As a tech company based in Perth, Western Australia, that has been through the start-up phase (and came out unscathed 😉), when we were asked about sponsoring the Perth Techstars Startup Weekend, we jumped at the chance. It’s time to give back we thought.
It was our first time sponsoring an event like this and it’s fair to say we made the most of it. The ClickSend team were around the whole weekend helping the mentors out, holding some fun, quick competitions that involved snacks and even helping some teams out with our knowledge of tech and startups.
We also went above and beyond on Friday night by making extra sure all wine bottles were empty before being put into recycling. 🍾
Enjoy our wrap up below, but it was a pleasure to be there and support the weekend alongside The City Of Perth, Skills Of The Modern Age and Bloom WA.
And like a bunch of Arnie Terminators would say ‘We’ll be back’.
The Techstars Startup Weekend itself is a fast paced, hackathon style event over 54 hours, where anyone can come and pitch their idea, create a business model, prototype, design and perform market validation alongside a supportive team of mentors. Not just for web developers or coders, these events attract people from all professions and from diverse backgrounds. Located in the heart of the city, in a stylish coworking space called Riff by Spacecubed, the Startup Weekend provided a safe place for bright minds to get creative and solve real problems, all while being well-fed and continually caffeinated (if desired).
The weekend kicked off on Friday evening with a welcome dinner and a few speeches, including one from our very own MarketingMark™️.
After speeches, participants got to pitch the ideas they wanted to work on and formed teams to compete for cool prizes like tacos with Matt the Founder, entry into some amazing programs, bar vouchers, taco vouchers and the glory of winning of course!
After an exciting first night, teams returned first thing on Saturday to start work on their ideas accompanied by a team of mentors. Early into the afternoon, when attention was waning, we thought teams were in need of some extra energy. Cue our #SnackSend activity.
Teams were to send a message to our dedicated number to order their snacks. Almost immediately they would receive a call letting them know how to collect their Snack Basket.
The activities were then rounded out with a game of group paper-scissors-rock with the winner also getting their own basket of goodies.
Teams spent all of Sunday morning and early afternoon in a flurry of activity, putting final touches on their projects before judging. In total, between the teams there were 53 different ‘pivots’ across the weekend, where teams changed fundamental parts of their idea from the original.
The panel of judges included our own Matt the Founder, Jennifer Reyes of VROC Artificial Intelligence and Leisa Aitken at the Department of Education Western Australia.
Winner: Locum Local
Congratulations to Locum Local, the winners of the ClickSend prize including $1000 credit, tacos with Matt the Founder and creation of a professional go to market plan with MarketingMark.
Using the ClickSend SMS API, Locum Local plans to revolutionise the pharmacy industry by providing a simple way to reach pharmacists on demand to cover shifts, in case of illness or emergency.
Honourable Mention: Arrive Alive
Using the ClickSend MMS API and text-to-speech voice calling, to reduce fatalities from driver fatigue in commercial businesses.
Check out some of the pictures from the weekend.
Thank you to the Techstars team for inviting us to join in on a fun, informative and creative weekend. If you have an amazing solution to a problem that can be solved with the ClickSend API or an SMS gateway, we’d love to hear it. Try out our SMS platform, or contact us today.