First ever Cambridge Startup Weekend launches together with new funding opp
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| Start me up: Startup enthusiast, Neil Davidson, will be offering his expert advice to teams at Cambridge Startup Weekend. Credit: John of Austin |
Startup Weekends help people with ideas create viable businesses by submerging them in a 54-hour entrepreneurial bootcamp.
Based on a formula pioneered on the US West Coast in 2007 and since rolled out to over 100 cities, the Cambridge Startup Weekend will take place between 11 and 13 of March at St John’s Innovation Centre and will be the first in the UK to be held outside London.
While this is certainly an endorsement of Cambridge’s position as a leading technology hub, the decision to keep a share of the proceeds for use as a legacy to support local startups also provides another example of the altruistic spirit, and eagerness to nurture at a very early stage that seems to be a growing feature of the Cambridge tech and software community.
Cambridge Startup Weekend is focused on bringing together people with ideas for web or mobile applications, inviting software developers, web and graphics designers, marketers, business people and students from anywhere in the UK or beyond.
At the end of the intensive 54-hour session, a high-level judging panel, chaired by Neil Davidson, co-founder of Red Gate Software, will choose a winning project.
“Cambridge is a fertile breeding ground for great ideas, but turning these into great businesses takes a whole range of people and skills”, said Davidson.
“Cambridge Startup Weekend is a great chance to spend a weekend in an entrepreneurial sandbox, and to start great things and meet interesting people. It promises to provide an exciting, exhilarating and exhausting experience that has the potential to unleash the innovators of the future to rank alongside existing Cambridge leaders such as ARM and Autonomy.”
Davidson will be joined by other experienced technology business mentors. Speakers confirmed so far include Dr Shailendra Vyakarnam of the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (CfEL), Billy Boyle, co-founder of nanotech sensor, Owlstone, and Jamie Urquhart of venture capital company Pond.
Cambridge Startup Weekend has also attracted backing from innovation hub, ideaSpace, and Cambridge technology and jobs community site CamTechNet.
• Special Offer tickets are available for CaBuMe readers, with prices at £50 when you enter discount code PRCAM. To find out more information and to book tickets visit cambridge.startupweekend.org or follow the event on Twitter @swcambridge.
