CBE co-sponsoring Bellingham's 'Startup Weekend' June 24 to 26

Western Washington University’s College of Business and Economics and its MBA Program are co-sponsoring “Startup Weekend,” along with the Northwest Innovation Resource Center and Bellingham Innovation Group’s Big Idea Lab, June 24-26 in Viking Union 565 on the WWU campus.

“Startup Weekend” is a 54-hour event where developers, designers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, empower individuals and communities, and launch startups.

Assisting these budding entrepreneurs will be a group of speakers and mentors from established startups who were once in the same shoes as the participants – possessing little more than good ideas and the willingness to work hard to see them come to reality.

Bob Crimmins, founder of Moon Tango; Dorai Thodla, founder and CEO of iMorph Inc.; Adrian Pike, co-founder and CTO of Sharezen; and Andrew Dumont, director of Business Development at Seesmic, will give short and informative talks over the course of the weekend on areas of entrepreneurship and how they experienced success and failure in an effort to help participants learn from their experiences.

The event’s overarching goal is to develop an ecosystem of entrepreneurship in the region that helps educate, inform and equip its community members to launch businesses that lead to job creation.

Beginning with open mic pitches on Friday, attendees bring their best ideas and inspire others to join their team. Over Saturday and Sunday teams focus on customer development, validating their ideas, practicing lean startup methodologies and building a viable product. On Sunday evening teams demo their prototypes and receive valuable feedback from a panel of experts. Startup Weekends are specifically designed for entrepreneurs interested in receiving feedback on an idea, looking for a co-founder, or who want to learn a new skill.

“We are excited to offer Western students and the local community a chance to experience the entrepreneurial process,” said Dan Purdy, associate director of the Western MBA Program. “We are focused on providing experiential learning opportunities that put Western students alongside a diverse set of entrepreneurs from all walks of life, backgrounds and areas of study. Going from idea to revenue in 54 hours is an exciting opportunity.”

Startup Weekends are occurring in cities and communities around the globe this spring, from Ulaanbaator, Mongolia to Bellingham to Skopje, Macedonia and Ramallah, Palestine; the organization already has more than 25,000 alumni since its inception in Boulder, Colo. in 2007. Companies like foodspotting.com and Zaarly.com have blossomed out of the intensive startup weekend experience.

Registration costs for the event are $49 for students or $99 for non-students. To register, go to http://Bellingham.startupweekend.org; for more information, contact Dan Purdy, associate director of Western’s MBA Program, at Daniel.purdy@wwu.edu.