Startup Weekend NB: The Hardest Part is Starting Up
FREDERICTON – The toughest part of starting a startup is, well, starting up.
One event aims to fit this process that sometimes takes years, into one weekend.
Startup Weekend is a three-day event that takes place in 150 countries across the world, with nearly 3000 Startup Weekends taking place since 2007. Lucky for you, the New Brunswick event is happening this weekend (November 13 to 15) in Fredericton.
“They say the hardest part of starting up a company is starting out, so Startup Weekend takes that process that could normally be so long and painful and accelerates it into one action packed weekend,” said Nicola MacLeod, the co-lead organizer of the New Brunswick event. “It’s an opportunity to validate your idea, meet potential co-founders and develop a minimum viable product – all in three days.”
Participants come together on a Friday evening and those who have ideas, pitch them to the group. The group then votes on the best ideas and a handful are chosen to be developed over the weekend. The group breaks off into teams and then they start working!
For the next 54 hours, the teams dive head-first into their startups and have mentors from different backgrounds and sectors pop in throughout the weekend to help the companies refine their ideas and work on their products before pitching to a panel of judges on Sunday evening. The top three winners then win prizes to help advance their ideas further.
Don’t have an idea? The idea of public speaking makes you nauseous? That’s cool. Participants vary from curious high school students, to serious entrepreneurs looking to launch their idea.
“All the participants have a mixture of backgrounds – from non-technical subjects like marketing and business to design and developers – and not everyone has an idea,” MacLeod said. “Only about 50 per cent of participants actually pitch, the others are there to collaborate and join an awesome team.”
But the fun doesn’t end on Sunday night. This weekend’s event is going on during Global Startup Battle, which is basically hundreds of Startup Weekends going on worldwide between November 13 and 23. Participants can compete locally first, then against their region, then the world. Within 48 hours of your Startup Weekend ending, you can submit a 90-second video pitch. Teams can hustle for votes and a judging panel will determine which of the thousands of companies move on to the final rounds.
“If you’re looking to launch your startup, this is a great first step, but if you’re just super interested in startups and entrepreneurship and want to experience the weekend, it’s also awesome,” MacLeod said.
Many people participate just for the experience, however some ideas go on to turn into the province’s next big startup. . . Hot Spot Merchant Solutions anyone?
“The opportunities are endless, but it’s also okay to just participate for the experience,” MacLeod said. “Startup Weekend is whatever you make of it.”
Well, we’re sold. Sign us up.