Koester

Learn That Name is not your typical entrepreneurial success story. Conceived on a whim at Startup Weekend last August, the mobile application was built by a group of 14 co-founders during the 54-hour coding marathon. But the iPhone app -- which won top honors at the event for a quiz game that tests one's memory on LinkedIn contacts -- has already achieved a big success.

Tonight, one of the key creators of the idea confirmed that the startup (if you can even call it that) has been acquired by Seattle-based Gist. Terms weren't disclosed. But co-creator Eric Koester tells us that all 14 co-founders who played a role in the development of the project will get a "nice little payday" as a result of the acquisition.

It's probably a good thing Koester spends his days working as a corporate attorney at Cooley Godward, since managing the expectations of 14 people during acquisition talks sounds like a potential nightmare. In fact, Koester said that many of the people who participated in the creation of the idea went their separate ways after Startup Weekend concluded.

That was to be expected, he said. But a core group kept building out the technology, while others worked on possible business development relationships.

That included the continued development of the iPhone app, as well as a Palm OS app and Flash app.

"That's probably the blessing and the curse of building a technology/product/business at Startup Weekend -- throwing 14 people at a project gets a pretty good product done in a short time frame, but it is hard to keep a team of that size together and focused thereafter," he said. "So I think in the end we are all very pleased with the result -- the technology and all of the apps get a long-term home at a company that we think shares our ultimate aim ... and we can nicely wrap up the (Learn That Name) experience in a bow."

(Interestingly, it caused a bit of a stir last year when Learn That Name's iPhone app won, since Startup Weekend was hosted on Microsoft's campus).

Learn that Name and Gist were hoping to hold the acquisition news until the kickoff of the next Startup Weekend in Seattle, which begins this Friday at the Adobe campus in Fremont. But word leaked out earlier tonight via TechCrunch.

As part of the acquisition, the Learn That Name game has been integrated with the Gist iPhone application. Koester said.

"We all think it is a great fit," added Koester. "Both companies/ideas were designed to help you know who you know better." In fact, Koester said they were working on an integration with Gist when the Seattle startup approached them about a possible deal.

Koester, who calls himself a "Startup Weekend junkee," will be back at the drawing board this weekend in Seattle. In fact, he tells us that he came up with a new idea just the other day in the shower. "I am kinda excited to see if I can help build something again, " he said.

I am sure given the recent success, there will be plenty of attendees who will be seeking Koester and crew out.

Here's Koester's pitch from last fall.

And here's the Gist blog post on the deal.