Startup Weekend’s challenge: Build Missouri’s next billion-dollar idea (in three days)

COLUMBIA, Missouri — Budding entrepreneurs are gathering next month for a three-day business pitch event that could earn them $45,000 in prizes plus a $150,000 investment opportunity for the winning company with billion-dollar potential, organizers said.

Missouri Startup Weekend returns April 11-13 at EquipmentShare’s newly opened Technology & Development Center in Columbia. It’s a unique opportunity for innovators to work together as entrepreneurs while assessing and connecting them to the talent, mentorship, and resources needed to launch a generational company, said Brett Calhoun.

Members of the 2024 winning team, Solvtax, pitch during Missouri Startup Weekend; photo courtesy of Missouri Startup Weekend

“Aspiring founders can find people who can help them build out their ideas over the weekend, with the goal of actually launching a company,” said Calhoun, managing director and general partner at Redbud VC, an investment firm launched by the co-founders of EquipmentShare. “There’s no other event in Missouri that has that effect on entrepreneurship right now.”

The experience — hosted by Redbud VC and EquipmentShare, itself a 2014 Startup Weekend winner that grew into a unicorn top 25 Y Combinator company — coincides with the wildly successful Columbia scale-up’s 10-year anniversary celebration, making it a milestone weekend for the Missouri startup ecosystem, Calhoun added. 

Here’s how the weekend works: Participants can pitch their ideas on Friday night and then form teams around the top ideas. Teams will then work on their ideas throughout the weekend (talking to customers, building an MVP, researching the market, etc.) and pitch on Sunday while being judged by successful entrepreneurs, operators, and investors. 

This year, the winner will receive a $45,000 prize pack with a $10,000 cash prize (non-dilutive), $15,000 in MVP development services sponsored by Aviron Software, $15,000 Branding and Design Package sponsored by Digital Bullpen, a complete legal entity formation sponsored by Transitions Law Group, a press release sponsored by Relevance, the potential for up to $150,000 investment from Redbud VC and six months of post-launch support. 

Click here to get tickets for Missouri Startup Weekend.

Participants and spectators are expected to travel to Columbia from Kansas City, St. Louis and beyond for the event.

“We’re bringing superior talent from across the region together for one weekend with the goal of launching multiple companies,” Calhoun said. “We’re looking forward to working closely with the winner of MOSW as they navigate building their venture at the earliest stages.”

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New for 2025: A “Sprint Track” for those already in the thick of building a company that offers an opportunity to supercharge progress — immersing local early-stage companies in the Startup Weekend process while building with their core team.

“Startups feel like a lifelong sprint, but whether you have a distributed team, want a change of scenery, or a new perspective, the Sprint Track gives teams a reason to get together and check off items on their roadmap that might otherwise take weeks,” Calhoun said. 

Wade Foster, co-founder of Zapier, chats with James Carr, the first engineering hire at Zapier, during the 2024 Missouri Startup Weekend at EquipmentShare; photo courtesy of Missouri Startup Weekend

Lead sponsors for the three-day event include Zapier, a 2011 Startup Weekend winner that now is a YC top 25 company and unicorn; Veterans United; and The Arcade District; along with support from Husch Blackwell, Paytient, Veterans United Home Loans, Missouri Technology Corporation, Williams Keepers, and others. 

“Back in 2011, the ecosystem was still in its early stages,” said Wade Foster, CEO and co-founder of Zapier. “There were talented folks with great ideas, but there weren’t as many resources or a roadmap for what building a startup looked like. That’s part of why Startup Weekend was such a big deal — it brought people together, created momentum, and gave us confidence. Since then, the ecosystem has grown in some incredible ways.”

Members of the runner-up team Music Den (now Soundcheck) at the 2024 Missouri Startup Weekend; photo courtesy of Missouri Startup Weekend

Missouri Startup Weekend organizers Saskia Cairnes, Maria Heyen, and Brett Calhoun take the stage before announcing winners of the 2024 weekend in Columbia; photo courtesy of Missouri Startup Weekend

Missouri Startup Weekend has helped contribute to that growth, organizers said, citing the success stories of companies like EquipmentShare, Zapier, and Noonlight, a safety tech startup founded by University of Missouri students who participated in the event.

Another recent winner, Appreciate, went from an idea to raising institutional funding in fewer than eight months. The company has 13 employees and an office in the heart of Columbia’s Arcade District. Soundcheck, the runner-up in 2024, opened its first location in downtown Columbia in August 2024. 

“The consistent success of [Missouri Startup Weekend] creates an environment that attracts the best investors and founders throughout the region to support early entrepreneurs,” said Maria Heyen, organizer of Missouri Startup Weekend and an investor at Redbud VC.