Three teams were awarded Go Code Colorado’s final prize at the May 21 final event competition: a year-long, $25,000 contract with the Secretary of State’s office. Mentor Matters (Denver), Stay CO-Flow (Fort Collins) and Pikr Knows (Fort Collins) emerged as having the best app and business ideas from nine finalist teams that won first-round challenge weekend competitions in Colorado Springs, Denver, Durango, Fort Collins, and Grand Junction.
They attended a Mentor Weekend in Boulder to hone their apps and business ideas, then presented their final ideas last night to a sold-out audience of 300 and a panel of five judges comprised of leaders from Colorado’s tech entrepreneurship community.
“When our office launched Go Code Colorado last year, we had a vision for the value that data could add to Colorado’s business community,” said Wayne Williams, Colorado Secretary of State. “The final event just proves that putting a resource like public data in the hands of smart and savvy entrepreneurs and developers can create great solutions for Colorado businesses.”
“The apps were stronger this year,” said judge Erik Mitisek, CEO of the Colorado Technology Association who also judged the competition in its inaugural year. “Go Code Colorado continues to find innovators across the state who are doing amazing things with public data.”
The teams who won and their app and business ideas are:
Mentor Matter -- Denver
There is a disconnect between the skills that graduates have and what business needs. Mentor Matters connects college and university students with volunteer industry mentors to improve recruiting and increase new hire retention through mentorship.
Flow -- Fort Collins
Flow is an incentive-based mobile app designed to encourage and validate responsible commuting behavior. It will reduce traffic congestion by analyzing, predicting, and promoting responsible and environmentally friendly ways to change commuting patterns. Commuters will be incentivized by perks from local businesses
Pikr Knows -- Fort Collins
Pikr is a Colorado tourism app for residents and visitors that suggests activities based on user preferences. Users willingly offer personally identifiable information in exchange for suggestions of interesting things to do. This visibility informs businesses as to how they might adjust their business models, offerings and marketing/sales efforts to maximize profitable and sustainable revenue.
For more information about Go Code Colorado, the award-winning, first-of-its-kind statewide civic app challenge, please visit gocode.colorado.gov.