Startup Weekend: Coming Soon to a City Near You

Posted by: Mark Marich on October 04, 2010 Source: Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship

Startup Weekend, a nonprofit organization focused on educating entrepreneurs through community building, innovation and education, recently received a grant from the Kauffman Foundation to expand its efforts. The typical Startup Weekend event educates aspiring entrepreneurs and helps move them from idea to market all in the span of a 54-hour event over – you guessed it – a weekend.

To date, Startup Weekend has helped educate more than 17,000 entrepreneurs at over 120 events worldwide, and has facilitated the launch of over 560 new startup ventures around the globe. Startup Weekend is a signature event during Global Entrepreneurship Week, Nov. 15-21, 2010, a Kauffman Foundation-founded initiative that annually introduces millions of young people around the world to entrepreneurship.

“Startup Weekend educates, inspires and accelerates entrepreneurs,” said Bo Fishback, vice president of entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation. “These events give entrepreneurs the motivation and networking they need to take the next step in creating a successful startup.”

Startup Weekend will allocate Kauffman Foundation grant money to invest in the infrastructure, systems and processes that will make the organization more efficient and better positioned to scale once new cities, domestic and international, are added to the network. Attention will be given to researching the science behind the proven success of the model in an effort to further improve the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The grant will allow Startup Weekend to educate thousands more entrepreneurs who will, in turn, launch more startups. Additional resources will allow Startup Weekend to develop relationships and programs designed to increase the resources and support available to entrepreneurs both before and after weekend events.

“We are honored to be working with the Kauffman Foundation,” said Marc Nager, director, Startup Weekend. “This partnership will allow us to harness the potential of our dream and passion that has become Startup Weekend. We hope to become one of their most well-known and high-impact partnerships in the early stage startup ecosystem.”

The following Startup Weekend events are on the schedule for the remainder of 2010:

• Dublin - Oct. 1-3
• Vancouver - Oct. 8-10 
• Denver - Oct. 15-17 
• Los Angeles - Oct. 15-17   
• New England - Oct. 15-17
• Topeka - Oct. 15-17 
• Milan - Oct. 15-17
• Olympia - Oct. 15-17   
• Phoenix - Oct. 22-24   
• Kuala Lumpur - Oct. 22-24
•  Rome - Oct. 29-31
• Geneva - Nov. 4-6
• Lexington - Nov. 12-14
• Beirut - Nov. 12-14
• Boston - Nov. 12-14
• Indianapolis - Nov. 12-14
• Sofia - Nov. 12-14
• Seattle - Nov. 12-14
• Miami - Nov. 12-14
• NYC - Nov. 12-14
• Dallas - Nov. 12-14
• Kansas City - Nov. 12-14
• Cleveland - Nov. 12-14
• Atlanta - Nov. 12-14     
• Idaho - Nov. 12-14
• Sao Paulo - Nov. 19-21
• Detroit - Nov. 19-21
• Costa Rica - Dec. 4-6

Category:  General  Growth & Poverty  Tags:  event