Innovating 54 hours for the Wellbeing of our community
It is a wrap for Startup Weekend Tauranga 2021! This was the 10th year that this 54-hour entrepreneurial event over a weekend happened in Tauranga. This year’s theme was wellbeing which meant the participants were focused on enhancing and improving the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of our community. The event had 55 participants and 16 mentors from all over the country. They tackled wellbeing issues that ranged from increasing housing supply to reducing carbon emissions to fostering real life connections.
The event started on Friday night with a bang where people stood outside of their comfort zones and grabbed the mic to pitch their ideas. We heard 25 pitches and 9 teams were then formed.
On Saturday, the teams went out on the streets, talked on the phones, even visited a farm to validate their problem areas and to test the viability, useability and feasibility of their solution ideas.
Sunday was pitch day so teams were busy preparing for their pitches and sharpening their business models. All nine teams made it to the finish line and pitched in front of a panel of judges. The judges for this year were Natalie Bridges, founder of BlinkPR, Nada Piatek, founder of Again Again and Liam Dickson, investor at 3D Capital and chairman of Good Neighbour.
It was an emotional roller coaster ride for the participants over the weekend, from excitement to confusion to chaos to clarity and strength on the final night.
Meet this year's facilitators
Katherine Blaney & Ryan Walker
Meet the amazing crew of mentors!
Mentor team: Georgina Milne, Aaron Ross, Aidan Lett, Wayne Kingi, Peter
Randrup, Georgia McConnon, Debs Hancock, Laura Kerrison, Jo Allum, Cain
Kerehoma, Chloe Wickman, Tim Hawkey, Jen-Lin Wong, Alexandre Veija, Dan
Crowe, Ngarangi Walker
An overview of the teams that participated in #TGASW21
WINNER - Rimurimu Tangata Toa (SEAWEED WARRIORS):
Saving the New Zealand dairy industry & the planet
Environmental wellbeing, economic wellbeing
2ND PLACE _ HERE.NOW:
Creating real life connections. Stop scrolling and start strolling.
Mental wellbeing, social wellbeing
3RD PLACE _ NO WAY:
A platform providing safe and accurate information about sex.
Physical wellbeing, mental wellbeing, family wellbeing
GREEN STAGE:
Making green spaces easy through DIY kits
Environmental wellbeing
SPEED OF LIGHT:
Changing driver's behaviours, saving lives.
Physical wellbeing, social wellbeing
UNCHARTED:
Helping retired people find their purpose in life
Mental wellbeing, social wellbeing
KAI TAHI NZ - EAT AS ONE:
Connecting people with dietary restrictions to home-cooked meals from their community.
Physical wellbeing, social wellbeing
BONAFIDE:
Sustainably reduce NZ carbons emission in line with global standards and targets.
Environmental wellbeing
HONORABLE MENTION- WHAKAMANA NGĀ TANGATA:
Empowering people through sustainable practices
Environmental wellbeing, addressing housing
Here is what a few participants had to say about their experience
"It was nothing like I've ever experienced before. It was stressful, emotional and exhausting but I would do it all again in a heartbeat."
“What can I say, 54 hours to challenge the brain and body!”
“I've been working for corporate companies all my life and I never had my own business, but I dream of leaving and following my heart and hopefully having my own business. My intention was to start learning a new kind of mindset, a new framework I can use to validate my ideas, prepare business plans etc. I learnt about the power of collaboration and I have realised skills/strength of my own that I was not aware of before. I feel that the experience will have ripple effects on my being for the coming weeks and months...I will be back for sure. Many thanks!”
Lead organiser and Co-Founder of Venture Centre Pascale Hyboud-Peron expressed her heartfelt thanks to “all who stood up and participated in the challenge, to all the mentors who gave time, love and support, to the facilitators, organisers and content creators who made this event a success. Thanks to our local kombucha maker GoodBuzz for supplying us with drinks and last but not least, to our sponsors, we couldn’t have done it without you - Priority One, Enterprise Angels, Mackenzie Elvin Law, Basestation and Bluelab.”
Written by the Startup Weekend Tauranga Team: Suki Xiao, Emelie Verseput, Nila Lleshaj, Pascale Hyboud-Peron, Sherilyn Horne, Courtney Cawte, Steven Vincent
