Olive Loom, Jack Bragg Shoes and MoreThanAReview.com were the winners at the first NWA StartUp Cup. Winners were announced last week at the Iceberg in Fayetteville.
The StartUp Cup was introduced to NWA this year, and plans already are underway for the 2013 edition, which will kick off in May with informational workshops in March and April. More on them later. StartUp Cup is a free “global network of locally driven business model competitions open to any type of business idea.” Not just tech-based ventures…
IA’s own Jeff Amerine (who used to blog for us once…long ago…sigh) was a judge for the first event, and sponsors were the Iceberg, NWAEA and NWACC.
First place and a prize package worth $7,500 went to Olive Loom, a local studio that designs customized textile products. Its prize package included 30 hours of free professional mentoring, a professional photo shoot, a free membership to the Iceberg and free airfare to attend the Silicon Valley StartUp Cup.
Second place and a $5,000 prize package went to Jack Bragg Shoes, an eco-friendly shoe company that recycles highway billboard vinyl into footwear. It won 20 hours of mentoring, a photo shoot and an Iceberg membership.
MoreThanAReview.com won third and, you guessed it, $2,500 in prizes (10 mentor hours, photo shoot, Iceberg). It’s a book review site that uses a simple rating system to grade books on violence, bad language, sexual content and drugs and alcohol.
Congratulations to all the winners. Keep up the good work.
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