MANILA, Philippines - Almost 300 Filipino developers, designers, and technopreneurs showcased genuine talent and creativity in developing fresh and novel ideas that can be turned into real, viable businesses during the first-ever Startup Weekend Manila held at the Meridian International (MINT) College in Fort Bonifacio.
Participants immersed themselves in the three-day, 54-hour event where they shared ideas, formed teams, and built potential startup businesses. On the first day, the participants pitched their respective startup ideas, ranging from an online learning tool, a hub for music addicts, a platform for hobbyists, an internet application for farmers, a mobile application that tells you which among the nearby gas stations offer the most affordable fuel prices, and the list goes on.
More than 60 unique ideas were pitched on the first day. A total of 27 ideas were voted top ones by the participants on the first night. On the second day, teams got dirty and went into the nitty-gritty details of their ideas and started building product prototypes with the help of their respective mentors. On the last day, teams presented their ideas in the form of a short pitch with a panel of judges evaluating their proposals to determine the winners.
In the end, it was HobbyMash that was proclaimed as Startup Weekend Manila winner. HobbyMash is a social network that connects people according to hobby and location, and allows them to meet up, create groups, collaborate on projects or show off their collections. Meaningful communities are built by interacting and sharing skills with other hobbyists. HobbyMash will receive S$15,000 to help fund their startup project and will participate in the JFDI-SingTel Innov8 Bootcamp in Singapore from January to April 2012, where they will be part of intensive product development training sessions for 100 days together with Startup Weekend teams from Australia, India, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.
Startup Weekend is one of the most successful start-up accelerator programs from the United States. The concept quickly became a global movement to generate breakthrough ideas in communities all over the world, taking digital start-ups businesses from ideas to investment readiness through intensive mentoring from industry experts and access to mobile markets and investors across Asia.
Veteran technopreneurs from Proudcloud, Dynamic Objx, Gangplank Tucson & Bookmans, Huwego and MINT College joined forces with Globe Telecom and Microsoft Bizspark in launching Startup Weekend in the Philippines. Lending strong support for the event are Singapore-based partners Singtel Innov8, the corporate venture arm of the SingTel group, and Joyful Frog Digital Incubator (JFDI), a business accelerator and member of the international Techstars Network.
“Startup Weekend Manila was indeed a celebration of Filipino innovation. The response of developers, designers, and aspiring entrepreneurs to the first-ever Startup Weekend in the Philippines was amazing, and Globe is pleased to have been instrumental in building the startup community in the country,” said Minette Navarrete, Globe Head for New Business. “There was so much talent, passion and a genuine drive to make things happen. HobbyMash is a great example: they listened intently to the mentors, and incorporated lots of the pointers in their final pitch. We think they will gain a lot from the seed funding and 100-day bootcamp in Singapore, to turn their pitch into a real live business, real soon.”