Share your ideas at unique Startup Weekend

Weekend-long entrepreneurial event promotes thinking outside of the box

This coming weekend is an exciting time for Minnesota State University, Mankato. A very unique event is coming to campus called Startup Weekend.

This event is about individuals giving up their weekends to try to launch a startup. These individuals have 54 hours to come up with an idea that will change the world in a way that no one else has thought of yet.

Groups will accomplish this dream with a team of people that they probably have never met before. The teams have all day Saturday to work on their idea. On Sunday, they need to have a prototype ready to present their idea to a group of expert judges. These judges could either tear the idea apart or they could possibly make the idea into a career.

Startup Weekend is an exciting and life-changing event that happens every weekend in multiple cities around the world. We are lucky enough to have it here on our very own campus this coming weekend.

Startup Weekend begins on Friday, April 1, with registration starting at 6:30 p.m. Dinner and Networking starts at 7 p.m. which is a time to eat food, meet fellow participants, share ideas, and practice pitches.

Welcome starts at 7:20 p.m. where the agenda for the weekend is reviewed. Finally at 7:30 p.m. the pitches start. Everyone attending the event gets to hear the participant’s pitches on their ideas.

At 9 p.m., attendees get to vote on which pitches they thought were the best. After the voting, the participants form into teams and start discussing their ideas and maybe even start to begin their work.

On Saturday, April 2, the teams have all day to work on their idea. They start their work at 9:30 a.m. and can stay as late as the venue will allow. Of course they will also have breaks for meals throughout the day. At 2 p.m., teams even get a one-on-one meeting with a coach to get some extra help they may need.

Finally, on Sunday, April 3, teams show up to get some final hours of work time to prepare for their presentations and do tech checks. Final presentations begin at 5 p.m. Judging and awards then take place at 7:45 p.m. Here participants get to see if their idea is good enough to build a career out of. This truly is an exciting and nerve-racking event.

If you would like to know more about this event or would like to see a full schedule for the weekend, click here. You can also purchase tickets to attend this event and review the events sponsors by visiting this website.

Startup Weekend is such a unique and thrilling event. If you want to see some entrepreneurs in action, come to MSU this weekend. Who knows? You may leave with the next big idea.

Photo: (CC BY 2.0) by  ImagineCup)