MadList Named Top Idea at Design-a-Thon

by Brian Lee

Where can you find the Statue of Liberty on State Street?

A question like that can stump even University of Wisconsin students who through campus every day (answer: State Street Brats), and that’s the fun of MadList, a scavenger hunt program which won the inaugural Design-a-Thon last month.

According to Heather Wentler, co-founder of The Doyenne Group, which hosted the event, MadList was selected because it was “the project the judges felt had the most potential.”

Team members Abby Larner and Anne Baldwin earned free admission to the upcoming Startup Weekend, as well as 20 hours of free marketing consulting. Entrepreneurship runs in Larner’s family, as her brother, Aaron, won the “Business Services” category of the 2012 Governor’s Business Plan Contest.

Other project ideas included Crafted Cusine, a delivery system for pre-made meals, and BrandME, a way for college graduates to use a consultant to properly brand themselves for potential employers.

The Design-a-Thon, made exclusively for women, took place Feb. 9-10 at HotelRED. Thirty participants formed six groups of 2-6 and worked to create a business model, financial projections and marketing strategy for their project idea.