Taking place for the first time in Cork, Startup Weekend has proven to be an outstanding success in Ireland. The global entrepreneurial movement, Startup Weekend powered by the Kauffman Foundation, brought together successful entrepreneurs and mentors with over 65 ‘ideas’ people from all over Ireland and the UK, and created a hothouse for business development in Western Gateway UCC at the weekend. “Bringing aspiring entrepreneurs with technical skills and ideas together with mentors and entrepreneurs with other business skills really works! On Friday, we heard almost 40 pitches with many unique and incredible concepts and over an intensive 54 hours, with the right support and environment, we now have a winning new startup company”, said Will Martin, event organiser and founder of LiveDuel.com.

The winning startup, Task Me Now, developed their business strategy for mobile apps that enable businesses to avail of crowdsourcing opportunities. Their first app, BrainCredit, allows managers and business owners to complete specific advanced tasks using the ‘knowledge sourcing’ app without additional recruitment costs and on-boarding time.“Our solution matches the knowledge a business requires with exactly the right skills and experts through the BrainCredit app” explains founder, Robin Yearsley, who travelled with co-founder Martin Horton from the UK, to participate in Startup Weekend in Ireland.
“We deliberately chose to come to Startup Weekend Cork as we know the entrepreneurial culture here is very vibrant, and there is a real emphasis on technical skills and technology with so many leading ICT companies in the Region”.
“We saw a real focus on apps and technology products over the weekend, which was really very exciting. Real credit is due to those who brought their ideas here, and particularly to the entrepreneurs and business community who gave their time freely this weekend to ensure that market and customer insights, as well as business knowledge, was available to the start ups”, commented Siobhan Finn, Cork Innovates.

The judges for the Startup weekend were wowed by the calibre of entrepreneurial talent at Startup Weekend Cork. Gareth Keane, Investment Manager at Qualcomm Ventures, Sean O' Sullivan, CEO Avego, Pat Phelan, CEO Trustev and Eamon Leonard, VP Engineering at Engine Yard had a tough job selecting the winning Startup indeed.

Pat Phelan, CEO Trustev said, “The quality of entrants went beyond what I expected, any one of the finalists could build a very successful business and all this in a weekend”.

The organising committee of Cork Startup Weekend included Will Martin, LiveDuel.com, Jayne Ronayne of UrYearBook.com, Peter Finnegan, Rubicon Centre, Ronan O’Dubhghaill, IGNITE, Ernest Cantillon, Electric and Siobhan Finn of Cork Innovates among others. Startup Weekends take place all over the world almost every weekend. See www.startupweekend.org if you are interested in getting involved in upcoming startup weekend activities