I just finished 48 hours of Launch48 Sydney.

Friday night at 6pm we heard around 20 pitches, voted and then heard more from the top 8. We voted again and split up into 4 teams:

• Social pet sitting
• Social trips
• Social gifts
• Social volunteer network

Notice a social trend?

I chose to be part of the group working on the volunteer network. The idea was to create something a little bit like StackOverflow but instead of questions/answers we have charities/volunteers.

Charities add their initiatives. Volunteers browse initiatives, choose to participate and receive points that are shown on their profile. The idea is to help get people hooked into contributing to charities.

Our group of 9 built an initial version, put it up on Ninefold and made available at HappyTri.be. The main technology used was Python, Django and Pinax.

Launch48 was a great way for me to get involved in a startup. I had fun, created something interesting, learned some new skills and uncovered something that I think is a big opportunity. I definitely recommend it.