Scotland’s first Startup Weekend to be hosted in Glasgow

Aug. 2, 2010 - PRLog -- A 60 second pitch and 48 hours to take a business from idea to launch is the challenge being set Scotland’s entrepreneurs at Startup Weekend in Glasgow next month.

Around a hundred hopefuls are expected to take part in the 48-hour startup marathon organised by EdgeCase Scotland. Paul Wilson of EdgeCase explains:  “Startup Weekend is an adrenalin fuelled rush from start to finish.  You come in alone with an idea and leave with like-minded partners and a fledgling business after an intense, liberating experience.”

Anyone with an idea is invited to come along and pitch on the Friday night.  The ideas are then voted on and the top ten selected and invited to go forward.  Teams of between four and 10 people, made up of technical and non technical people spend the entire weekend getting advice from professional mentors as well as their peer group, while building a proof of concept, demo or even a finished product.

Startup Weekend is a not for profit organisation based in Seattle.  Launched in 2007 it aims to be the most valuable and influential startup organisation in the world.  Represented in over 100 cities and 25 countries, Startup Weekend has helped educate over 15000 entrepreneurs at over 115 events and launched over 560 new startup ventures.  In 2010 it will run at least 60 events around the word and its goal is 100 for 2011.

Commenting StartUp Weekend’s first Scotland event next month Marc Nager of Startup Weekend says:  “Entrepreneurship should not be taught in a classroom.  The Startup Weekend model is fun, interactive and results driven and we are very excited to be in Scotland for the first time. It is an amazing opportunity to connect with other passionate and skilled individuals and transform a business idea into reality.”

Most ideas are web and technology focused and over 36% of Startup Weekend companies are still operational after three months with over 10% of companies going on to produce revenue or get seed funding.

Entrepreneurs taking part in Startup Weekend all leave with more experience, insight, knowledge, friends and resources than they came with.  It is an opportunity to work with some of Scotland’s brightest and most creative minds bringing together a highly motivated group of entrepreneurs, managers, marketing specialists, graphic designers, lawyers and accountants.

Startup Weekend is a true ‘bootstrap’ business relying on local and national sponsorship to keep events happening around the world. Startup Weekend is always actively seeking national and event level sponsors that can truly add value to events as well as gain incredible exposure to a global community of the most targeted, passionate people in the industry.

To register for Startup Weekend, please visit http://glasgow.startupweekend.org/