Startup Weekend Coming to Moncton
MONCTON– Startup Weekend is coming to the hub city this spring.
Startup Weekend is a three-day event happening in 150 countries across the world, with nearly 3000 Startup Weekends taking place since 2007. Fredericton hosted a Startup Weekend back in November. With that event a success, 3+ Moncton’s Julian Robichaud and entrepreneur Fred LaForge thought it was about time to bring Startup Weekend to Moncton.
“Well, we felt Moncton is a great venue for a Startup Weekend, being the centre of the Maritimes it’s a no brainer,” LaForge said.
Moncton Startup Weekend will follow a similar format as the Fredericton event: squeeze a process that sometimes takes years into one weekend. 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 Sunday evening.
“We are definitely using our experience from the Fredericton Startup weekend as a benchmark for the Moncton event. We’re hopeful that the event will bring great people together to build amazing things,” LaForge said
LaForge and Robichaud are still planning the event. A date and venue for the event will soon be determined and they will be keeping the public updated via Facebook. LaForge said there’s already a ton of interest and they will have a lot support.
“The Moncton startup community is vibrant and ever growing. With the interests in sponsorship, mentors and people who are excited to participate in the event, we’re hopeful it will bring as much people as the Fredericton event, if not more.”
LaForge said the more initiatives like Startup Weekend take place in the province, the more accessible they become to everyone.
“The tools and energy an individual can gather in one of these events are simply amazing,” he said. “The people you meet who are like minded, could very well be your partner in crime for the next years building an amazing product.”