams work on market research, customer validation, business models and presentations. Then Sunday afternoon, they pitch their concepts for new startup companies.
Sand volleyball organizers currently spend upwards of 400 hours a year scheduling leagues. The process is complicated because there are womens, mens, and co-ed leagues, which all require different net heights. There are also different team sizes — doubles, quads, and the traditional 6 v 6. Often, individual players join multiple teams, so organizers are tasked with ensuring those teams schedules don’t overlap.
Waldo Rabie, Bulent Tastan, Paul Schmidt and Glen Fisher teamed up Friday night. Their goal: to develop a scheduling algorithm that handle handle sand leagues’ specific complexities.
“I love that this is happening here in Dayton. It’s such a great experience. A lot of people got so much value out of it and learned a lot,” Waldo shared. “Even though I’ve been through the ringer a few times, Startup Weekend really cements and drives home a lot of these core principles that are essential to founding a good startup.”
Key to the Startup Weekend journey is that teams actually get out and talk with potential customers. In that process, the “Sporty” team connected with league organizers across the region who are interested in testing the team’s app if they move forward with the project.
Roundup
Team Conscious Consumer won second place — team members Vinny Martin and Corey Tanis pitched a browser plugin that would help consumers check if the companies they’re shopping with align with their personal values.
Team Spine Clamp won third place. Angela Wymer, Lirim Sopaj, Owen Myers, Wesley Giles, and Allen May want to develop a new device for spinal surgeries to clamp spinal discs rather than drilling into bone.
Other pitches included customized trail mix for high-intensity athletes, a meal prep service, and an app to connect networking event attendees ahead of the event.
This eventful was possible thanks to generous support from our sponsors. Thank you Mile Two, Defense Innovation OnRamp Hub: Ohio, Tenet 3, The EC, University of Dayton, & The Hub! & thank you to Pedal Wagon Dayton, Green Light Improv and iHeart Radio for your in-kind support!
