Networking also key in tech-savvy start-up gathering
Saturday, July 12, 2008 3:05 AM
TechColumbus, a tech- business incubator, will host an event called Startup Weekend July 18-20.
The event -- the brainchild of Andrew Hyde, a Boulder, Colo., interaction designer -- was started in 2007 to bring together a community of developers, ideas and marketers.
The weekends have been held in more than 20 cities.
"(Columbus has) pretty strong IT, technology and business talent and now we get to see how we stack up," said Alvin Borromeo, a contract negotiator with Sterling Commerce, who also helped organize the weekend.
The event starts with a flurry of activity. On the first night of the program, ideas are pitched, with each person taking one to two minutes to sell a concept.
"Anybody who is signed up can pitch an idea," Borromeo said.
After the flood of pitches, groups are formed around the ideas they want to try to develop into businesses in 54 hours, and the rest of the weekend is spent working toward that goal.
Although the weekend focuses on a product or company, organizers say it's the networking, not necessarily the outcome, that is paramount.
"The true goal is to build a community with people that are interested in technology," Borromeo said. "You work with people that you would not work with unless you went to the event."
Building a stronger community in central Ohio will lead to more opportunities to develop a long-term, successful company, he said.
More than 100 people have already registered, and the event is limited to 140, said Chris Anderson, start-up specialist at TechColumbus.
Columbus' start-up event will be a little different than in other cities. Funding is being provided to try to launch the best idea of the conference.
"TechGenesis has provided a grant to help prove the commercial viability of the technology or concept," Anderson said.
TechGenesis, administered by TechColumbus, is a $50,000 grant borne out of Ohio's Third Frontier Program, a $1.3 billion, 10-year initiative enacted in 2002. The grant is evaluated on a quarterly basis and up to three companies can compete for money each quarter.
Startup Weekend sites are chosen through online votes from technology enthusiasts.
"We're big on community," Hyde said. "It's been a really interesting community (for start-ups) even from afar," he said of Columbus.
Borromeo was one person who pushed for Columbus to host the event.
There was plenty of support to land the event.
In Ohio, Columbus received 406 votes, more than 100 more votes than Cincinnati and Cleveland combined.
"Hopefully we can create a company or multiple companies that would be sustainable," Anderson said.
Successful companies aren't guaranteed during Startup Weekend, but the weekends are evolving and now companies are starting to making a go of it in their markets, Hyde said.
A program called skribit, a Web widget for bloggers that was developed in Atlanta, and an iPhone application developed in Boulder are both successful applications that were envisioned during the weekend.
Companies that have jumped on board including sponsors dynamIt, Sterling Commerce and Sun Microsystems.
Borromeo said he hopes the Startup Weekend ultimately will lead to more good jobs and successful companies in Columbus.
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