Startup Weekend returns to Kansas City in June
April 18, 2017 | Bobby Burch
People often ruminate for years on a startup idea, calculating risk, analyzing a market and perfecting a pitch.
With Startup Weekend, that course of contemplative construction is distilled into 48 hours of ideation, iteration and presentation. And after a year hiatus, the event is returning to Kansas City for wild weekend of founding fury.
Startup Weekend is set for June 9 – 11 at the yet-to-be announced Techstars Kansas City offices. Locally, past winners of Startup Weekend have included 1 Minute Candidate, LoopLogiq, Zaarly and others.
We spoke with Startup Weekend organizer John Coler about the event, its needs and tips for teams.
What is startup weekend?
Startup Weekend is a 48-hour event for developers, designers and entrepreneurially-minded people to get together and create a startup over the course of a weekend. We provide resources via facilitators and mentors to assist teams and they bring expertise from various industries in the Kansas City community.
What kind of people are needed?
We’re open to anyone that has that entrepreneurial drive. We want to do our best to get developers and designers to attend. We need to build things and that’s who we’re hoping for this time around. … We need more developer and design talent. We can get that form startup community and from corporate employees looking to make that entrepreneurial jump.
What types of teams perform well?
It varies. You need a team from a variety of categories, developers, designers and non-technical talent. They need to experiment over the weekend, make prototypes and do customer validation. The teams that typically perform the best are the ones that can get a paying customer over the course of a weekend. I really think anyone can be successful as long as they follow guidelines from the judges.
Any advice for teams?
Come in well rested. It’s a long weekend. Put out feelers on who will be attending. … Do some reading up on lean startup methodology and other resources to understand that. Surf online to see what’s been done before in other Startup Weekends and what’s worked for them. If you’re coming in with a particular idea, do research on what’s out there.
Featured Business
2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Does KC deserve a high rank for women in tech? 3 female techies reflect
For three consecutive years, Kansas City has maintained its ranking as the second-best metro for women in technology. In addition to being one of only three cities without a gender pay gap, Kansas City scored high marks for its relatively high ratio of tech jobs filled by women, according to the study conducted by SmartAsset.…
Events Preview: Garmin Developer Summit, The Funnel Cake Truck
There are a plethora of entrepreneurial events hosted in Kansas City on a weekly basis. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, investor, supporter, or curious community member — we recommend these upcoming events for you. Are you hosting a relevant community event? Feel free to add it to the FWD/KC calendar for increased exposure. Once your event…
A hub for KC’s startup gigs, Startland relaunches jobs board
The hamster wheel of daily work is a powerful force — especially in news. Amid the tumult of startup life, a chance to pause, reflect and be proactive in creating a more robust organization can be rare. But some opportunities are simply too important to continue passing by. As Startland approaches its two-year anniversary, we’ve…
Survey: Most regional investors want a better due diligence process
For investors, investigating deals isn’t always an easy process. From examining an industry’s opportunity to loads of legal analysis, the amount of work in the due diligence process is often enough to deter financiers from investing in a firm. That’s why in a recent survey, a majority of regional investors said they’d love a better…