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Startup Weekends are like summer camp meets Shark Tank meets hackathon meets MBA program.
Needless to say, this is an action-packed, 54-hour event you won’t want to miss!
It all starts with an idea.
Pitch
Whether you’ve thought on an idea for 5 seconds or 5 years, record a short 60 second video explaining who you are, the problem you’re trying to solve, your solution, and the talent you need. Visit our pitching resource for more information! Don’t have an idea to pitch? That’s okay – you can join a team and learn the process with their idea!
You are not your user.
Validate
Once teams form organically around an idea, it’s off to the races! You’ll spend the rest of the weekend learning how to validate an idea, form a business model, and build a minimum viable product. If these words don’t make sense, don’t worry! We’ll have virtual, interactive workshops to educate you over the weekend and helpful mentors to live-chat or video call along the way.
Jump in the tank with the sharks.
Present
The weekend wraps up with a Shark Tank-style pitch in front of a panel of judges. You’ll record your 5 minute pitch to present everything you’ve learned over the weekend for a chance at winning awesome prizes that will help you and your team further your journey. Judges will watch your pitch “live” during our closing ceremony and challenge you with a live Q&A.
Advice from the Experts
We’ll set you up with 1-on-1 connection opportunities with mentors and professionals from all industries to help your team think through and build out your business model.
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Startup Weekend attendees come from all backgrounds, professions, regions, and experiences. We’ve had designers, inventors, developers, bankers, entrepreneurs, car enthusiasts, scientists, botanists, chefs, and just about anyone else you can think of. No matter who you are, this is a great event for you to learn the startup life as well as meet some awesome people. Teams are formed organically Friday night after ideas are submitted virtually pre-event and voted on by the participants. Make sure to get on the Startup Weekend Discord, our virtual communication tool, to share how awesome you are, what your passions and skills are, and how you can help the team.
“MBA in a Weekend”
That’s a direct quote! We’ve had MBA professors tell us that their students have walked away with more from a Startup Weekend event than a whole semester of classes! What’s our secret sauce? Moving education into action! We offer virtual workshops throughout the weekend to teach startup essentials and then kick everyone out of the building to go apply what they’ve learned.
Customer Discovery
Saturday morning's virtual workshop will teach you how to determine if your idea is viable by interviewing potential customers. We'll teach you the do's and don'ts of customer discovery.
Business Model & MVP
After spending the morning validating your problem, we'll cover what a minimum viable product is and how to build a business model using the Lean Startup Business Model Canvas.
Pitching
All of the weekend's hard work is presented to a panel of judges on Sunday night. During this virtual workshop, we cover how to build your pitch and prepare for the judges questions.
Pitch to the Sharks
While our judges aren’t as fierce as the sharks you may see on TV, they are just as talented. Sunday night, judges will watch your pre-recorded 5-min pitch and follow with 4min of live Q&A. Judges are looking for validation of the idea, a viable business model, and a well-designed and executed MVP.
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Check Back ShortlyPrize Pool for Winning Teams
- Venture first is offering 1 hour consultation for fundraising + 1 hr finance consultation with a VP of Finance
- Forecastr is offering a Google Sheets Financial Model & an annual subscription
- Fort & Phelps is offering a free consultation and 50% of their new company formation package
- LaunchIt is offering one complimentary spot in the Fall 2020 LaunchIt class.
- Venture Connectors is offering one free corporate membership to Venture Connectors monthly luncheon & Venture Sharks pitch competition. This membership covers 2 attendees.
- El Toro is offering six (6) free 30-min mentoring sessions with experienced team members at El Toro.
- Kale & Flax is offering ten (10) hours of pitch deck design, strategy, and coaching for one winning team. One free 1 hour design & strategy session with each other winning team.
- Access Ventures is offering one (1) free one hour mentoring session with Moses from Access Ventures for each winning team.
- Story Louisville is offering one (1) free hot desk for two (2) months for each winning team.
Sign-up today to take the next step on your entrepreneurial journey!