This September, several Georgia Tech students shook off the cobbwebs of summer and launched into the challenge of the Alpha Kappa Psi 3 Day Startup. 35 participants, selected from a pool of 150 applicants, were immersed in learning about entrepreneurship. It was the perfect setting for students to tap into their inner entrepreneur – polishing their ideas into actual businesses.
“We love that this program is being run by entrepreneurs and for entrepreneurs, while leveraging the resources of Georgia Tech,” said Kyle Porter, CEO and Founder of SalesLoft in a recent Hypepotamus feature about his sponsorship of the event. “We’ve also witnessed first-hand the great entrepreneurs this program has put out into the startup community and were compelled to help them however we could.”
3 Day Startup kicked off with students working in teams to create their own business plans and testing their ideas with target customers. These customers were found by hitting Atlanta’s pavement and collecting feedback to refine their business plans. At the end of the weekend, teams pitched their final product to a panel of investors and industry experts who selected the top two winners.
Spaceship, the “Airbnb for storage,” claimed first with an app that proposes an out-of-the-box approach on storage problems. Rather than keeping extra belongings in dirty, questionable locations, Spaceship would help users find nearby storage that is clean and easy to find with the mere click of a button.
The Jam! snagged second with their app incentivizing kids to form good habits. Parents could use the app to assign tasks and chores, awarding points to their kids if they are completed on time. Once goals are reached, parents can merit their kids with cash – a positive incentive to keep up the good work (and the secret to parents having the cleanest homes ever).
Businesses aside, students walked away as entrepreneurs with the skills to propel them into the startup world. Summed up by Indra Sofian, the student marketing guru for the event, “People arrive at 3 Day Startup wanting to start their own companies, and they leave wanting to change the world.”
