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
Techweek Wednesday: Big Data Summit
Techweek Kansas City has arrived with dozens of events scheduled around the city each day. Wednesday’s scheduled events are included below. Don’t forget to check whether the event is RSVP-only. Big Data Summit Who: The Big Data Summit spans Wednesday and Thursday, with the bulk of the events on Wednesday. The summit events start with…
5 takeaways from most entrepreneurial city report
A report analyzing progress on Kansas City’s goal to become America’s most entrepreneurial city highlighted a trove of information on the area’s early-stage business community. KCSourceLink’s second-annual “We Create KC” report dissects the metro’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, including its headway toward realizing a challenge to become the nation’s most entrepreneurial city. Expounding on such metrics as…
KC lands federal ‘Smart Cities Initiative’ grant
The White House announced a new ‘Smart Cities Initiative’ this week that will bolster the Kansas City tech community. The $160 million grant has a slew of moving parts, but one portion includes a $6 million grant from the National Science Foundation that 15 communities, including Kansas City, will benefit from. The exact amount each…
Pipeline accepting applications, heading abroad
Pipeline Entrepreneurs is welcoming applicants for its 10th fellowship class, which is now gearing up for a lively year of entrepreneurial education. Pipeline, an organization of powerful Midwestern entrepreneurs that conducts a fellowship each year, will be holding its development courses in Kansas City, St. Louis, Nebraska and Ireland. Pipeline CEO Joni Cobb said the…