Quotogram: A Startup Born At The DCWEEK Hackathon

Frank Gruber November 15, 2011 Tweet

Two Sundays ago, Kevin Dubs found himself at the center of innovation at the DCWEEK Hackathon.

Kevin, the Founder and President of LoyalCurve, a mobile technology-based customer loyalty platform for small businesses, left his day job to become a full time entrepreneur. He decided to make this leap right before DCWEEK so he could attend as many events as possible during the week-long festival.

Sounds risky, but for Kevin, this turned out to be a very good move. The Hackathon event was a chance for DCWEEK developers of all skill levels to learn from one another, work on projects they were passionate about, develop new ideas, and hack, hang, teach, learn and totally geek out together. The event kicked off with just fewer than 200 hackers, developers and creatives and was the place where Kevin and his team of eight other hackathon attendees gave birth to the concept of Quotogram.

The idea for Quotogram was simple; to create a site where people can go to find, post, and share quotes in an easy and beautiful way. All through the day and well into the night, the eight member team worked on the Quotogram idea.

Gary Romanov, Co-Founder/CEO for SKYFER, another DC based startup recalled:

“What strikes me the most, was we had 8 people each with a different set of skills: UI, UX, back-end, Sysadmin, marketing, mobile, and web development. It was clear right away that we had a team you can only dream of.”

For several days, the group worked around the clock to come up with the basic framework for the Quotogram web app. The team also attended as many DCWEEK events as possible to hand out their newly purchased Quotogram business cards to anyone who would accept them and pitch their new business idea to all who would listen.

Kevin Dubs had this to say:

“Quotes, are the simpest form of self-expression, and Quotgram provides a fun and easy way to discover and share your favorite quotes.”

Who doesn’t love a good quote? Apparently, not many. The feedback they’ve received was quite positive so the team has been working on launching the product, and it should be ready soon. We’ll continue to watch this startup story, born out of the DCWEEK Hackathon, as it unfolds.

Quotogram at the DCWEEK Hackathon 2011

Editor’s Note:  Last week Tech Cocktail co-produced DCWEEK - a week long festival in Washington DC focused on technology, creativity and innovation. This is a special post modified from another post written by our DCWEEK chief blogger, Danielle Ricks, who also did an interview with Quotogram’s founder, Kevin Dubs.