Giving up a weekend to do more work may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but for keen entrepreneurs there’s nothing better than spending your free time developing a brand new business. For the second year in a row, we sponsored and supported Nottingham's Startup Weekend: one of hundreds of global events created to link minds and develop fledgling businesses in just a few hours.

By the time we arrived on Friday, the venue was already buzzing with excited participants eager to get started. Around thirty people from all ages and backgrounds, from students to established business owners looking for a new venture, were there to start – or continue – their entrepreneurial journey. After providing the pizza, beer, and goody bags, we settled down to business with a short introduction and explanation about how it all works.

After that, it was time for people to present their business ideas. Anyone in the room with an idea had the opportunity to pitch it to the group. All pitchers then amalgamated at the back of the room to express their idea on a sheet of paper, and everyone voted on their favourites.

From there, five groups (businesses!) were formed:

EduHop – An education-based learning app offering “quick and quirky” learning through flashcards and social interaction.

Ratio – An app designed to reduce food waste by helping you stay on top of what food you have in the fridge, when it expires, and offering recipe suggestions and extra ingredients.  

PartnerPitch – A website for entrepreneurs to find like-minded individuals with the skillsets they need to create and grow their startups.

Metamorph – Improving confidence, public speaking and personal development for companies and individuals through ‘face-to-face’ online channels and instant personal feedback.

Spark Nation – Designed to allow anyone to vote on social policy issues, Spark Nation plans to expand so anyone can help influence governments worldwide.

As you can see from the above links, it’s amazing what can be achieved in such a short space of time. In addition to focus groups, public surveys, business models, defined revenue streams as well as functioning websites and prototypes and their business presentations, a whole lot of team-building went on. That every group achieved so much in so few hours is nothing short of inspirational.

On Sunday evening, the groups presented their work and businesses to the five judges, who were all local entrepreneurs and CEOs, including our very own director Craig Cotter.

After much deliberation, the judges took to the stage to announce the first, second and third places:

Huge congratulations to Eduhop, who came in first place!  We’ve provided a year’s free hosting to help them get started, and they were also the recipients of other excellent prizes, including virtual office space, a venue for their launch, and much more. All the groups worked incredibly hard though, and they were all strong business ideas that we hope they’ll continue with in one form or another.

Following a debrief and a quick catch up with all the attendees, organisers, coaches and helpers, it was time to say goodbye to everyone for another year. We'd like to thank everyone who works so hard to make this event happen year after year; it's invaluable to the community and it's definitely worth checking if there's one near you.

We wish all the groups the best of luck with their businesses, and look forward to seeing what people come up with in 2015!

Check out the rest of our photos from the event on Flickr.