After a whirlwind weekend at Startup Weekend Toronto we were lucky enough to be invited to present at DemoCamp. As if that wasn’t enough, we’ve had several wonderful articles written about us including articles in BlogTO and the Toronto Star. Much love to Erin Bury for her endless support and kind words.

When the dust of the world-wide media tour (cough) settled, the team sat down and realized that we had some real work to do.

Countless Skype conferences, beer-fuelled meetings, sleepless nights and 1457 emails (so far) later, Task Ave is finally here.

So what exactly is a Task Ave? Let me defer to the expert explanation of Task Ave’s very own, Satish Kanwar:

Task Ave helps you remember what you need to do, where you need to do it. It’s a location-aware task management application, with easy to manage tasks, locations and alerts. Never forget things again, make errands simple, and leave breadcrumbs around town.

 In a nut-shell:

1. Add a task
2. Choose a location
3. Get a reminder when nearby

Yes, it’s that simple.

We’re eternally grateful for all the wonderful support we’ve received from the Toronto tech community while developing the app (you guys and gals are the best in the world). We really hope you find the app useful in your day to day life!

To find out more about the app, visit the iTunes app store, or our website at taskave.com.

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When I walked into Startup Weekend Toronto on Friday evening, I had a simple goal – team up with some old & new friends, deny myself sleep, and build something cool. And that’s exactly what happened.

In 30 hours, Satish Kanwar, Nate Garvie, Brian Gilham, Tony Wallace, Darren Butcher & myself put together the foundation for Task Ave, an iPhone application that reminds you what you need to do when you’re in the area that you need to do it.

The idea sprouted Friday night over dinner. Satish and myself were chatting about ideas. I mentioned that I would love to build something that would remind me to get batteries when I’m at Canadian Tire, because I’m always forgetting to pick up things while I’m out.

Satish was immediately on-board, and within minutes he had come up with great ideas for our name and tagline.

I pitched the idea to the Startup Weekend crowd and we got some interest and great feedback. We assembled the beginnings of our team, two designers, a developer, a business specialist and an enthusiastic student. At this point we lacked the key ingredient of an iPhone developer, but undeterred, we went home to rest up for the big weekend of planning and building that lay ahead.

Saturday morning we hit the Ryerson POD building, still unsure how we were going to build an iPhone app without an iPhone developer. Not 10 minutes into the day, we were approached by Tony. The conversation went something like this.

Tony: I’m Tony, I wasn’t here last night, but I’m a developer, do you need any help on your team?

Us: Hi Tony, we would love an iPhone developer.

Tony: That’s my specialty.

Us: We love you.

In the hours that followed, we focused on building the minimum viable product for Task Ave.

We sketched out the workflows & wireframes, researched geo-location & mapping and created business & marketing models.

After working hard all day at Ryerson, we took off to the Jet Cooper office and settled into a full night of caffeine & pizza fueled work. By morning we had accomplished quite a bit, including,

• A complete application UI, logo, website, and marketing materials;
• A prototype of the iPhone app, connected to a fully featured REST API (that Brian is very proud of);
• A business model, slide deck and testimonials.

We spent Sunday morning perfecting our pitch and trying to stay awake. The day flew by and suddenly it was time to present. We were last up to the stage, and the competition was stiff.

Some of the great pitches included,

• N20: Need Second Opinion, an iPhone app that connects doctors who need second opinions on patient care to other doctors who can offer them their expertise.
• RateHub, a virtual mortgage broker that helps people find and negotiate the best mortgage rate possible.
• Schedify, a scheduling Web app that takes the hassle out of creating and managing restaurant (and other retail) employee scheduling.
• Vuru, a Web application for value investing that saves people time and makes them money.
• Styllist, a website that allows people to hunt for stylish clothing online, and connects them to the local boutiques that sell the clothing.

Most likely to change the world: N20: Need Second Opinion

• Congrats to Sean, Mark and the whole team!

Honorable Mention: Styllist

• Congrats to Miki & Sunir!

Third Place: RateHub

• Congrats to Alyssa the RateHub team!

Second Place: Schedify

• Congrats to Gabriel and the Schedify team!

Winner: Task Ave

• Hooray!

The whole team is ecstatic that we won. We put in a ton of hard work in 30 hours, and loved every minute of it.

We hit up the after party at Black Moon Bar with the other teams to celebrate the huge success that was Startup Weekend.

In the past 24 hours, Task Ave has received a ton of great support and feedback from the community. You guys are seriously awesome. We’re going to push hard to get Task Ave finished and out to you. The weekend may be over, but the fun has just begun.

I want to thank the organizers, Chris Eben, Karthik Soravanahalli & Ahmed Badruddin for doing a great job on the event. These guys put in a ton of work with the Ryerson voulenteers to ensure that Startup Weekend was a huge success. Thanks again!

If you’re interested in learning more about Task Ave, checkout our slide deck over at SlideShare. You can also contact any of us on Twitter, we’d love to talk!

One last shout out to the Task Ave team, Satish Kanwar, Nate Garvie, Brian Gilham, Tony Wallace & Darren Butcher. You guys are awesome!

The post The Startup Weekend experience. appeared first on Say Yeah!.

The event kicks off Friday with a keynote talk by Freshbook’s own Mike McDerment and a panel moderated by Dan Martell featuring April Dunford, Sarah Prevette & Leila Boujnane. All the speakers are superstars of the Toronto startup community that shouldn’t be missed!

Following the kick off talks, the challenge will begin. Participants will pitch ideas for the weekend’s 30-hour building session. Once you find an idea you like, teams will form, and the building will begin.

I’ve already started assembling my team, which includes Satish Kanwar & Andrew Peek of Jet Cooper fame, as well as Brian Gilham, the creator of TTCUpdates. In keeping with the spirit of the event, we hope to add three or four new members to the team that we meet at the event.

When the event concludes on Sunday afternoon, all the hard work will be evaluated by four expert judges and our peers on a variety of criteria including, Most Fun Idea, Breakthrough Potential & Viability. The top team will take home some great startup related prizes to help them get their idea off the ground.

I’m really looking forward to the event and can’t wait for the opportunity to work with some great people that I otherwise haven’t had the chance to. I’m sure we’re going to build something fantastic (or at the very least memorable).

If you’re attending the event, don’t forget to check out the agenda for times and locations.

Update: We won!

Here’s Satish’s summary deck.

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