Push a button, get alcohol delivered at your doorstep

Three students of the International Institute of Information Technology-Hyderabad have come up with www.thebootlegger.co, where one could order alcohol

Fed up of going to wine shops, which are always dirty and busy? Not anymore. Now, get alcohol, food, munches and cigarettes delivered at your doorstep with just a push of a button.

Varun Demireddy, Chirag Choudhary and Naveen Chintumaneni, three classmates at the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT)-Hyderabad, have come up with thebootlegger.co, a website that could be accessed via desktop or mobile to order alcohol.

Thebootlegger.co is one of the two startup ideas, with the other being PratyEK, also from Hyderabad, to emerge winner at this year’s StartupWeekend hosted by New York Stock Exchange-listed software company, Progress Software Corporation, at its Hyderabad campus on Sunday.

PratyEK is a forum that marries the willingness of every Indian to meaningfully add value through volunteering in their free time with needs of 3.3 million non-government organisations (NGOs) across India as well as thousands of other initiatives in a non-disruptive manner, says PratyEk team member Sourabh Jain.

“Whether you are a housewife, an elderly person leading a retired life, a student wanting to put vacation to proper use or employed but seeking fulfilling activity, you need not leave your work to change the world. Just contribute in bite size time chunks. Through PratyEK, we will let you know who needs you,” he says.

EK is the new currency of volunteering that the PratyEK team has created. Through its website with the same name, one can give EK –– One hour and multiples (like one day, one week, one month and one year of volunteering). If you are an NGO or for a social cause, you can seek the same EK.

“Whether you are a volunteer or the one seeking them, EK and its multiples will become your permanent deposits and will reflect on your profile as EK badges with your hour credits reflecting there. You need not tell people that you are into doing good ... your PratyEK badge will tell a lot about you,” Jain says.

GlassPort, which creates a 360-degree point-of-view panoramas using Google Glass and then teleport your friends and family to your environment live from anywhere else in the world, and EventAngels, a website intended to act as a platform for connecting event organisers with event sponsors, were selected as  the first and second runners up.

Startup Weekend is a Seattle-based non-profit organisation, which conducts this event once every year. This year, the StartupWeekend was hosted in three cities with the Mumbai edition held last week and Bangalore and Hyderabad editions held simultaneously this week.

The Hyderabad edition witnessed more than 200 participants from over 36 teams across India. Of these, 12 startup ideas were selected by voting and were presented to a team of entrepreneurs, venture capitals and angels. The winning ideas from all the editions will be a part of the Global Startup Battle and will present at Google’s global headquarters.