48 hours to plan, create a business

Associated Press

NEW YORK

With just minutes to go until deadline, the coders sit furiously typing, putting the finishing touches on their website. Brett Martin turns to his computer — the PowerPoint slides are almost done.

This group of nine entrepreneur hopefuls started less than two days ago with just an idea: an online planning and finance tool for small businesses called ProphetMargin. Now they have the website design, a business plan and a working database. And by the end of the evening, they’ll have a formal mentor and a meeting planned with investors.

Such is the pace of Startup Weekend, one of the final events of New York’s Internet Week, which ended Monday. Participants in the 48-hour marathon came in alone with an idea and left with like-minded partners and a fledgling business.

“It’s a testament to how much people can get done when they’re working on something they’re really excited about,” Martin said Monday, reflecting on his team’s accomplishments over the weekend. “I met great people and had a great time, and hopefully we’ll get some funding.”

ProphetMargin was one of 18 projects pitched Sunday night in the weekend’s final presentations. Other groups offered up plans for an app that would give users information about other people around them in public, a website to connect users with friends who need housesitters, an app allowing people to track the beers they drink, and an Internet platform to help adult entertainers build their brands.

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