Most everyday objects, particularly mobile devices, could benefit from an added solar panel. That was the original hypothesis of "Team Spore," winners of this weekend’s Lean Startup Machine Philly 3.0, held at
Drexel University's Baiada Institute for Entrepreneurship.
The team of Drexel undergrads -- Mark Brandon, Dylan Kenny and Jason Browne -- walked away with an
AWeber account, a month-long membership at
Seed Philly and web development through the
Venturepact X incubator .
Lean Startup Machine (often incorrectly lumped in with
Startup Weekend) focuses on building the concept rather than a working product. Participants spent three days testing their assumptions and interviewing potential customers.
Half of the 55 participants were students. To lure those students, organizer Kert Heinecke moved the event from VentureF0rth to University City. The Baiada Institute, the
Corzo Center for the Creative Economy at University of the Arts and AWebber provided several student scholarships. Dan Shipper, a Penn junior who cofounded
Airtime for Email and
Firefly, was a guest speaker.
Browne -- who met Brandon and Kenny at the event -- admits his concept was simple, but says the team benefited from rigorous testing. "Usually, if I have an idea, I jump right in," he says. "Taking a step back and thinking about [our concept] from a market -- not a marketing -- perspective was helpful."
Session mentors included Chris Cera from
Arcweb, Ted Mann from
SnipSnap, Brad Denenberg from Seed Philly, Jake Stein from
RJ Metrics and Yasmine Mustafa, cofounder of 123Links and
Girl Develop IT Philly.
Twelve teams made it to the finals. Second place was awarded to
Paper Wool, a home goods design company and graduate of the Corzo Incubator and Good Company Ventures. Washington, D.C. team Busted, which helps customers find shop for bras online, finished third.
Source: Kert Heinecke, Lean Startup Machine Philly; Jason Browne, Team Spore
Writer: Dana Henry