--- title: Startup Weekend: How we Won the Competition | daily.dev description: A first-person recap of competing in and winning a Startup Weekend competition in Italy, describing lessons on defining and validating a real-world problem,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/startup-weekend-how-we-won-the-competition-3r2crjooa twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Startup Weekend: How we Won the Competition | daily.dev og:description: A first-person recap of competing in and winning a Startup Weekend competition in Italy, describing lessons on defining and validating a real-world problem,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/startup-weekend-how-we-won-the-competition-3r2crjooa og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/3R2crJooA.png og:image:alt: Startup Weekend: How we Won the Competition og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Startup Weekend: How we Won the Competition **[Daniel Petrica](https://daily.dev/sources/danielpetrica)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A first-person recap of competing in and winning a Startup Weekend competition in Italy, describing lessons on defining and validating a real-world problem, designing a solution, sizing a market, and crafting a persuasive pitch. The author's team won with Fitravel, a group travel concept combining fitness routines with group trips, validated through nearly 100 surveys and interviews, and is now turning it into a real business with a first trip planned for September. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Validate your startup idea before you build: A guide for founders](https://daily.dev/posts/validate-your-startup-idea-before-you-build-a-guide-for-founders-1kyngjjqr) · Curiosum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Why Most Startup Founders Fail and How ISHIR Texas Venture Studio Helps the Right Ones Win](https://daily.dev/posts/why-most-startup-founders-fail-and-how-ishir-texas-venture-studio-helps-the-right-ones-win-xlxvb2odg) · Security Boulevard · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [How to Win a Hackathon: Notes From the Judging Table](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-win-a-hackathon-notes-from-the-judging-table-wttxezbgq) · JetBrains · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [Startup Battlefield 200 applications close today](https://daily.dev/posts/startup-battlefield-200-applications-close-today-slsvl0fhy) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#startup](https://daily.dev/tags/startup), [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/startup-weekend-how-we-won-the-competition-3r2crjooa) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Startup Weekend: How we Won the Competition","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/startup-weekend-how-we-won-the-competition-3r2crjooa","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/startup-weekend-how-we-won-the-competition-3r2crjooa"},"datePublished":"2026-09-29T12:32:28.690Z","dateModified":"2026-09-29T12:32:54.140Z","description":"A first-person recap of competing in and winning a Startup Weekend competition in Italy, describing lessons on defining and validating a real-world problem,...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b9e889aa4cecd6b9e59731ad65f01d39?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b9e889aa4cecd6b9e59731ad65f01d39?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Daniel Petrica","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Daniel Petrica","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--jkfwlnJz--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774964393/logos/danielpetrica?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/danielpetrica"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/startup-weekend-how-we-won-the-competition-3r2crjooa","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"startup,career","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Daniel Petrica","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/danielpetrica"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Startup Weekend: How we Won the Competition"}]} ```