PickUp Patrol Wins Big at Seacoast Event

A team of teenage entrepreneurs sealed a double win at the 2015 Seacoast NH Start-Up competition. PickUp Patrol in Mont Vernon took home both the grand prize and the People’s Choice award at the third annual business competition. The prize package included $10,000 in cash and $30,000 of in-kind services, among them one year of rent-free office space in Rochester, an interest-free loan, a one-year membership in the Rochester Chamber of Commerce, and legal and other business services.

PickUp Patrol created an app that streamlines interactions between parents and schools regarding pick ups, early dismissals and other communications. 

Teenagers Brian Apple and Tony Edvalson made the pitch to judges. “Tracking all those changes is stressful, and it takes a school office staff one to three hours each day . . . That’s about $6,000 annually that our schools are devoting to managing what students are doing after they leave the building,” Apple and Edvalson told the judges.

The other four finalists were:

1. Adasko Enterprises LLC in North Conway, which is developing a prototype for a new barbecue tool;
2. EasyImpact in Manchester, an app to reduce municipal management costs and promote local economic development;
3. Ready to Relo, an app to connect businesses to identify and hire talent across regional borders; and
4. Vera Roasting Company, a company marketing coffee with a heart-healthy additive.