PhotoNote wins the first Lawrence Startup Weekend. The winners from left to right are Nick Brade, Megan Murphy, Zak Wohlschlegel, Dalton Jorns, Rhys Raglow and Anthnoy West. In the front row is Clay Westerlund.

A global movement helping entrepreneurs launch new businesses has gotten off to a good start in Lawrence.

The first Lawrence Startup Weekend concluded Sunday at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St., two days after 15 participants pitched their ideas to kick off the event Friday. They then voted on the top ideas and formed five teams to create business models over the next 54 hours.

“We saw a real need in the community to bring people interested in startups together and start building a community around this type of work,” said Beth McKeon, owner and publisher of Lawrence Kids Calendar, who co-founded the local Startup Weekend with Joe Jarvis.

Startup Weekend is a global movement helping entrepreneurs launch new businesses. In 2014, more than 1,800 Startup events have taken place in 120 countries around the world.

“This event is critical to both entrepreneurs and our community,” said Brady Pollington, vice president of Economic Development Corporation of Lawrence & Douglas County. “It sends a signal to innovators and entrepreneurs that they have a real opportunity here in Lawrence. This event, which we hope will be an annual event, could lead to the next great employer for our community.”

Saturday, each team met with a mentor to develop a business plan, design a prototype and build a marketing plan. For Sunday’s finale, the teams had five minutes apiece to present their ideas to judges Michele Weigand, founder of Lawrence’s Focused Perspective; Suman Saripalli, founder of KalScott Engineering; and Will Katz, regional director of Kansas University’s Small Business Development Center. Proposals ranged from apps to art.

In the end, judges chose PhotoNote, an app that allows photos to become individual notes on a calendar, as the overall event winner. The team — made up of six KU students: Megan Murphy, Nick Brade, Zak Wohlschlegel, Dalton Jones, Rhys Raglow and Anthony West; and one KU alumnus, Clay Westerlund — will receive free legal, accounting and printing services, as well as office space.

“(The prizes) are designed to help the winning team move forward and give them a leg up as they start to look at the next step,” McKeon explained.

Murphy, a sophomore from Overland Park, said the task initially seemed impossible to complete in 54 hours, but ultimately the contest taught her that “it’s possible to turn an idea into something real.”

With monthly meetings and learning opportunities planned going forward, McKeon hopes Startup Weekend will become an annual event in Lawrence. For more information, visit www.startuplawrence.org.