WhipCount lobbying tool wins Startup Weekend Delaware

An internal tool called WhipCount that tracks how those in public office will likely vote on legislation won top billing at the second Startup Weekend Delaware.

Part of a Global Startup Weekend Battle, 10 teams pitched ideas Sunday night to a room of more than 70 people inside the coIN Loft coworking space on Wilmington’s Market Street after 54 hours of meeting, idea generation and development.

The idea of the events, which happen around the world, are simple: bring down the barriers to entry to conceiving of a potential business idea and launching it. The event includes a curated group of technologists, designers and subject matter experts. After the weekend, the teams presented to a team of judges, including Artisan CEO Bob Moul.

This event was organized by Start It Up Delaware and its managing director Mona Parikh.

The winning team’s idea was led by Wilmington attorney Brenda Mayrack. Below, all the presenting projects.

1. Whip Count (first place) — Internal tool for legislative and lobbying teams to crowd source understanding of legislator support for bills. in development
2. Stitchd (second place)  — collaborative video compilations @stitchdco it could be a thread of Facebook comments via Vine. 99 cents download or $10 for subscription for unlimited d/ls
3. My Interests (third place) — Curated suggestions for things to do.
4. Block Army — A crowdsourced tool to connect neighbors to better communities.
5. Ugly Outfitters — A playful site to blind purchase ugly sweaters, which was developed independently by Brad Wason, who also worked on the Block Army project and delivered two very high-energy presentations.
6. Projected U — A hardware-software solution to display advertisements in a closed network, focused on college campuses.
7. Emedtrics — Ancestry.com for family medical history, though the app not developed during the weekend.
8. Thread — A project management tool that bills itself as simpler than Basecamp.
9. Share Your Plate — Using affiliate sales and donations like ridesharing tool Lyft, the effort aims to match make meals and guests, in a way that Couchsurfing does for travelers. To launch, the team wants to focus on international students seeking places to enjoy holiday meals.
10. Project Gradan Muni Labs  — A cloud collaborative brainstorming and prioritization tool, leveraging touch screens and digital sticky notes to prioritize.

The Wilmington News Journal also covered the event, as found here.