"54 hours of work in 3 days, a lot of research, coffee, pizza, and conceptualization" is how Sage GMD student, Leo Valenchis, described his participation in Tech Valley Startup Weekend the first weekend in March. The event's premise is to bring people with different skill sets together— from software developers to graphic designers and business people—for a weekend to develop and/or build a web or mobile application that could form the basis of a credible business. Participants work together and pitch their ideas, with the top three winning cash and services to help participants further develop their business idea.
Leo's project, Road Alert, was developed in the Capstone class at Sage (a year-long self-authored project taken in the senior year). Out of the 52 original ideas/pitches, Road Alert was in the top 6 based on the voting system used. Leo remarked that it was an unprecedented opportunity to network with area business owners, and he had a lot of interest in the product he developed.