All Startup Weekend events follow the same basic model: anyone is welcome to pitch their startup idea and receive feedback from their peers. Teams organically form around the top ideas (as determined by popular vote) and then it’s a 54 hour frenzy of business model creation, coding, designing, and market validation. The first weekend had 78 people attend and launched a random idea into a worldwide
movement. In the first two years, over 80 Startup Weekends took place from San Francisco to Athens, Greece. In June 2009, Marc Nager and Clint Nelsen purchased Startup Weekend from Andrew and restructured it as a 501(c)3 Non-Profit. Shortly after, Franck Nouyrigat joined as the third Director. Startup Weekend quickly became a nexus for early stage startup activity in communities across the globe. By the end of 2010, Startup Weekend had built a network of over 25,000 alumni, 150 volunteer organizers and 60 trained facilitators spread across more than 100 cities in 30 countries. In September of 2010, Startup Weekend received a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, allowing Startup Weekend to come closer to reaching its potential in attempting to understand the unpredictable science of successful entrepreneurship. Growing quickly, Startup Weekend has since hired the rockstars from its community to form an amazing team of nine – Shane Reiser, Jennifer Cabala, Joey Pomerenke, Adam Stelle, Maris McEdward, and Anca Foster. Looking into 2011 and beyond, Startup Weekend has become much more than just an event. We will be focusing on building a community-empowerment model to help train and foster community leaders, ignite more entrepreneurial activity and map and connect the world’s startup ecosystems.
