Startup Weekend is a worldwide event that allows business people, designers and developers to come together and explore ideas for startups.

I was lucky enough to take part in Perth’s first Startup Weekend event this weekend.

Somewhat unsurprisingly (depending on your point of view), the inaugural event sold out rather quickly, making a new Australian record (I believe).

Whilst writing this, we’re in the final hours of the weekend and everyone is getting their pitch ready and putting the final polish on their ideas. There are some really great ideas here, and people passionate about them.

There are a few special things that have caught my eye and are worth a mention:

• Gainspiration - The pitch for this is a resource for introverted people to explore and build their social skills in a supportive, collaborative environment. This is by far the least conceited and most worthwhile pitch I saw. The guys seems to be struggling with their business model and execution, but it’s something I can really get behind.
• Threadster - This is probably the clearest vision that was pitched, and seems to have a strong team behind it executing the vision.

I’ll call it now, but I think the winner will be Threadster, though there are a few guys with their heads down who might have some suprises.

Whilst the event seems geared towards online startups and coming up with ideas, I hope the organisers mix up the blend of skillsets in favour of business/designers. This might be slightly biased on my experience….

… about which I’ve got a lot to write, but it will take a while to get down - all things considered though the weekend is definately worthwhile and I look forward to attending the next event and lending my support to the team if needed.