Startup Weekend Fargo 2014 wrapped up with final presentations at the historic Fargo Theatre last evening.  12 teams – and over 90 participants – prepared throughout the weekend at Concordia College’s Offutt School of Business surrounded by coffee, food sponsored by various area businesses, and a lot of energy, only some of which was attributable to the aforementioned beverage. Tweets were made throughout the process with the hashtag SWFargo14.

After 54 hours of designing, marketing, prototyping, and, presumably, little sleep, our teams convened to show off their stuff: the products of one very long weekend.

We were fortunate enough to have Ben Milne, CEO of the Dwolla payments network, keynote the final event on Sunday. Shedding light on his entrepreneurial background, Ben stressed the fact that entrepreneurs fail a lot, a concept many Startup Weekend participants can probably align with as they created, dissolved, and resurrected business ideas throughout the past three days. Even with this constant failure, Ben noted that one of the best ways to create pockets of success is through community support. Through inclusionary mindsets, entrepreneurial communities can develop with less focus on elitist culture and more on creating cool opportunities for all.

In the wake of these poignant thoughts, Startup Weekend teams pitched their final ideas to a panel of judges. This included businesses from diverse fields displaying a wide array of product development and monetization models to the audience. From MYFLICKS, an app that allows for online streaming of personal DVD collections, to Swift Serve, a point of sale (POS) data visualization system that assists restaurants in fixing spoilage issues, all teams illustrated unique ideas developed over the span of only one weekend.

After all numbers and preferences had been tabulated, the team that came out on top was HackFargo, a group that standardizes the storage of city data to allow any curious internet browser to visualize it. Second place was awarded to Handles Mug Co., the innovative communal beverage experience that involves drinking through a double-barreled glass. And finally, third place went to I FAIL, a website devoted to the anonymous sharing of personal failures. Be sure to check out HackFargo at this Wednesday’s 1 Million Cups Fargo event – teammates will be there to explain their winning idea.

Congratulations to the winners and well done to everyone who participated in this celebration of startup spirit. It was a long weekend for everyone involved, but needless to say it was also a fantastic display of what the Fargo community has to offer in the realm of entrepreneurship.

We also feel inclined to make a special shout out to the entire crew that made this event happen – from event organizers and sponsors to the panel of judges to the Concordia students serving up coffee throughout the weekend. Everyone played an important role in this process and made Startup Weekend Fargo 2014 a memorable experience.

Photos courtesy of J. Alan Paul Photography.