Women Entrepreneurs Triumph at Detroit Startup Weekend and Advance to Finals in Global Competition

DETROIT - Dec. 5, 2013 - PRLog -- Detroit’s fifth Startup Weekend (http://detroit.startupweekend.org/) kicked off Friday, November 15^th at Grand Circus Park, with nearly 100 developers, designers, project managers, marketers, and other entrepreneurs vying for the opportunity to create and pitch a minimum viable product in just 54 hours. VisionBoards.co, a robust web-app and social networking platform for designing and ordering custom self-empowerment tools, was named the winner out of fourteen finalists by a panel of judges and local business leaders.

VisionBoards.co now competes as finalists in the fourth-annual Global Startup Battle (http://globalstartupbattle.co/), where teams representing more than 200 cities compete for prizes from companies including Google, Coca-Cola, BigCommerce, and .CO. An online competition measuring public votes and social media outreach runs through December 6^th, after which the top 15 teams in each category will advance to a final round of selections. As of December 4^th, VisionBoards.co was the only U.S. team to break into the top 10 in two or more categories.

Vote for VisionBoards.co in the Global Startup Battle  >> (http://visionboards.co/wordpress/global-start-up-battle/)

Recently popularized by celebrities such as Oprah and Wayne Dyer, vision boards are collages of images and phrases that represent a person’s goals and ambitions. Vision boards and other visual self-empowerment tools are being increasingly used in corporate settings, with a growing number of Fortune 500 companies requiring their employees to design career and team-oriented vision boards.

VisionBoards.co seeks to create a centralized, e-commerce-enabled platform from which users can easily create, share, print, and order vision boards and other personalized self-empowerment products such as videos and bracelets. “We will offer tips, coaching, community support, and many other resources to help you set your goals, get inspired, and stay accountable,” said co-founder Natalia Petraszczuk, who pitched the initial concept at Detroit Startup Weekend. “Visionboards.co will be the go-to platform for people to get focused and stay motivated to achieve their life’s goals.” Petraszczuk went on to add: “The fact that my business idea was taken from concept to reality in one weekend still blows my mind. More people need to be aware of the support systems and human resource talent that exist in Detroit.”

Stephanie Dionne, Petraszczuk’s co-founder and the owner of an Ann-Arbor-based tech marketing firm, initially signed up for Detroit Startup Weekend as a networking event and instead came away with a new business partner and a deep respect for the city’s commitment to supporting small business owners. “With national media outlets highlighting the unique spirit and talent of the Detroit startup community, recently announced lending initiatives such as Goldman Sach’s 10k Small Businesses program, and prominent business leaders such as Warren Buffett validating the city’s huge potential for growth, it’s clearly an exciting time to be an entrepreneur in Detroit," Dionne said. "We’re proud to represent Michigan in the Global Startup Battle and have been truly inspired to build the foundation of what we believe will be an international brand right here in Detroit.”

With over 20 product pre-orders placed during Detroit Startup Weekend, VisionBoards.co has already garnered interest from a number of high-profile supporters, including former professional football player Glenn Earl and motivational speaker Pete Thomas, winner of NBC’s reality TV competition, The Biggest Loser. “My number one key to my success in weight loss and in life is the belief that I could actually make a change in my health and accomplish great things,” said Thomas. “I’ve used vision boards to help me hold onto an image for the future that was stronger than what I saw in the mirror. The VisionBoards.co platform will let me spend less time and energy creating images related to my future, and instead spend more time actively realizing my future, with a support community and other resources dedicated to keep me on track.”

To vote for VisionBoards.co in the Global Startup Battle and help its co-founders secure funding and resources to accelerate their business growth in Detroit, visit their website at http://visionboards.co. Voting runs through December 6^th, 11:59PM PST. You can also follow them on Twitter at @vision_boards and on Facebook at Visionboards.co.