March 27, 2018
by Riza Camille Talan
On March 18, Music Business Management student Xavi Aguilar won 1st runner up at the Startup Weekend. He presented his thesis, and was mentored by Mony Romana, who is also his adviser and MINT College’s Marketing Program Head.
Aguilar pitched his thesis and business idea called InTalent, a platform to help artists get gigs by connecting them with people in the industry. Over the course of Startup Weekend, the idea evolved into a transaction and negotiations platform for artists and producers. “The event challenges a room full of business folks and developers to come up with a business idea over the course of 54 hours,” shares Romana.
Xavi was mentored by Marketing Program Head, Mony Romana. (Photo from Startup Weekend Manila)
For Romana, it is his third time to participate in Startup Weekend, which brings together designers, developers, entrepreneurs, and experts from various domains. “I first joined in 2012 where I pitched an idea for an app to gamify chores for kids. We were fortunate enough to win the top prize back then,” he recalls. He also shares that he was captivated by the community of doers and dreamers that he felt compelled to join a second time in 2014 with a former MBM student who pitched a platform for musicians, “While fate would again not have us finish that project, that was enough for me to be encouraged to pursue my own startups and has since, been able to launch two.” Romana started a distribution and consultancy service for indie artists called Distroconnect, and a company that specializes in historical tours and events, Sucesos Filipinas Inc., which he started with his wife and some colleagues.
Startup Weekend was organized by Techstars, and happened at _STUDIO Fort by ASPACE last March 16-18.
Ampil’s win marks the second year that MINT College landed an award from the prestigious award-giving body in the field of design. This year’s Awards were judged by design and advertising executives from Thailand and Singapore, and key personalities from the Philippines.
Adobo Design Awards Asia 2018 was presented by adobo Magazine in partnership with D&AD, and was held at the BGC Arts Center.