Last weekend we had the pleasure of sponsoring and attending Startup Weekend Nottingham on behalf of the fantastic Creative Quarter. The general concept is that you form small teams and set up a business in just 54 hours – no easy task! But it’s truly astonishing what can be done with a group of motivated people, an idea, and an endless supply of caffeine.

We arrived early to get set up for tweeting the event, but it wasn’t long before delegates started appearing and it was time to get down to business. After an introduction by Matthieu Triay, the organiser, and a speech from Adam Bird (founder of One Diary and head judge), anyone with a business idea was welcome to step up and pitch.

There were all kinds of ideas, ranging from improved water treatment in developing countries to “Squirrel Ecstasy” (a nut-based healthier alternative to crisps). After everyone had pitched, it was time to vote on the best ideas. The top five or six were put through to the development stage, and everyone formed small teams and got to work.

The final businesses were:

Phused – easy phone number forwarding, in a similar way to how email addresses work, so you can have multiple numbers on one device and have cheap ‘throwaway’ numbers for posting on listings sites, dating websites etc.

Vacancy Hunter – an app for notifications about job vacancies when you’re in close proximity to them. See vacancies plotted on a map, and apply quickly and easily.

EVIED – an academic system designed to make marking and results tracking and predicting much more practical and efficient for teachers.

Break Club – a stress-relief form of entertainment involving smashing things up. Feel like a rock star and destroy a hotel room with a guitar, or take advantage of the pop up mobile version for smaller scale destruction.

Photo Wed – a photo collation service primarily for weddings, but also for other events. Guests use the app to upload the photos to one place so everyone can access them easily and don’t have to manually round them up.

Maji Safi – a water filtration service to improve access to clean water in developing countries and make collection more efficient.

The teams had from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon to put together a business model, plan, five minute presentation, and anything visual they could come up with to represent their company and idea. Coaches were on hand to help throughout, including Second Wednesday organiser Chris, and the first round of feedback on Sunday ensured the teams received further valuable advice to tighten up their propositions. Hours of debates, adjustments, planning, researching, documenting and coding later, there were six fledgling businesses ready for their final presentations in front of the judges.

After an anxious wait, it was time to hear the results. The winning business was Vacancy Hunter, with runners-up of Break Club and Photo Wed! Everyone who took part did an amazing job, and we didn't envy the judges their decision because from our perspective, it was far too close to call!

All the teams were unstoppably energetic and enthusiastic, and the initial excitement was sustained across the weekend; it was a fantastic event to be part of, and we were honoured to attend and help out in addition to providing free hosting for the winners. There are Startup Weekends happening all over the world, so if you’d like to find out more, check out their website. You can also take a look at the rest of our photos from the event on Flickr.