The Home Grow Hero team: Ian McDonald, Serena de Stacpoole, Andy Macken and John Haus
Home Grow Hero, an internet of things-based start-up concept aimed at helping consumers grow plants with the help of wireless sensors and apps, emerged as the winner of the Startup Weekend in Dublin.
Startup Weekend, which was supported by Bank of Ireland and Google for Entrepreneurs, challenges would-be entrepreneurs to meet up on a Friday and spend the weekend devising a start-up, getting customer feedback and coming up with a minimal viable product (MVP) before battling it out on Sunday night.
On Friday night (10 June) at the Google Foundry, there were some 42 pitches out of which 15 teams were formed before being whittled down to 12 teams for the final pitch battle.
Everyone’s a winner
The contestants from the June 2016 Startup Weekend in Dublin
The winners on the night were the team behind Home Grow Hero, which developed a start-up idea around IoT kits with sensors that would include seeds and everything else needed to start growing plants or herbs. The sensors would communicate with a mobile app to ensure newly-minted gardeners would maintain their plants.
The team behind Home Grow Hero included Andy Macken, Serena de Stacpoole, Ian McDonald and John Haus.
The winning team will win tickets and a stand at the upcoming Uprise Start-up Festival in Dublin in October.
An honourable mention award went to runners-up PacePal, which developed an IoT-type device to help rowing teams stay on top of their game. They even had a working prototype prepared on the night. Team members from PacePal included Alison Casserly, Dave Lenihan and James Cash.
Startup Weekend is going from strength to strength in Ireland since the first event over six years ago. The next Startup Weekend will be taking place in Dublin in November.
