Around 75 people are racking their brains to come up with the perfect pitch this weekend.

The Basestation, Tauranga's new communications and technology hub on Durham St, is hosting the Tauranga Startup Weekend.

Business Connect Aotearoa member Delwynne Hahunga with mentor Sam Kidd from Teamwork.com.

Jo Allum says the day has been amazing so far.

'We have a family of five – mum, dad and three boys -, along with a librarian and a councillor, Maori liaison people, students, consultants and various small business owners.

'Last night when everyone walked in it was electric. There was a lot of excitement in the room.”

Now, they have come together in teams. Jo says there are 11 ideas people are working on.

'Teams formed last night and were working until about midnight and returned about 8am to work on who's their customer and what's their problem. They're getting into the nitty, gritty of the work. ”Now it's pretty intense, with people concentrating.”

People are now ploughing through the work and steps it takes to get to a viable product that they can pitch.

Tomorrow morning will see more mentoring sessions, says Jo.

'People will start working on the pitch themselves. They get a five minute pitch at the Art Gallery. Working on the pitch means being able to articulate.”

Tauranga Startup Weekend's Pitch Night on Sunday evening is a free event at Tauranga Art Gallery, with nibbles and a cash bar. To register, see: www.bit.ly/PitchNight2014


Team Sponsease.com