Global Startup Weekend brings out Phoenix's top bananas

This past weekend, some of the Valley’s brightest developers, designers and thinkers descended upon downtown to hash out an innovative startup idea all within 54 hours at the Phoenix Global Startup Battle. After pulling all-nighters that could only resemble college students during finals week, 10 teams presented their ventures to the public and a panel of successful entrepreneurs for feedback, banana trophies and other prizes.
The top prizes went to:

From left to right: Al Wold, Shawn Capehart, Mark Tucker and Taylor Meeks.
From left to right: FunCast developers Al Wold, Shawn Capehart, Mark Tucker and Taylor Meeks.

FunCast – a gaming venture that has plans to roll out its party trivia game, Boast.
“I came into this startup weekend already with the idea of party games that you can do on your tablet and on your TV in the family room,” FunCast developer Mark Tucker said.
Boast, which gives players the ability to boast about what they know in a trivia format, is expected to be hosted on Chrome’s app store once the FunCast team finishes the development of the game.
Drive Away – a website that connects car buyers with dealerships across the country and lets them submit a bid on their desired vehicle.
Prodygy – a collaboration platform with a rich library of project-based learning resources to accelerate STEM education.
The prizes these teams could choose from included a 6-month membership at team coworking space Desarrollo, a scholarship to Seed Spot’s evening program and $500 to spend on a conference or coworking space.
Related: Phoenix Global Startup Battle begins Nov. 14
Other ideas that came out of the weekend battle include:
KidFriendly –  an app that identifies kid-friendly restaurants in the area for parents
Quirk’d – a dating app that puts people’s quirks first to get rid of the superficial front of online dating
Munky See – a solution that tracks the quality of content you consume and your long-term goals of online content consumption
Simple Demand – a website that identifies time or shift-specific deals
TalkShop – a Craigslist-like platform that connects teachers with speakers to make educational content relevant to students
PerfecFit – a website that finds clothes that fit you best based on your measurements and specific needs
GOIQ – a service that identifies what does and doesn’t work about the marketing efforts of small businesses
Check out our past coverage of startup weekends in Arizona and find out what’s on the calendar for startups in Arizona.