This past weekend, SnowShoers, UW students, local entrepreneurs and professors descended on UW-Madison’s Tong Auditorium for 3 Day Startup Madison, a three-day crash course in entrepreneurship and startup development (and caffeine consumption).

At the weekend’s final pitch event, participants–including SnowShoe software engineering intern Nate Sullivan–delivered investor pitches and prototype demonstrations to a panel of notable names in the Madison technology scene.

Participants’ ideas were all over the map, including a pitch for an online database of practice drills for sports coaches. technology to help bioacoustics researchers recognize animal noises,  and an idea for online games to be played in urinals at bars! SnowShoe’s Nate and his teammates created Sniper, a smartphone game that uses face recognition technology to create virtual answers to popular large group games Assassin and Humans vs. Zombies.

While developing their final products, participants were involved in every aspect of production and business development. Team members both built prototypes from scratch and went out into the community to connect with potential customers.

Historically, 3 Day Startup has been the launchpad for 33 startups that have received $8.5 million in funding. 16 of those companies have been backed by accelerators like Y Combinator, Dreamit Ventures and 500 Startups. The Madison event is one of 30 3-Day Startup weekends in 2012.