The Triangle has hosted a number of Startup Weekends in a number of verticals, but none have been so diverse—in all aspects of the word—as this past weekend’s Triangle Startup Weekend Trailblazers.

On the surface, the weekend was similar to most Startup Weekends. Whether from the Mati Tea or sheer excitement, the room overflowed with energy at the team presentations on Sunday. The weekend’s facilitator from Pittsburgh, Lee Ngo, best displayed the energy when he cartwheeled onto the stage to kick off the presentations.

The format was also mostly the same—it began with a keynote from Bryan Young, a former entrepreneur and current intrapreneur at Marketo, Inc., who among other things, advised the teams to find the level of success that worked best for them and remember to try to have a healthy work-life balance. Team presentations were up next, followed by judging, the announcement of the winners, and an after party on American Underground’s rooftop patio.


More on Weekend from WRAL TechWire:

  • Who won the hackathon?
  • What was the agenda for the weekend?

But the details—who attended, the ideas that were pitched, and the types of companies that formed around ideas and problems—differed from other Triangle Startup Weekends in that they were more diverse than any weekend to date.

The 63 participants hailed from diverse ethnic, social, regional, religious and professional backgrounds. They ranged in age from 16 to late 50s. And the nine ideas pitched and fleshed out over the weekend sought to solve problems like finding enough diverse talent to fill tech jobs in the Triangle and helping diabetics more accurately identify the number of carbohydrates in food.

The lead organizer and American Underground’s Entrepreneur in Residence, Talib Graves-Manns said, “Our objective was to get people from all walks of life and background into one room.”

So what all happened? Read the full story at ExitEvent:

http://exitevent.com/article/trailblazers-startup-weekend-tackles-diverse-problems-150618

Note: ExitEvent is a news partner of WRAL TechWire.