Start up weekend returns to CSUMB

Inc magazine called it fantasy camp for entrepreneurs. Start up weekend returned to CSU Monterey Bay this weekend. The event brought dozens of hopeful inventors with all kinds of enterprising ideas. Could the next Facebook be among them?

Peter Biggam is a Santa Cruz entrepreneur and he said,

“The business is called Organized Organics and it is a farm management and compliance utility that would basically allow the farmer to log all the information necessary to run their farm.”

Biggam said he’s had the Organized Organics idea for two years and this start up event provided the perfect opportunity to pitch it.

Biggam said his app can forecast food production and link the farmers up with the distributors. The app gives buyers the estimated harvest before the plants are full grown.

“Because we live here in the salad bowl, farmers are looking for utilities that will basically help them manage their farm,” said Biggam.

This is the third year CSUMB is hosting the event. Twelve teams have 54 hours to create a business model, code it, and design before pitching it to the judges.

These students came up with an app called Pricing Right. The app allows shoppers to scan an item at a store and get the price with tax. Then shoppers can compare prices for the same item at other stores nearby.

International student at CSUMB Gustavo Braghim said,
“We are international students and it’s a problem for us going through our money because here in the United States we have a different system of tax.”

Since starting their Pricing Right Facebook page they already have more than 400 likes.

Organizer, Brad Barbeau said every new idea is a spark that could lead to economic growth on the Central Coast and beyond.

“Entrepreneurship is what fuels the economy right, we need to renew our economy with new innovations, new inventions thats what these folks are doing,” said Barbeau.

Barbeau said the main purpose of the event is to get people excited about entrepreneurship and starting businesses.