Honeymoon-planning business idea nabs Startup Weekend prize

It captured the hearts of judges at Colorado Springs’ third Startup Weekend. On Sunday, they awarded Hill and a team of five other entrepreneurs top prize for EasyMoon, which is designed to provide couples with honeymoon trip recommendations based on information they enter on their departure location, available dates, budget and activities they enjoy.

The portal, which is still under development, would then allow users to use those recommendations to book their trip online.

“Planning a honeymoon sucks,” Hill said as he began the team’s presentation.

He noted that other wedding and travel sites offer choices, but EasyMoon will curate a couple’s choices and help them with their decisions.

EasyMoon topped five other teams to win the competition, which netted them two hours of free legal work from a local law firm, about $100 in gift cards to local businesses and a few other prizes.

Win.o, a smartphone application that helps attendees at wine festivals sign up to later buy wine they sample, finished second. Forevercard.co, which creates and shares business cards that stay updated with attendees at conventions, conferences and other meetings, was third.

About 100 software developers, graphic designers and those with backgrounds in management, marketing or public relations spent 54 hours over the weekend assembling a team, validating the market for a product or service, learning how to pitch their idea and creating business and revenue models.

The event doubled as the kickoff for Colorado Springs Startup Week, a series of nearly 30 events designed to promote local startup businesses.

Judges for the competition included Davin Neubacher, CEO of Colorado Springs-based information technology provider Navakai Inc.; Andrew Hyde, founder of the Startup Weekend movement; Mario Ciabarra, who created the first independent application store for iPhones; Chris Clark, CEO of Springs-based sports software startup Fusesport; and Nina Polok, program executive for the Bachelor of Innovation program at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.