The challenge
Techstars Startup Weekend gives teams a weekend to move from an idea to something demonstrable. The team behind Spot Finder formed at the event itself: engineers, designers and business contributors with no shared history and no agreed vocabulary.
The solution
Spot Finder addressed a everyday friction — finding available space quickly — and was scoped deliberately narrow so it could be built, tested and demonstrated inside the time available rather than described in slides.
The team
A Google for Startups team of complementary contributors across product, engineering, design and business. Each area had a named owner with authority to decide inside their area.
Dana's leadership contribution
As Team Lead, Dana set the problem statement, resolved scope disputes early, assigned ownership rather than task lists, and reserved time to build the narrative and demonstration that judges would actually evaluate.
Competition recognition
Spot Finder placed First at Techstars Startup Weekend in 2025.
External validation
Verification links, event documentation and photography from the competition are added to this page as organizers publish them.
Supporting founders
Mentorship in the innovation ecosystem
Dana mentors early-stage teams through the Samsung Innovation Centre and independently, focusing on problem definition, positioning, customer discovery and go-to-market sequencing.