Ideas will be formed and startup companies will be fostered Feb. 8 at Startup Weekend Storrs at the University of Connecticut.
Startup Weekend seeks to help passionate entrepreneurs meet like-minded participants and make their ideas into real businesses.
“It’s an event where people can get ideas out and start working on something that will grow past the weekend,” said Mike Pirelli, one of the event organizers.
Connecticut hosted three Startup Weekends in 2012 — Hartford, New Haven, and Stamford — but the decision to locate the event in Storrs comes from UConn’s vibrant entrepreneurial presence, said Parelli.
Participants can be anyone, ranging from all ages and all experience levels from students seeking guidance to successful retired entrepreneurs. These participants are then guided by coaches, seasoned professionals in the business industry who are there to answer questions and advise the teams.
One of these experts who mentor the participants is Christopher Levesque, the director of the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Events like these are successful because they inspires innovation and fosters partnerships, said Levesque, who founded New Haven biotech firm Affinimark Technologies.
“It illustrates to people in a poignant way that they can do it too,” Levesque said. “The power of different perspectives leads to the best ideas, and develops that spirit of can-do attitude which is critical to innovation.”
Once teams get together and form ideas for their potential startup company, they present them to judges who range from vice presidents of major corporations to successful small business entrepreneurs. The teams with the best ideas receive prizes to financially help turn their ideas into reality.
“The program is fast-paced and high-pressured, but the companies that could arise out of the weekend create businesses, create jobs, and help Connecticut’s economy,” Pirelli said.
The groups are arranged to include non-technical and technical participants, people who are business-minded and people who can actually create Web sites and applications.
“This may look like just an entrepreneurial exercise, but what it is a really great business vehicle for anyone, with no prerequisites required, who want to turn their idea and passion into a real business,” said Eric Knight, president of Remarkable Technologies Inc. and one of the organizers of Startup Weekend Storrs.
Knight said the weekend provides an exhilarating opportunity to turn an idea into a full-fledged robust business over the course of a weekend.
“The ability to do this is unparalleled,” Knight said.
The location of the event at UConn, Levesque said, takes advantage of the creative and inventive people surrounding and in the campus community.
While some participants may not come out of the weekend with a new business formed or a new idea propagated, the virtue of Startup Weekend Storrs truly lies with the networking opportunities and partnerships formed that last long after the weekend.
“The collaboration possibilities last far beyond the event itself,” said Levesque.
Read more
