The startup ‘festival’ UPRISE made its first appearance in Dublin and with some success.
The winner of the first UPRISE to take part in Ireland was ‘adult sweet maker’ Smith & Sinclair, thanks to the pitch battle skills and vibrant personality of founder Melanie Goldsmith.
Unlike other pitch competitions – that nearly all seem to employ the predictable and dull ‘Dragon’s Den’ format – UPRISE relies on the (rather ruthless) audience to vote for the winners and losers.
Six international teams: KinoSol, Fibregel Apparel, Timeular, Smith & Sinclair, My GiveBox; and six teams from Ireland: AddGoals, Parkpnp, Dashcabs, Wellnice Pops, StayPal, Cyc-lok and CyberSmarties, took part in the various two-minute pitch battles that [eventually] left one battle hardened startup standing victorious.
Melanie Goldsmith (pictured centre stage) emerged as the deserved winner. Not because her company idea or product were the best in the room, but because she was the best at pitching her idea and her positive, can-do, never fail attitude won over the jubilant Dublin audience.
As for the UPRISE event, there were also some very interesting startups exhibiting and ‘break out’ educational workshops thanks to the likes of a key sponsor, Google.
Dublin City Council and Bank of Ireland were the other two key supporters of the event. UPRISE will return to Dublin in November 2017. Founder, Limerick native Paul O’Connell, should take a bow. UPRISE is a welcome addition to the startup event and competition space in Ireland. Its enjoyable ‘personality’ shines through.
