Customer development, launch, and early stages Anderson: “Hone in on passionate niches of early adopters.”  Conley: “Start small to catch mistakes fast and save money.”  Free: “The only way to test the market is to actually test the market.”  Gansky: “Set aside time to fully understand your business before launch.”  Gittins: “Look for three assumptions [...]

The following is a guest post from Startup Weekend Organizer and Associate Jace Lieberman. Jace and his mother, Andrea Lieberman, co-founded Biking Billboards together.  In August of 2010, I started my first company as a junior in high school, called Biking Billboards. As a 16-year old kid, I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I [...]

This week at Startup Weekend, we have thought leadership about our first 100% women Startup Weekend event and some contest opportunities to share. Encouraging Female Entrepreneurs: One Event’s Unique Approach– Huffington Post On April 18-20, Startup Weekend held its first 100% women Startup Weekend event with all women participants, coaches, organizers, and facilitators. In the [...]

SXSW is excited to announce its 2013 V2Venture pitch event showcasing emerging technology products and services. The two-day SXSW V2Venture pitch event takes place August 13 and 14 at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, NV. As a part of the event, participants work on improving their product launch, attracting venture capitalists, and polishing their elevator [...]

The following is a guest post from Fatma Muhammad Ali, the lead organizer of the first Startup Weekend Assiut in March 2013. The story started at a time I was so far from entrepreneurship community (July 2012). All I knew about it was its definition. Many obstacles were facing this event starting from finding the right [...]

Michael Stokes is President & CEO of Waveform Communication in Indianapolis, Indiana. He participated in Startup Weekend Bloomington in Indiana last May. Already a seasoned entrepreneur, Mike discovered a whole new side of creating a business during his 54 hours. He offered to share his journey that began nearly 20 years ago with us.  A little over 20 [...]

Idea Generation Chris Anderson, founder of Future Publishing and CEO of TED Talks: “Observe people’s real passions to figure out what they want.”  Charles Best, founder of DonorsChoose.org: “Don’t just scratch your own itch, but an itch you actually care about.”  Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx: “Cultivate a vision for your product by devoting time [...]

This week at Startup Weekend, we had an ask for our community: to give us your feedback on the relationship between U.S. corporations and startups. We also have an update on Startup Weekend alumni Freak’n Genius and thought leadership on education reform. Are U.S. Corporations Supportive Of Startups? Weigh In On The Discussion. Startup Weekend needs your input! We are [...]

The following is a guest post from Startup Weekend Organizer and Facilitator Çelik Nimani about Math 4 Kids, a Startup Weekend team from Prishtina, Kosovo.  Co Founders Blerta Thaçi, Agon Avdimetaj, Esat Pllana and Dorjan Berishaj were recently accepted into the ICK pre-accelerator in Kosovo after applying in the second round of the public call for business [...]

Congratulations to Startup Weekend and NEXT alumni Freak’n Genius on the official launch of YAKiT — Available today in the iTunes store.  Startup Weekend is excited to announce that SW alumni Freak’n Genius is launching YAKiT, their first mobile app, today. YAKiT is a quick, simple, and fun tool for creating short video messages that bring [...]