RTP Startup Weekend produces not one but four new ventures

RALEIGH, N.C. – Creativity unleashed is a wonderful thing. Just ask the organizers of “RTP Startup Weekend.”
When organizers and about 40 other people launched the event Friday evening the stated goal was to produce one working company concept in 54 hours of brainstorming. So what happened once the interaction started? The group came up with FOUR ventures. As promised, the event produced “pure entrepreneurial adrenalin.”

By Sunday night when an exhausted but exuberant group left for home, the companies complete with web sites and promo videos were online. Participants paid a whopping $40 to be part of the action. How often can someone start a company for that little?

Here’s the list and how the organizers describe them:

• Bars for Us (http://barsforus.com) “is an online resource that takes the guesswork out of finding great bars in Raleigh. It also lists drinks, games, food and tourist attractions.”

• DealCastr (http://dealcastr.com) “is an online service that allows subscribers to announce and to take advantage of special deals For example, local businesses have items that they want to get rid of - quickly – such as hockey tickets for tonight's game. Tomorrow, they're worth nothing. How much is the value of these tickets – just hours before the game? Choose the deal you want and DealCastr sends the deal to your mobile phone or e-mail address. The only way to find out about these special deals is with DealCastr.”

• My Fries Suck (http://myfriessuck.com) “is a consumer-based, text-messaging mobile application for customers to report instantly if their food was good or well, sucks. The data is aggregated and it can be purchased by restaurants through a subscription-based model.”

• Scavenja (http://scavenja.com) “is a real world, photo-based scavenger hunt. Time-limited games challenge players to complete thematically connected goals. Players post photographs to document completed goals and goals are awarded points based on difficulty level.”

Entrepreneur Chris Rader brought the idea for DealCastr to the Startup event and went home with what he believes is a viable product.

"This is a company that I've wanted to build for a year now and have made attempts at it and didn't exactly know how to go about it," said Rader, who is already touting DealCastr with a YouTube video. "It's fortunate that the group decided that DealCastr was a viable business that they think would be fun to work on."

Jeff Cohen had the idea for My Fries Suck and took advantage of Startup to work with participating programmers to put flesh and code on his skeleton of an idea.

"RTP Startup Weekend enhanced my entrepreneurial spirit in many ways," Cohen explained through the organizers. "Through working with a team, I was able to support the new business and hone in the fine details. It is exciting to be a marketing person working with a team of six programmers, who divided the workload and finished it. I had provided strategy about how to market the company."