Overview

Start-up Weekend is a 54-hour event, typically held on weekends, where aspiring entrepreneurs meet to progress their ideas. Each day of the event is a different focus; Friday is for pitching ideas and gathering a team, Saturday and part of Sunday is for building a viable product and Sunday night is prototype demonstration and judging of ideas.

Purpose

The purpose of Start-up Weekend is to enable attendees to get educated, network and launch a product all within a super tight time frame. This Weekend consists of 54 hours of people, pizza and pop provided in an environment not seen in any other seminar events.

It appears that most Start-up Weekend events are focused primarily on launching web, mobile or service products. The focus is not necessarily on engineered or material products because those require design research and physical prototyping, which are unfeasable to launch within such a short timeframe. A Fellow may be wise to take this into account when decidding if this resource is best for their purposes.

A notable exception to this includes the Toronto Start-up Weekend, which hosts a 'maker edition,' giving attendees access to the full suite of resources one would typically encounter at a hackerworks/makerworks event.

Distinct Differences From Other Offerings

Start-up Weekend provides a quick-and-dirty, hands on learning experience that is hard to replicate. Since attendees are focused solely on their products and ideas for the entire weekend, with access to resources the entire way, Start-up Weekend can enable entreprenuers to conceive and launch an idea in under three days.

Hilightable differences include:

Faster pace than other resources
Focus primarily on mobile/web/IT/service products; products that can be built and launched in a relatively short timeframe, without safety, design, or material concerns
Focus primarily on early business lessons; what is required to start and run business in the earliest stage
Provides coaches: experienced business leaders to assist and advise the startup process
Competition style event; not purely a seminar, offers judging by an organizer selected panel

Start-up Weekend is focused on fast paced, hands on learning with little time for theory or lecture.

Impact Achieved For Students and Campus

Startup Weekend's website cites that over 1/3 of startups founded at their events are still running smooth after three months of business, and that ~80% of participants are still working with those companies- perhaps an impressive feat considering their attendance record of over 45,000 alumni.

Startup weekend teaches attendees how to rapidly develop and mature an idea- it appears to focus more on the initial startup of the business than the long-term running. While valuable networking opportunities are sure to present themselves, this may not be the event for the seasoned entreprenuer looking for fine tweaks and coaching.

Additional update pending interview with John Schneider, founder of Fargo MELD and Startup Weekend alum. Atempting to find additional 'hackerspace' style startup weekends as well.

Steps Required To Bring Resource to Campus

The Startup Weekend homepage provides a handy step-by-step guide to bringing their event to your city! Attendance at a previous startup weekend is a requirement for any prospective 'Organizers,' as Startup Weekend calls them.

An Organizer is responsible for organizing nearly the entire event from the ground up, from venue and food logistics to securing judges and coaches.

The largest barrier that must be overcome in order to bring Startup Weekend to your campus or city is the requirement for an Organizer to be a Startup Weekend alumni- that is, they must have previously attended a startup weekend. Access to such an event depends on the proximity of your campus to startup events and your willingness to make the journey to attend one - or to convince an alumni to come to you!

Startup weekend presents itself as a simple, easy to deploy system- they host a variety of documentation on their webpage to assist in getting one set up.

Amongst the resources, a few highlights include:

-Leadership and team building advice

-Target audience & potential areas to look for budding entreprenuers

-Financial information (planning, acquiring sponsors, etc..)

-Day by day guides to suggested event planning

Contact Information

For general information regarding Startup Weekend, see the homepage at http://startupweekend.org/

For direct contact information, there is a form webpage at http://startupweekend.org/contact/

Mailing Address:

1700 7th Ave, Suite 116 #147
Seattle, WA 98101

Organization:Startup Weekend / Up.co

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