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If you are interested in entrepreneurship the answer is most likely yes. Whether you are a serial entrepreneur or new to the startup scene, you’ll fit right in as long as you are motivated to build a product or startup and are open to new ideas. We believe that great ideas can come from anywhere.
The event is intended to be a collaborative and inclusive forum for sharing, learning, building, and having fun. We expect each member of the startup community to be inclusive of all people and their ideas at Techstars Startup Weekend and we welcome all, regardless of experience, industry or background.
This program typically attracts a diverse group of participants, including hackers (developers/programmers), hustlers (entrepreneurs/business-minded individuals), and hipsters (designers/creative talents). These attendees collaborate and combine their unique skills to build innovative products.
Driving Directions:
Please park in the main lot, which can be entered at this Google Maps location. If the gate isn’t already open, press the button and let them know that you are a guest of Accelerate. From there, drive straight ahead and park in any of the non-reserved spaces. The CEIS building is located here. (Google Maps may try and tell you it’s a tennis court but we assure you that it’s not.) If you go through the main door that faces the grassy quad, head through the doors and go left once you enter the lobby. If you head through the doors located on Parker Street, walk straight, and take a right just after the bleacher stairs. You’ll see the glass doors to the makerspace just passed the elevators.
If you’re taking the train:
The green and orange line stops are closest to Wentworth’s campus. If taking the green line, get off at the Museum of Fine Arts, located on the E-line. If taking the orange line, the Ruggles train station is the closest stop to Wentworth. The CEIS building is located here. (Google Maps may try and tell you it’s a tennis court but we assure you that it’s not.) If you go through the main door that faces the quad, head through the doors and go left once you enter the lobby. If you head through the doors located on Parker Street, walk straight, and take a right just after the bleacher stairs. You’ll see the glass doors to the makerspace just passed the elevators.
Yes! This is important not only to preserve your own learning experience, but also to minimize distractions or disruptions for the team you choose to join. At our Startup Weekend, a “Sunday Presentation and Networking” registration option is available for those wishing to only view the teams’ final pitch presentations and network with awesome people! We welcome any friends, family or colleagues you would like to invite to watch your final presentation to see all you have accomplished in just one weekend.
No, but we highly encourage you to. You can pitch an idea you've been thinking about for years or something you think of at the last minute during the event. Please don’t pitch an idea you’ve already been developing or working on outside of Startup Weekend. The point of the event is to learn how to go from ideation to product.
Pitching provides invaluable practice for public speaking. You won’t regret pitching, but might regret not pitching.
If you don't have an idea, don't worry! The event is designed to accommodate participants at various stages. You can join a team working on an idea that interests you, contribute your skills and expertise, and collaborate with others to bring the concept to life. This experience allows you to learn.
Teams are formed on Friday night so you'll miss an important part of the weekend. Let us know if you're planning on arriving on Saturday morning and we will do the best we can to accommodate you, but do consider passing on your ticket to someone who can attend the entire weekend.
Yes! You can absolutely bring your own food - just let us know of you will and if you need a refrigerator to store your food in and we will show you where it is. Remember to label your food. :)
Everyone who attends the event as a participant is expected to come to the event without a team and then join and participate with a team at the event. This is important to preserve the Techstars Startup Weekend educational experience.
The ideal team consists of members from diverse backgrounds and experiences who collaborate to build a great minimum viable product (MVP) using the Lean Canvas framework. The more people you have on your team to help you do market research and business model development, the quicker you’ll develop an MVP to pitch on Sunday.
Absolutely! You just focus on the product; breakfast, lunch, and coffee are included in your ticket. We'll cater regular and vegetarian options. If you have special dietary restrictions, please contact us.
Yes, at the event, you'll have the fantastic opportunity to meet and interact with proven industry leaders and experts, including mentors, speakers, and judges. Many of these individuals are directly involved with angel investors or venture capitalists, or can refer promising startups to them. Shine on!
A: Business Model: How does the team plan on making this a successful business?
Customer Validation: Are teams building something that people actually want?
Execution & Design: Have they established an MVP — the minimum set of product features to be able to start collecting data?
Friday: Participants typically arrive between 7-8 p.m., begin networking, and have dinner. There will typically be a short talk with a speaker. Then, the “Pitchfire” will commence: anyone intending to pitch will have 60 seconds to give their best pitch. No presentations are needed for Friday, it will just be you and a mic. After pitches are finished, all participants will vote on their favorites, and using these votes, the top ideas will be selected to be worked on over the weekend. The Facilitator will provide guidance on team formation. Then teams will form organically, consolidate, and get to know each other and begin working.
Saturday: Teams will work all day, with the occasional breaks to eat, listen to short talks, or attend a short workshop. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks will be provided at an in-person event. In the afternoon mentors will be circulating to provide advice in the field of their expertise for those teams that want it. There will usually be a mentor sign-up sheet available where you can sign up for mentorship from someone with the industry experience that can support your team.
Sunday: Breakfast, lunch and dinner also will be provided on Sunday at in-person events. Teams will work uninterrupted from morning until mid-afternoon. They’ll begin wrapping up their product/prototype and presentation around 3 PM to do tech-checks and practice their presentation. After all judges have arrived, presentations will begin. Each team typically has five minutes plus around a three to five minute Q&A from the judges (this varies occasionally). The judges will select the top teams, who will be awarded prizes (if applicable), and the event usually ends with a small celebratory get-together.
Depending on the number of ideas pitched and the event schedule, you may or may not be able to pitch multiple ideas. Prioritize your ideas: pitch your best idea (and the one you have most prepared for) first. Please note that you will only be able to work on one idea through the weekend.
Depending on the number of ideas pitched and the event schedule, you may or may not be able to pitch multiple ideas. Prioritize your ideas: pitch your best idea (and the one you have most prepared for) first. Please note that you will only be able to work on one idea through the weekend.
No. Techstars Startup Weekend is designed to be the most effective platform for growing new businesses from the ground up over the course of a weekend. A key facet of the weekend, and a central value for participants, is the spirit of complete collaboration, buy-in, and ownership. We’ve found that having existing businesses in the mix undermines this spirit, in addition to creating an unequal playing field alongside those ideas that are truly conceived at the grass-roots level. The local organizers have the right to disqualify any existing ideas pitched during the event at any time.
The purpose of the Friday voting isn’t to exclude certain ideas, but simply to highlight the most popular and high-potential pitches and end up with a manageable number of teams - ensuring that each team has a variety of backgrounds and skills. If your idea isn’t selected, but you’ve managed to form a team around the idea, you’re welcome to work on it over the weekend. If you decide to do so, however, please tell the event Organizer and Facilitator.
No. At some events, certain teams will decide to work all through Friday and/or Saturday night, but this is by no means obligatory or expected.
A key part of every Techstars Startup Weekend is the valuable advice and assistance provided by the event’s speakers and mentors. In the spirit of our motto, “No Talk, All Action,” we try to keep talks short and sweet, focusing on practical issues (i.e. “How to give a persuasive pitch” and “Best approaches to customer validation”) that can actually help you and your team better achieve your weekend goals. Mentors - community experts in various fields ranging from entrepreneurship, software development, marketing, finance, law, and more - dedicate their time to provide advice. In addition to the most valuable resources at the weekend (the people), we’ve put together a list of some useful resources and tools for before, during, and after the weekend. Check out Tools for Participants page for more info.
To the extent intellectual property is presented or disclosed by participants during an event, Techstars doesn’t retain or claim ownership to any of these ideas and any discussions of ownership is left up to the teams. We do acknowledge that the issue of patents, copyrights, and other IP is an important one but the decision to discuss any specific intellectual property during the Startup Weekend is, in the end, a question of risk and reward for you.
Techstars Startup Weekend is about the educational experience of learning how to build a business, so even if you don’t pitch the idea that you’re worried about disclosing publicly, you can still take the learnings from the weekend and apply it to your idea afterwards. You might also make valuable connections with mentors and other participants during the weekend who you want to involve going forward, so participating is still valuable, regardless of the idea.
Beyond just intellectual property, keep in mind that Techstars Startup Weekend does not support or take part in the signing of any legal documents between participants at the events, and while mentors with legal backgrounds are often present and able to give general advice, they are not permitted to give specific legal counsel.
While there are no specific requirements in terms of what teams should have accomplished by Sunday, it’s in your best interest to plan your execution around what you’ll be judged for on Sunday:
As far as presenting goes, some of the most common presentations include any, or a combination, of the following:
Competition is not a central theme of Techstars Startup Weekend. Our goal is to cultivate a positive and educational atmosphere. We do believe, however, that some friendly competition can be beneficial to all parties and accurately reflects the realities of startup life. Just as it’s important to gather ‘real-world’ feedback over the weekend, it’s also important to have real-world pressures and obstacles.
Yes! All friends and family are welcome to attend final pitches. We provide tickets at $25 that they will need to register for to attend.
Whether or not you continue to work on the idea, with some or all of your team, is completely up to you.
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