54 Hours to Launch: Recapping Startup Weekend 2024

On Friday, February 23rd, we welcomed 44 participants into the space for a weekend full of innovation and collaboration. Along with the team at Vision to Venture, we saw six teams take on the challenge of pushing their startup ideas through the launch stage in preparation for Sunday night’s pitch ceremony. The groups worked on a wide variety of projects ranging from ride-share services to dating apps to home-building tools.

Guided by Techstars facilitator, Ilene Marcus, along with 13 mentors from our professional ecosystem, three of the six teams received recognition at the end of the weekend for their exceptional work. The winning groups featured three wildly different and innovative ideas: a reimagined ballet shoe that optimized custom comfort, a meal service with a mission to provide accessible international cuisine straight to your door, and an enrichment product that allows pet owners to interact with their dogs remotely while away from their homes. We were proud to have Flywheel representation on two of the three winning teams. Matthew Parker was a member of Destination Dishes which placed 2nd. Daniel Alvarez, Jason Levinson, and Emily Wold were members of Good Dog Games which placed 3rd.

When asked about the best part of the Techstars experience, Emily Wolf who originally pitched the Good Dog Games idea, shared, “It’s incredible seeing all of these people freely give up their time and energy to see an idea come to life. It’s one thing to sit at home and brainstorm alone, but to have people around you cheering you on and working together to make something a reality is really special.” Like many others, Emily is excited to jump into her next startup weekend. Flywheel will continue hosting Techstars out of our other locations over the next few months. In April, Masthead Coworking, our affiliate location, will be hosting its own startup weekend April 12th-14th with Flywheel Concord hosting in early November.