PennApps Accelerator is searching for college startups to join its 2nd class

The PennApps hackathon is a 48-hour sprint — and when it’s over, the hacking ends for most students. The PennApps Executive Board wants to change that.

This year, the group that runs PennApps will launch the second class of the PennApps Accelerator, an eight-week program for students who are serious about turning their MVP (that’s minimum viable product, to the uninitiated) into a viable business.

This year also marks the first time that PennApps is reaching out beyond the Penn community for members. Ian Sibner, one of two lead organizers of the Accelerator says they’re accepting applications from Temple and Drexel University students.

With the accelerator, the PennApps Executive Board aims to identify and support the technical talent on college campuses.

In order to help the teams chosen, the Accelerator offers each team $1,000 cash (“We don’t take any equity,” said Sibner) and weekly round-table meetings with like-minded student entrepreneurs — as well as access to guest speakers, and at the end of the eight weeks, the opportunity to get in front of angel investors and pitch.

Sibner said they’re looking to take five teams — same as last year.

Here’s a list of the start-up teams that did the Accelerator last year:

• Juke, an “SMS-powered jukebox”
• Life Patch, a “”non-invasive, real-time temperature monitoring system”
• LoudCrowd, a real-time feedback tool for the classroom
• Noteriety, which lets students buy and sell class notes 
• Red Cup, a party-finding mobile app