Startup Weekend success is all in the PIVOT

A team called PIVOT has taken out the title at Startup Weekend Brisbane, which will see one team member travel to the United States as part of the Advance Innovation Program.

 

Startup Weekend Brisbane was held at River City Labs on November 16-18. More than 100 people gathered to watch 22 different pitches.

 

Of those 22 pitches, concepts were voted on and 10 working start-up teams were formed. After 54 hours of planning, collaborating and coding, PIVOT emerged as the winner of the event.

 

According to Peta Ellis, River City Labs communications and community manager, there was a great energy across the weekend.

 

“We had about 80-90 people in the labs at any one time,” Ellis says.

 

PIVOT, pitched by team member Chris Macaulay, is an interactive CAPTCHA company aiming to bring a new level of engagement to internet security.

 

Traditionally, a CAPTCHA is a type of challenge response test found on websites and online forms as an attempt to ensure the response is generated by a human being.

 

A common type of CAPTCHA requires the user to type letters and/or digits from a distorted image that appears on the screen.

 

Such tests are commonly used to prevent unwanted internet bots accessing websites.

 

“We have built a better, easier-to-use solution for CAPTCHAS on websites,” Macaulay says.

 

“The best thing about Startup Weekend is that I learnt a lot, we have built a great team, and it looks like we may be able to get some investment to roll this out to make it a real business.”

 

As winners of Startup Weekend Brisbane, each member of PIVOT received a new Samsung Galaxy S III 4G from national sponsor Optus.

 

One member of the team will also claim the Advance prize package, which includes five days in the United States, including a trip to Silicon Valley, as part of the Advance Innovation Program.

 

A team called TruRevu won a mentoring package with River City Labs founder Steve Baxter, while an honourable mention went to Last Minute Nanny, which enables parents to access childcare at a moment’s notice via an app.

 

Winners from Startup Weekend Brisbane can enter their business into the Global Startup Battle for the chance to win a VIP trip to Rio de Janeiro for the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, a trip to San Francisco to tour Googleplex, and at least $15,000 in start-up support services.