What Is Startup Weekend?

What is Startup Weekend?

Startup Weekend is a global network of passionate leaders and entrepreneurs on a mission to inspire, educate, and empower individuals, teams and communities. Come share ideas, form teams, and launch startups.

Startup Weekend Global Site

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Ever wondered what it takes to be an entrepreneur?

The professional and personal challenges, the high and lows, the failures and the success?

Startup Weekend is a global grassroots movement of active and empowered entrepreneurs who are learning the basics of founding startups and launching successful ventures. It is the largest community of passionate entrepreneurs with over 400 past events in 100 countries around the world in 2011.

The non-profit organization is headquartered in Seattle, Washington but Startup Weekend organizers and facilitators can be found in over 200 cities around the world. From Mongolia to South Africa to London to Brazil, people around the globe are coming together for weekend long workshops to pitch ideas, form teams, and start companies.

All Startup Weekend events follow the same basic model: anyone is welcome to pitch their startup idea and receive feedback from their peers. Teams organically form around the top ideas (as determined by popular vote) and then it’s a 54 hour frenzy of business model creation, coding, designing, and market validation. The weekends culminate with presentations in front of local entrepreneurial leaders with another opportunity for critical feedback.

Whether entrepreneurs found companies, find a cofounder, meet someone new, or learn a skill far outside their usual 9-to-5, everyone is guaranteed to leave the event better prepared to navigate the chaotic but fun world of startups. If you want to put yourself in the shoes of an entrepreneur, register now for the best weekend of your life!

Ever wondered what it takes to be an entrepreneur? The professional and personal challenges, the high and lows, the failures and the success? Startup Weekend is a global grassroots movement of active and empowered entrepreneurs who are learning the basics of founding startups and launching successful ventures. It is the largest community of passionate entrepreneurs with over 400 past events in 100 countries around the world in 2011.

The non-profit organization is headquartered in Seattle, Washington but Startup Weekend organizers and facilitators can be found in over 200 cities around the world. From Mongolia to South Africa to London to Brazil, people around the globe are coming together for weekend long workshops to pitch ideas, form teams, and start companies.

All Startup Weekend events follow the same basic model: anyone is welcome to pitch their startup idea and receive feedback from their peers. Teams organically form around the top ideas (as determined by popular vote) and then it’s a 54 hour frenzy of business model creation, coding, designing, and market validation.

The weekends culminate with presentations in front of local entrepreneurial leaders with another opportunity for critical feedback. Whether entrepreneurs found companies, find a cofounder, meet someone new, or learn a skill far outside their usual 9-to-5, everyone is guaranteed to leave the event better prepared to navigate the chaotic but fun world of startups.

If you want to put yourself in the shoes of an entrepreneur, register now for the best weekend of your life!

Schedule

Friday

May 4
  • Registration Starts
  • Dinner & Networking
  • Welcome & Speakers
  • Pitches Start
  • Attendees vote for the top ideas
  • Teams start forming and discussing ideas
  • Start to formalize teams and take an inventory of skills. Be honest, and direct about what resources and skills are needed for the weekend. You may stay and work as late as the venue will allow

Saturday

May 5
  • Arrive, simple breakfast & coffee
  • Teams formed and setting up workspace for the weekend
  • Lunch
  • Call for needs & skills
  • Coaches help teams one-on-one. They are here to help!
  • Dinner
  • Mid weekend check-in, status reports, call for help
  • Finished for the day. You may stay and work as late as the venue will allow

Sunday

May 6
  • Arrive, simple breakfast & coffee
  • Call for help (this is self motivated, so don’t be shy)
  • Lunch
  • Coaches arrive… ASK QUESTIONS
  • Gut check. Start prepping for presentations
  • Dinner
  • FINAL PRESENTATIONS
  • Judging & awards
  • Wrapup
  • Go home!
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Judges

Jack Ahrens

Venture Capitalist

Jack has been a venture capitalist and fund administrator since 1979, first as President of United Capital Corporation of Illinois (an SBIC), and since 1983 as a General Partner of Pathfinder Venture Capital Funds I, II and III. Prior to that he had seven years of experience in bank trust investments and operations. He became a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) in 1982 and has advanced training at the American Institute of Banking, NASBIC Management Institute, and Stanford Advance Management College. In recent years at Pathfinder, in addition to traditional venture investment responsibilities Jack has been the administrator of the Partnerships, Pathfinder's in-house systems expert, and has managed the firm's exits from portfolio investments that were sold or distributed. He is a graduate of Indiana University.

Matthew Mace

Founder and CEO of BlueGranite   |  LinkedIn

Matthew was a founder of BlueGranite, helping start the company in 1996. Matthew is active in the technology and business community, serving as Chair of the Western Michigan University CIS Advisory Board, past President & Vice-President of the Michigan Chapter of the International Association of Microsoft Certified Partners, and an instructor with Junior Achievement. Matthew was selected as one of the Top 40 Business Leaders Under 40 for West Michigan, and was a Western Michigan University Alumni Spotlight recipient. He is a Computer Information Systems graduate of Western Michigan University and completed his MBA at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Kim Klap

Kim is a natural connector. With a background in sales/marketing and business development, she joins the Start Garden team building business relationships, expanding the partner network and working with the startups. Kim has a heart for these startups and understands their challenges as she started and operated her own small business. Kim’s projects with the team include ArtPrize, 5×5 Night and TheCommon.org. Kim’s strongest asset is her natural ability to build and leverage relationships quickly. You can find Kim conversing over coffee at Madcap, grabbing dinner out with friends, golfing or hanging at the beach.

Gary Stock

Founder and CEO of Nexcerpt   |  LinkedIn

Gary tasted tech between the founding of Microsoft and Apple, and liked it. He dug into math and languages at Kalamazoo College and keyboard teaching and gigs carried him through graduate jazz studies. From the clubs, he transitioned (predictably) to Special Projects Cryptanalyst at NSA. His focus then turned to innovation in pharmaceutical validation, after which he founded and led (logically) a regional land conservancy.

Gary's 1996 startup -- a web change-monitoring service -- was acquired by a San Francisco firm in 2000. All his investors seemed ridiculously happy, briefly, he pretended to be "retired."

In 2001, Gary launched Nexcerpt news briefing service, on track to parse its 200 millionth article in 2012. (In 2002, he also created Googlewhack, although he had not intended to do so.) He is a recognized expert in land use regulation, environmental policy, and Eastern Box Turtles.

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Coaches

Matthew Mace

Founder and CEO of BlueGranite   |  LinkedIn

Matthew was a founder of BlueGranite, helping start the company in 1996. Matthew is active in the technology and business community, serving as Chair of the Western Michigan University CIS Advisory Board, past President & Vice-President of the Michigan Chapter of the International Association of Microsoft Certified Partners, and an instructor with Junior Achievement. Matthew was selected as one of the Top 40 Business Leaders Under 40 for West Michigan, and was a Western Michigan University Alumni Spotlight recipient. He is a Computer Information Systems graduate of Western Michigan University and completed his MBA at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Daniel Jefferies

Founder of Newmind Group   |  LinkedInGoogle+

Based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Dan began Newmind Group as a small, regional IT company in 2003. Since then, they have opened offices in New York and Salt Lake City and have grown in scope and size to become a national provider of cloud computing solutions for businesses of all sizes. They specialize in moving legacy systems to more cost effective and reliable cloud based systems hosted by Google, Amazon and Rackspace.

Larry Baumgart

Business Appraiser

Larry Baumgart is a business appraiser with 20 years of appraising experience. He is one of the founding members of Advanced Business Appraisers with clients throughout the state of Michigan. Larry’s clients have depended upon his appraisal analysis when selling their company, purchasing other companies, gifting stock, and in litigation situations. He also helps his clients better understand the risk factors that directly affect their company’s value. Larry has worked with companies from start up phases as well as multi-generational firms that are transitioning to their third or fourth generation.

Larry is also a business broker with Performance Business Advisors. He is actively engaged in selling various types of businesses in West Michigan.

Larry is a member of the Kalamazoo County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and the Chairman of the Kalamazoo County Economic Development Corporation.

Bill Playford

Vice President at DealerKnows LLC   |  LinkedIn

eCommerce advocate, auto industry addict, targeting practitioner, customer experience fanatic, business incubator veteran, disruptor, doer, VP of DealerKnows

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Organizers
Ryan Goins
Joe Armstrong
Carl Brown
Audrey Perricone
Brandy Gulley
Drew Kernosky
Photos
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Pitches

by ryangoins

We’re just 2.5 hours away from pitches and the room is getting tense! Over the last 54 hours teams have [...]

Today’s the Day!

by ryangoins

Hey everyone, can’t wait to see all of your pitches tonight! Here are some housekeeping items for the weekend: What [...]

The Space!

by ryangoins

After growing beyond the capacity of The Bureau, where we held our last Startup Weekend, we began searching out a [...]

Day 3!

by ryangoins

Sunday Funday! With only 2.5 hours to go before we start getting the pitches ready, the stress in this room [...]

Day 2: Updates.

by ryangoins

It has been 24 hours since we launched Startup Weekend Kalamazoo 2 and the progress is great. There is an [...]

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