StartUp Passion Hackathon 2018

Last week (13-16.03) in a city of Tartu more than 50 talented ambitious future entrepreneurs, business developers, marketers, designers, and coders got together at StartUp Passion Hackathon. The event connected people from different countries with various backgrounds studying in Estonia, Latvia, and Finland to use the power of their diversity to produce something unique and new.

The event was held under the patronage of EU Regional Development Fund and in a co-operation with XAMK UAS, Tallinn University, Stockholm School of Economics in Riga. During the event, the invited mentors taught how to create and prototype the idea, the importance of framing the business problem and making customers hypothesis.

The organizers invited a special guest, who’s startup idea truly hacked the Silicon Valley. Mihkel Joala, the inventor, and founder of SprayPrinter delivered a speech about venturing startup and his personal story of success.

The ideas born on the hackathon varied from dog sitters’ application and Couchsurfing for foodies to pen with a vitamin candy on a cap and vibrating mattress. The prize for the first place was a ticket to Latitude59 startup conference with investors and business angels from all over the world, and the second-place winners were given EU grant for professional business mentoring. But, regardless the team won or not, everyone brought a lot from this hackathon, including new experience, lessons learned and network connection.