Auckland Startup Weekend #AKLSW April 1-3

I want to call out what an awesome job Mike did with NZ’s first Startup Weekend #AKLSW. He was there for the entire 54 hours over the weekend and helped deliver a killer event. The event was sponsored by Microsoft and the ecentre in part to build awareness for https://bizspark.com and startups in NZ. The event was organized by Mike, Jason Armishaw, Yvonne McLaren (Valentine Addis - Venture catalyst) and Nick Shewring (The Biz Dojo).

I spent some time at the event as a mentor on Sat afternoon (where I shot a short video) and again on Sun evening for the pitches. I was impressed with the energy and quality of the teams taking part.

clip_image002h14znw.jpg

I was particularly impressed with https://taxisurfer.com @TaxiSurfer (who took out the competition), hat tip to Keith who ensured that the backend was .NET and REST not SOAP services.

It was also great to finally meet the @TouchManiacs guys who teamed up with @Nigelsampson to build the .NET MVC site and WP7 app for Hotspot who placed 3rd at the event. Check out their video!

Jason Armishaw was on AMI Business at 6:20am this morning talking about the outcomes from the event (watch the clip) also 90seconds.tv were filming the finale so look out for their clip from the event.