Event Recap: Startup Weekend Berlin at Abstrakt
54 hours, 12 teams, 3 winners – a look back at an intense weekend of building, pitching, and connecting.
Abstrakt Team 
Last weekend, Abstrakt transformed into a 54-hour startup incubator. Startup Weekend Berlin brought together 80 entrepreneurs, developers, designers, and dreamers for an intense experience of building companies from scratch.
How It Works
For the uninitiated: Startup Weekend is a global movement where anyone can pitch an idea on Friday night. The best ideas get teams, and those teams have until Sunday evening to build a working prototype and business model.
No slides, no theory – just build something real.
Friday: The Pitches
We started with 47 one-minute pitches. Ideas ranged from AI-powered therapy apps to sustainable fashion marketplaces to tools for urban gardening.
After voting, 12 teams formed around the most compelling ideas. Some teams were strangers who just met; others were friends who’d been waiting for the right idea.
By midnight, whiteboards were covered with scribbles, and the coffee machine was working overtime.
Saturday: The Grind
Saturday is where the real work happens. Teams had to:
- Validate their problem (does anyone actually have this pain?)
- Talk to potential customers (yes, on a Saturday)
- Build an MVP (minimum viable product)
- Figure out the business model (how does this make money?)
Our mentors – successful founders, investors, and experts – circulated throughout the day, offering guidance and tough questions.
By evening, some teams had pivoted entirely. Others had discovered their idea was bigger than expected. A few were considering giving up (they didn’t).
Sunday: The Crunch
The final day was a sprint to the finish. Teams polished their prototypes, rehearsed their pitches, and tried to get some sleep (most failed at that last one).
At 5 PM, all 12 teams presented to a panel of judges. Five minutes each, no exceptions. The quality was remarkable – several teams had actual working products with real user signups.
The Winners
First Place: GreenRoute An app that calculates the most eco-friendly route for deliveries, helping logistics companies reduce their carbon footprint. The team had already signed up two local businesses for a pilot.
Second Place: SkillSwap A platform connecting professionals who want to exchange skills – design for coding, marketing for accounting. They demonstrated a working matching algorithm and had 50 users signed up by Sunday.
Third Place: QuietHours A tool that helps remote teams respect each other’s focus time by intelligently managing notifications. Built by a team of three who’d never met before Friday.
What Happens Next
The winning teams get:
- Free coworking space at Abstrakt for 3 months
- Mentorship sessions with our partner investors
- Access to our extended network
But honestly? The real value isn’t in winning. It’s in the experience of building something in 54 hours, the connections made, and the confidence gained.
Several teams from past Startup Weekends at Abstrakt have gone on to raise funding and build real companies. We’re betting some of this weekend’s participants will do the same.
Want to Join the Next One?
We host Startup Weekend twice a year, plus various other hackathons and building events. Follow us on social media or join our newsletter to be the first to know about upcoming events.
And if you have an idea burning a hole in your brain – why wait? Come to Abstrakt, find some collaborators, and start building.
Photos from the weekend are available on our Instagram. Tag yourself!