I admit it, I am a startup junkie. I absolutely love spending time with entrepreneurs and inventors. New business owners with enthusiasm and great ideas bring energy to a room that can’t be matched.

That was definitely true  as Lafayette Tech Hub hosted a Startup Weekend Feb 10 – 12. A small, but very productive group of would-be entrepreneurs spent the weekend brainstorming, coding, testing and launching five very different businesses.

Instead of  participating or facilitating as I have done in years past, this time I was a judge.  It was a nice change of pace, giving me a chance to experience the presentations without any preparation or bias toward one group or another.

My assessment?  The ideas were terrific and I am really impressed with what they managed to do in one weekend. Here is a quick review of the companies:

  • Start-up Stack – An online collaboration and idea generation tool
  • JobMench – Simply described as the eHarmony for job search, matching companies and employees on a range of attributes
  • MikopoMe – A tool to  transfer funds to prepaid credit cards without bank support.  Targeted at developing countries with no banking infrastructure
  • Towntools – A complete toolkit for small town governments, website and web-based collaboration tools.
  • Next Round – Next Round is a mobile application to answer those questions that seem to arise when you are having a drink with good friends. Part game, part social, this lighthearted application stole the show.

You can see photos from the event here.   Or follow each of the teams through their twitter accounts: @jobmensch @startupstack @mikopome @towntools @ournextround

Do you think this looks like fun?  Want to be a part of an upcoming event? Check out www.startupweekend.com for a list of events near you.