“Student Athlete Exchange,” the event facilitator announced.

The five-person team jumped and cheered, receiving a round of applause from fellow participants, organizers, coaches and judges. They had been named Crowd Favorite minutes before the final announcement.

Charlie Gilmur, current OSU football player, unknown as a walk-on to most Beaver sports fans, had delivered a succinct, potent five-minute pitch about his team’s business, Student Athlete Exchange (SAX).

SAX is designed to provide student athletes with flexible short-term project-based work experience by connecting athletic departments and businesses.

“I’m just so excited,” Gilmur said. “It’s pretty cool for us to be nominees to get into the Venture Accelerator. And it’s cool seeing the weekend’s work and the support behind it. I think we all feel pretty passionate about SAX – helping student-athletes and OSU as a whole.”

Startup Weekend is a 54-hour event during which participants take business ideas and begin making them reality. OSU Startup Weekend was the first time an athletics department played host.

“I thought they all did fantastic,” said Marianne Berglund, a judge, two-time Olympic cyclist and director of the Oregon Leadership Institute. “I was really impressed. They accomplished a lot.”

Receiving the first-place award came with a team’s nomination into OSU’s Venture Accelerator, a program designed to identify ideas or research innovation that might form the basis for profitable companies, then streamline their development by providing analytical, technological, legal, marketing, financial and mentoring resources.

Gilmur’s teammates in the venture were current OSU football players Grant Enger and Steven Christian, OSU student Colton Thomas and local entrepreneur and Vietnam veteran Bill Ford. Selection was based on interest and skills needed to move the idea forward; team formation is a participant responsibility.

“I feel good,” Christian said. “I think we were the only group with a functioning website at the end of the weekend. It validates it. We can do something with it.”

Christian helped with the SAX logo, illustrated concepts and building the team’s website.

“It’s given me a lot of good experience,” he continued. “That’s why I came here, and I wouldn’t be opposed to trying this again. This is a no-brainer. This is a team environment. Student-athletes understand the team concept.

“The disconnect has been, how do you translate that on-the-field chemistry off the field? That’s exactly what we did here.”

The event started Friday night, with an opening speech by OSU football coach and chief of staff Jay Locey, and a round of idea pitching. A handful of Beaver student-athletes were involved. Student-athletes helped lead four of the seven teams that survived the venture fest.

Saturday focused on customer validation and building a business model, key components of the final presentation on Sunday.

Head basketball coach Craig Robinson opened Sunday with a talk about the importance of sales and communicating ideas, and former OSU football player Taylor Kavanaugh discussed his startup, Quarter 4 Sports, and the importance of “being remarkable,” Sunday afternoon.

“I went to a pretty good business school,” Robinson said to the crowd. “We didn’t have anything like this. This is fantastic.”

All teams pitched their weekend efforts on Sunday evening. Judging criteria included clarity of the problem and solution, and the businesses’ viability.

Second-place went to OSU wrestler Anthony Harris and his team, TutorApp, which seeks to provide students with a convenient, effective way to learn math through solutions, practice problems, and relevant resources.

“I’m a little bitter we got second-place,” Harris said. “It’s not what we were shooting for. But I’ll go to the judges and see what we can work on. We’re going to find out so the next time we get people to buy the idea.”

Harris had an idea for Startup Weekend well before the weekend.

“Work started months ago,” he said. “It started with Akili King and Marianne Vydra hosting a leadership class and talking about Startup Weekend. I’ve had the idea growing for a while, so this was a platform to express what’s been in my mind.”

Third-place went to Just 2 Nice, a clothing company started by OSU football player Malcolm Marable.

“I really enjoyed this,” Marable said. “I’m serious about my clothing line, and this was a great experience for me. The first night I didn’t think this was the place for me. Everyone’s pitching technology. But I got the votes, and then I got a good team. It was like a perfect team.”

Marable didn’t know any of his teammates prior to Friday night. They showed up and wanted to help build his idea, and they plan to continue working together.

“He and I are planning on meeting next week,” said Marable’s teammate Jaycob Cooper, an OSU pre-business student. “I’m going to take a look at his new clothes and come up with a pricing spreadsheet for him.”

Akili King, managing director of the OSU Athletics Leadership Institute and former OSU football player, and senior associate athletic director Marianne Vydra saw an opportunity for the department to contribute to student-athlete development in a new way. The first step was hosting a Startup Weekend. They hope it sets the tone for future programming.

“This was awesome, and it exceeded our expectations,” King said. “The teams did such a great job. Probably the best thing was having such an enormous mix of people with various backgrounds in one place.

“This is the beginning. Now we have to keep building. We had great validation from Coach Locey. Coach Robinson was phenomenal. We have the support to really move this type of development forward.”

OSU Athletics has plans to host a second Startup Weekend later this year.

Enter to pitch your startup at the ‘We Own It’ Summit in London this June! 

Astia and The Next Women are seeking the most promising high-growth women-led companies from around the world to present on stage at the We Own It Summit Global Pitch Competition in London on June 27th in front of an audience of preeminent venture capitalists and global investors at the summit. Compete for global visibility, a cash prize and unequaled promotion and networking opportunities. Sponsored by Technology Strategy Board along with Astia Angel, Gust and Startup Weekend.

The top 20 finalists will be invited to attend the summit, participate in discussion salons lead by prominent players in the funding and entrepreneurship space, and network with investors and industry experts. The top 5 will be invited to pitch at the summit. Deadline June 1^st!

To learn more and to apply, click here.

SW Team ‘Dropifi’ Tacks on Another Big Win: Acceptance into 500 Startups’ 6th Class

We’re excited to share that Dropifi, a smart widget that allows companies to better analyze incoming “contact us” messages, is amongst the sixth batch of companies to join the 500 Startups Accelerator Program.

“Being the first African startup to join a leading U.S. accelerator validates our idea and serves as a springboard for us to take giant leaps into helping businesses better interact with customers,” adds Osei. “We also see it as an inspiration for young African entrepreneurs and a signpost that, Africa is geared up to be the next economic frontier.”

Check out the infographic that shows the Dropify journey and read more about their acceptance into 500 Startups in Tech Crunch here.

Startup Weekend Announces Updated Judging Criteria for Events

We’ve recently updated our event judging criteria in an effort to be more balanced and highlight the technical, non-tech, and design aspects that are critical to a successful, dynamic team.  Judging criteria will now include four sections: Business Model, Customer Validation, Technical – Execution, and Design – Execution. After testing the new criteria out at several events this year, we’re confident it will boost the overall impact of events and help to better guide teams as they consider the different areas they should be focusing on in the hectic 54-hour time frame.

You can read more about the updated four-part criteria here.

We’re Hiring! Join the Startup Weekend family.  We’re currently hiring for a world-class Lead Designer and Web Developer. Want to apply or let someone else know about the opportunity? Please visit our jobs page. 

Founded in November 2011,  Dropifi joined the 500 Startups program in April 2013. Since 2011, Dropifi, a graduate of the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology program, have been making waves in Ghana, as well as internationally. Most recently, Dropifi won the Global Start Up Open competition where they were chosen out of  50 international start ups to win the Kauffman Foundation backed award. They were flown to Rio de Janeiro in March to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) and collect this award.

While in Rio for the annual Startup Weekend SO Summit, Dropifi pitched to Dave McClure, founder of 500 Startups, and shortly after received an invitation to join the accelerator program.

“Dropifi is the first African investment for 500 Startups,” McClure said. “Very few seed investors in Silicon Valley will put money into markets as early as Africa, but we think talent exists in every corner of the globe. Dropifi has a killer team and a promising product with global reach. The fact that they hail from Ghana makes it even cooler.”

Using the Dropifi contact widget, companies filter out spam through proprietary anti-spam technology, see incoming message trending data in relation to industry metrics, the demographic and social media profiles of the sender, analyze the real emotions behind the messages, and easily integrate with their existing CRMs, e-commerce, and blogging platforms.

“ With this tool, companies generate more business leads, make better business decisions, offer a more personalized and better customer service experience, save time, increase productivity and boost their ROI,” comments David Osei, Founder and CEO of Dropifi.

Since launching on WordPress and Shopify in late 2012, there have been over 8,000 downloads on WordPress; over 900 Shopify stores are using the Dropifi widget to collect and analyze their incoming messages and leads.

Rodney Hashaway CEO of  Go Go Shack, an e-commerce store reviewed Dropifi and said,“Great app! EASY install! Customize contact tab to match your store’s colors. Clean and professional look. No html need just click install and customize. I’m satisfied”

Dropifi is in San Francisco for four months: they will be spending three months at 500 Start Ups headquarters in Mountain View and one month taking part in the program’s Demo Days and final investor meetings.

“Being the first African startup to join a leading U.S. accelerator validates our idea and serves as a springboard for us to take giant leaps into helping businesses better interact with customers,” adds Osei. “We also see it as an inspiration for young African entrepreneurs and a signpost that, Africa is geared up to be the next economic frontier.”

Read more about Dropifi’s admittance into 500 Startups in TechCrunch.

About Dropifi

Dropifi provides a replacement for “contact us” buttons with a smart widget which allows companies to better analyze incoming messages, discover their contacts, and re-channel messages to the right persons in their organizations based on business rules they set. Dropifi was founded in November 11 and are alumni of the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) Program in Accra, Ghana. Dropifi is currently backed by The Meltwater Foundation and 500 Start Ups.

About 500 Startups

500 Startups is an early-stage seed fund and incubator program located in Mountain View, CA. They invest primarily in consumer & SMB internet startups, and related web infrastructure services. Their initial investment size is typically $25K-$250K.

Selected areas of interest include financial services & e-commerce, search/social/mobile platforms, personal & business productivity, education & language, family & healthcare and web infrastructure.

Ever been that new kid on the block? I have.

Photo Credit Greg Go

On a whim, I joined Startup Weekend Bay Area. I did not know what to expect. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into and I didn’t think I would win. But I did. Now, I’m not a programmer.  I’m not a web designer.  I’m not that business savvy.  Turns out, you don’t have to be.  All you need is the right team who shares your vision (or one that thinks your idea is cool enough to eat and breathe for the next 54 hours). Be ready to lead and be led, be open-minded, and hustle. If you are, well, then I’m confident your idea can win Startup Weekend as a first timer, just like Tester.ly (now BeforeWeDo) did.

Without further ado, here’s what you need to know to win over crowd, the judges and the entire weekend:

1. It’s All in the Pitch. Pick an idea you know, that’s clear, and relatable. The idea I came with was In – Home STD Test Subscriptions. No one likes to talking about STDs (which is a problem in it of itself). It’s not fun. It’s not that cool. So, how do you take an idea that by nature is uncomfortable and get people to pay attention? Make it personal. I started with “Sex is Amazing.” (Mostly because it is and I knew everyone, if not all, have experienced it). When I sat down, the person next to me whispered in my ear,”That was the most exciting pitch yet.”

Case in point, your pitch MUST catch the attention of the audience. So, be bold and unique. It is also very important that you practice it BEFORE you pitch at least 10 times to yourself and to someone else. This will ensure that you deliver your pitch with as much ease and confidence as possible. Keep in mind, there could easily be 30+ pitches that night (this event had 37) so be sure yours is the one that sticks.

2. Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy. If you have zero sales experience (I surely did), now is your chance to get it. Here’s the deal–you’ll find some people who are on the fence between putting a post-it on your idea or someone else’s. (Only the top 20 ideas are allowed to create a team). So, you better become a self-proclaimed PR agent to promote and sell your idea as best as you can. It’ll be up to you to convince those indecisive ones which team to join. Know there’s an unfair ratio of business people to developers to designers so it’s imperative that you walk around the room to ask who hasn’t voted yet or joined a team yet and if not, why? (in this case, having the actual HIV In-Home test came in handy because instead of explaining how it works, I just showed it. So, if you’re idea has an actual product that goes along with it, bring it!). If you just stand by your poster there is a huge chance that you’ll be overlooked, miss out on votes, and miss out on attracting key team members. You’ll need at least one programmer, designer, and business/marketing person to have a well rounded team. Get to pimpin’.

3. Map Out A Plan First. Develop some type of backlog whether it be by way of an online tool, like Trello, or a white poster paper with markers. We used Trello because it was user friendly, simple, and more importantly it allowed us to visually see who was assigned what, what was currently being worked on, and what was completed. In fact, we also used a white sheet of paper to list the tasks and deadlines to ensure that we stayed as efficient as possible. (Remember you only have 54 hours). Sidenote: Might I suggest you list and assign tasks Friday night? That way, first thing Saturday morning you’re able to get right to work.

4. Focus and Pivot as Needed, Please. You’re going to be very tempted to want to include all the bells and whistles for your product/service or even attempt to roll out marketing strategies. While they may prove to be critical if you pursue your idea beyond the weekend, they might not be a priority for the Sunday presentation. Think about if your product/service is actually solving the problem. Be Honest. For us, the numbers on both a customer side and business profit side signaled for us to pivot to just an In-Home HIV test subscription plan (originally, I wanted to include In-Home gonorrhea and chlamydia tests in the plan package). Why? It was just more focused that way. Disclaimer: You are being judged on execution, the business model, and customer validation. You have 54 hours. Focus, focus, focus. Oh and did I mention focus?

Photo Credit Gustavo da Cunha Pimenta

5. Go Ahead and Flirt A Little. There are coaches there to help you, seriously. Find and schmooze with one. If you’re lucky they may even align with your vision and have a personal interest in your idea. They can give you valuable feedback, save you some time and energy on developing something you really don’t need, and give you an idea that you yourself may not have even thought of. Cheers to John Beadle, your input was invaluable.

6. Use the Crowd Wisely. One of the three main things you are judged on is customer validation a.k.a do people actually want to use your product/service? There a few ways to achieve this either through online surveys, launching a google Adwords campaign (unless you have some high rollers on your team, I wouldn’t suggest it because it’s very expensive and again you only have 54 hours) social shares using facebook or twitter, or more importantly the number of “sign ups” or product sales (nothing beats this) you have by Sunday at 5pm. While we used some of these, you have a room of at least 50+ people. Use them.

This is how I worked it in. When 2 female mentors and 1 female StartUp Weekend volunteer came around and asked if we had any questions. I responded by saying, “Yes, in fact, would you be willing to be interviewed about your STD testing experience?” (I prefaced it by saying let me know if you’re not comfortable sharing to avoid offending anyone). Why? Because their sole purpose of being there is to help and women tend to be more open about this topic than men. I then asked one of the females who I interviewed if she would be willing to go around the room for me and ask if anyone else would be willing to share their experience. Not only did this save me recruiting time but she was able to assure them it’s not as uncomfortable and awkward as they may have originally thought. After all, she had already done it! Think of it this way, it was an easy way to create a little crowd buy-in, make it personal, and we even quoted some in our final pitch.

7. Visualize Your Presentation. Literally. No one likes reading slides. No one likes lots of words. Most of us have the attention span of a gnat. Use visuals for your powerpoint presentation but use them strategically so that you not only paint the picture that there is problem but effectively communicate to the crowd that your product is the solution to the problem.

8. Perfect Practice Makes Perfect. We turned Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 Rule into 5/5/30 to keep the final pitch engaging and focused. Learn it. Use it. Love it. More importantly, saddle down a coach to listen to your final pitch to make sure you’re hitting the points they’re looking. For your final pitch, present it in such a way that you tell a story and create a sense of urgency to engage the audience. Make it clear that there’s a market for your product/service, show that people want to use it, that your idea is better, and oh yea that it can make money.  Now, practice it a hundred times. (or as much as time will allow).

One last thought: Drink the beer. Don’t take yourself too seriously. And have fun.  

What have you learned from Startup Weekend?

Megan Mokri, Napoleon Valdez, Derek Ward, Manny Fernandez, Alyssa Mompoint, Max Olson

Special thanks to the team, we won this together!

The top 20 finalists will be invited to attend the summit, participate in discussion salons lead by prominent players in the funding and entrepreneurship space, and network with investors and industry experts. The top 5 will be invited to pitch at the summit. Deadline June 1^st!

To learn more and to apply, click here.

Qualification Criteria:

• An innovative product or offering in a high-growth sector such as Technology, Life Science, Clean Tech, or, in certain circumstances, high-growth Consumer products or services
• A high-growth investment opportunity – at any stage of growth
• An exceptional team, product, and business strategy
• A significant global market opportunity with initial customer traction or feedback
• A defendable competitive advantage
• At least one woman in a leadership role (at C level) or in significant position of equity or influence

Click here to see videos about the Global Pitch Competition from The Next Women CEO Simone Brummelhuis, Catherine Berman of Astia, and more.

Katie Nittler at a previous We Own It Summit

 More about the We Own It Summit: 

The We Own It Summit convenes visionaries, thought-leaders, idea generators, game-changers and disrupters to identify paths of success for women high-growth entrepreneurs: from women’s access to capital, to women’s participation on boards, to the full participation of women as investors. The summit is open to men and women, entrepreneurs, investors, academics, policy-makers and will take place on June 27th and 28th in London.

Register at: www.weownitsummit.org

The two day event includes salon-style discussions leading to actionable plans to make 2010 – 2020 the decade of the woman entrepreneur. Keynotes and panels of exceptional risk takers draw the larger funding and entrepreneurial eco-system into the conversation. A Global Pitch Competition highlights the most promising women-led high-growth companies, while the Awards Dinner celebrates great achievements in venture capital investment in women-led companies. The 2013 We Own It Summit boasts an exceptional opportunity to connect with investors, entrepreneurs, and industry luminaries such as Helena Morrissey, Ruth Owades, Nicola Horlick, and many more. Full summit passes as well as a la carte tickets available. To learn more visit: www.weownitsummit.org

One of our primary goals is to ensure that we not only draw a dynamic range of participants  (Developers, Designers, and Business), but also to make sure that they are supported and encouraged throughout the weekend, regardless of their skill set or background.  We believe that a more balanced judging criteria will also highlight the technical, non-tech, and design aspects that are critical to a successful, dynamic team.  After testing the new criteria out at several events this year, we’re confident it will boost the overall impact of events and help to better guide teams as they consider the different areas they should be focusing on in the hectic 54-hour time frame.

The new criteria is split into four parts:

1. Business Model
   Can this idea make money? Is there positive customer growth or revenue? Is there a customer acquisition / rollout strategy? Has a revenue model been defined and is it realistic? Is the idea/team ready for capital and execution? Would you invest in this company at this point?
2. Customer Validation
   Did the team identify customers (demographic, location etc)? Did the team get out and talk to customers? What is the value proposition to customers? What channels of communication are used? Product/Market fit?
3. Technical – Execution
   Is there a functional product (e.g.in the case of an app, did they build one)? Were architecture diagrams and API signatures included? Which services did they integrate with? How much of the product is running on a real server with non-sample data?
4. Design – Execution
   Does it have a professional look and feel? Does it deliver a compelling and captivating user experience? Is it memorable? What key insights were gathered over the weekend to go in this creative direction?

As always, we welcome your feedback. Please feel free to leave us a comment or email us at support@startupweekend.org with any feedback, questions, or concerns.

Anderson: “Hone in on passionate niches of early adopters.” 

Conley: “Start small to catch mistakes fast and save money.” 

Free: “The only way to test the market is to actually test the market.” 

Gansky: “Set aside time to fully understand your business before launch.” 

Gittins: “Look for three assumptions to validate.” 

Green: “For cause-based organizations, motivate people by creating relationships with them and leading
by example.” 

Hoffman: “To get a head start, launch an idea before it sounds like an obvious solution.” 

Massoumi: “Start by understanding your end user.” 

Ressi: “Put as little money into an early company as possible, until you’re sure it can survive on its own.” 

Stewart: “Look for data to make predictions, then listen to feedback from the customer.” 

Jay Walker, founder of Walker Digital and Priceline: “Don’t only talk to people who are your target
customers, but other people, too – they may have unique insights.” 

In August of 2010, I started my first company as a junior in high school, called Biking Billboards. As a 16-year old kid, I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I knew I saw an opportunity, and I wanted to make something of it. Three years later, Biking Billboards is a major player in the advertising market in Seattle, and our reach extends to Portland, Park City and Austin. This experiment that interested me in 2010 was made a reality because of 2 things: myself, and my mother Andrea.

Biking Billboards started because my mom, Andrea Lieberman, needed to advertise for The Verdeaux, a condominium unit in the area, and was having trouble accessing her target market. One day, while driving by a local concert series, my mom rolled down her window and almost yelled, “Check out the Verdeaux Condos!” Of course my mother yelling from her car about these condos didn’t seem to be the most effective way to get the attention of these people. Our efforts to hire pedi-cab drivers to advertise hadn’t worked, so I proposed my own services. I built an A-frame sign out of plywood, cut apart our old Burley trailer, and mounted my homemade creation, complete with Verdeaux posters on either side.

What happened next was what inspired the start of our company. As I towed my makeshift design down the street, people commented and exclaimed how cool of a technique this bicycle advertising was. I must have gotten 15 people asking me how they could advertise on the back of my bike. We formed an LLC, and Biking Billboards was born.

Working on a company with my mother has been an interesting experience. Initially, I was afraid that the mother-son dynamic would take away from the legitimacy of our mission, but that proved to be the opposite: people were intrigued by what we were doing, and the family business turned out to be a talking point with new clients.

As we continued growing, Andrea and I shared the selling process and I recruited my friends to ride with me, even through Seattle’s cold winter months (which consists of 65% of the year). During this time, we developed our secret sauce: the Brand Ambassador. Our riders were a human extension of our clients; we could be their brand and directly interact with their customers. Through this process of discovery, we were able to solidify our own brand, and grow more effectively as a company. As I moved into my senior year and college applications, my mom took a firmer grasp of the reins and kept the momentum and energy behind the company, allowing me to focus.

This past year I’ve had the opportunity to take a gap year before attending university. I spent the fall working at TechStars Seattle, a local tech accelerator program, then moved onto Startup Weekend when the TechStars session wrapped up. I’ve gotten to live, learn, watch, and even help instruct some of the startups I’ve been around. I’ve seen over a hundred of companies start, dozens of companies fail, and several succeed big time (relatively). This experience has given me some perspective that I’m able to bring back to Biking Billboards, and implement some of what I’ve seen into our growth strategy.

Startup Weekend’s mission is to democratize entrepreneurship, by making the process, the tools and resources, and the network abundantly available in every community. I’ve been so inspired by this movement that I brought my mom to an event last fall, where she got to go through the motions of starting a company again, but with a new context, a new team, and a new idea. While working in one place, you can get caught up in details that can limit your view of the larger goal. At a Startup Weekend, even serial entrepreneurs with a lot of experience can learn and benefit from a new start.

Starting a company is an exciting venture that really ANYONE can do. It takes a team: people who work well together, an idea: something that has market validation, and a common motivation to make it happen. I’m proud to have started a company with my mom, who continues to push it forward and include me in the process. Happy Mothers’ Day!

Encouraging Female Entrepreneurs: One Event’s Unique Approach– Huffington Post

On April 18-20, Startup Weekend held its first 100% women Startup Weekend event with all women participants, coaches, organizers, and facilitators. In the Huffington Post, facilitator  Marion Desmazières  discusses some of the issues the team explored while preparing the event: was segregation the right move and would women be drawn to it? She also writes of the results and impact the event had on the women. To read more, click on this link for the article. 

Competitions for Startup Entrepreneurs:

This week, we tweeted about a number of upcoming competitions and events that are excellent opportunities for entrepreneurs:

We Own It Summit, London, UK: A summit of leaders to explore women’s participation in high-growth businesses and identify solutions to move us forward. Event takes place from June 27th to 28th.

White House Champions of Change, Washington D.C.: Now taking applications for outstanding immigrant inventors and entrepreneurs to be honored at the White House. Nomination deadline: May 12th,

SXSW 2013 V2Venture, Las Vegas, NV: Two-day pitch event helping participants polish their elevator pitches, build brand awareness, and receive media exposire. Application deadline: May 31st. Event takes place from April 13th to 14th.

We’re Hiring:

Startup Weekend is currently hiring for a world-class Lead Designer and Web Developer. Want to apply or let someone else know about the opportunity? Please visit us on our jobs page.

The two-day SXSW V2Venture pitch event takes place August 13 and 14 at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, NV. As a part of the event, participants work on improving their product launch, attracting venture capitalists, and polishing their elevator pitch. At the event, participants will receive media exposure, build brand awareness, network, socialize, and experience all that SXSW V2V has to offer.

All SXSW V2Venture 2013 applications must fall within one of the following categories:

Education Technologies

The Education Technology category highlights applications and technologies designed to make all forms of education more accessible to a wider range of people, and bring students and teachers closer together.

Health Technologies

The Health Technologies category focuses on patient-centric health applications and technologies that connect patients, families, physicians, pharmacists, care providers (hospitals, clinics), and benefit providers to share timely, relevant health data, and drive better outcomes at affordable and sustainable cost levels.

Mobile and Tablet Technologies

The Mobile and Tablet Technologies category encompasses mobile applications and technologies which allow users to connect by portable devices such as tablets, phones, and other connected devices.

Culture and Entertainment Technologies

The Culture and Entertainment category includes applications and technologies for music, gaming, film, television, and digital storytelling, as well as new and hybrid forms of entertainment that are reinventing the ways in which we relax, unwind, and have fun. This category could also contain technologies that focus on other cultural sectors, such as sports, fashion and food, as they pertain to entertainment.

Innovative World Technologies

The Innovative World Technologies category includes applications and technologies that have the ambition to change the world as we know it. Right now we’re seeing lots of innovation in green tech, real-time search, augmented reality, the World Wide Web, artificial intelligence and the Semantic Web, recommendations technologies, personalization technologies, and “big data”.

The deadline to register is Friday, May 31st. Visit the V2Venture website to find out more and apply today!