Can a startup go from concept to launch in 54 hours?
Startup Weekend is an organization that answers this question with a resounding affirmative, and it does so many times each year in cities around the world.
At a typical Startup Weekend, ambitious entrepreneurs, developers, designers and marketers meet up for around-the-clock hacking, beginning on Friday afternoon and ending on Sunday.
As the hacking draws to a close, each nascent startup prepares a presentation and pitches their idea and product to an audience of press and investors.
Not only does this organization foster radical creativity and lightning-spe ed entrepreneurship and team-building; it is also responsible for getting some very interesting, community-focused ideas off the ground in just 54 hours.
And Startup Weekend is a truly global initiative, with upcoming events in Mongolia, Hamburg, Toronto, San Francisco, Madrid, Boston, Denver and more.
Some big-name, successful apps, such as Foodspotting, have come from Startup Weekend events in the past. But some of the more under-the-radar apps and teams are working on solutions to real problems in their communities. Here’s a quick look at a few change-minded companies or products that have come from Startup Weekend so far.
ThinkSmartGrid
Founded: Chicago, 2010
The Idea: Billions of investment dollars have found their way to the smart grid, yet its promise is still unfulfilled, even after 20 years of vendor demand and consumer education. ThinkSmartGrid was founded to work with stakeholders in the...
