Startup Weekend is a 54-hour event where developers, designers, marketers, product managers, and startup enthusiasts come together to launch startups. On April 5th, the event comes to New Orleans for the first time ever. Startup Weekend New Orleans will be held at Propeller and is expected to bring between 80 and 100 innovators to the event.
Co-organizer Elliott Adams said it is less about a hackathon and more about the startup as a business. He said Startup Weekend is a great, less traditional avenue to get into the startup ecosystem in New Orleans.
On Friday, attendees will gather to pitch ideas, form a team, and make a plan for the weekend. Saturday everyone will reconvene at Propeller to collaborate and meet the coaches. Teams will put the finishing touches on products on Sunday and prepare presentations and demos.
Attendees will receive three meals a day thanks to sponsors, in addition to perks including: $100 worth of Amazon Web Services credit, a free .co domain registration, three months of free hosting from domain.com, free business cards from moo, and six months free from User Voice. Individuals and teams will get to work with top New Orleans judges and coaches including:
- Kenneth Purcell, CEO iSeatz
- Sam Bowler, Google
- Robbie Vitrano, Trumpet
- Allen Square, Chief Information Officer at City of New Orleans
- Eli Feinstein, Baker Martin Capital
- Chris Schultz, Launch Pad
- Matt Candler, 4.0 Schools
Startup Weekend has been held in over 500 cities worldwide. Over 36% of Startup Weekend startups are still going strong after 3 months. About 80% of participants plan on continuing working with their team or startup after the weekend. The event is a great opportunity to network, collaborate, and bring ideas to life with other passionate individuals.
Registration for Startup Weekend New Orleans is available here. For information leading up to the event, follow @SWneworleans on Twitter.