More info and some cool librarians (yes you read that right!)
This year Startup Weekend is excited to be partnering with the Tulsa City-County Library and will have Research Center librarians on-hand Saturday during the event to help participants find the information they need to support their ventures.
In case you didn’t know, the city’s second Startup Weekend is taking place in conjunction with Tulsa’s Global Entrepreneurship Week. The week-long series of events will kick off at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 12 at Tulsa Community College’s Center for Creativity.
Startup Weekend Tulsa sponsors include Tulsa Community College, Isocentric Networks and Okinetic. Register today!
….WTF?
Not sure how you got here or what the hell Startup Weekend is? Good, that means you have an inquisitive mind which makes you perfect for Startup Weekend …”Yes..yes I know that but i still don’t know what the hell Startup Weekend is!”
So here is the deal. Startup Weekend is one of the coolest things to hit the world of entrepreneurship since well -sliced bread (Just think how much money the first guy to slice bread must have made) But seriously there are millions of bright people running around the third planet from the sun with tons of great ideas rattling through their heads. The problem is that very few people seem to be able to execute on those ideas. They are constantly planning this or thinking about that but they never seem to actually get anything done. That is because they don’t realize that deadlines, at least in the world of entrepreneurship, are our friends. Setting deadlines is the swift kick in the butt many entrepreneur need to get things done. And (cue the music) that is where Startup Weekend enters (stage right). Startup Weekend is as real and in your face as it gets, You say you have an awesome idea? Great you now have 54 hours to get it done…and the clock is ticking. WTF 54 hours? Yes 54 Hours!
See Startup Weekend has produced more than a few of these little get togethers (over 115 actually) and every time we are blown away with how much teams can actually get done.
Oh, did someone say teams? Yeah I might have skipped over that part too. Besides setting deadlines Startup Weekend helps you do something else – form a team. The vibe and energy around Startup Weekend inspire all kinds of creative and dynamic people to come out for a whole host of reasons and before you know it you suddenly have access to the most amazing bunch of diverse and dynamic people you have ever met. So what do you think? Are you ready to dust off that idea and see where it might take you?
Startup Weekend Tulsa 2010 Event Details
Startup Weekend 2010 will be held Nov. 12th-14th at TCC Center for Creativity in Downtown Tulsa. We are very excited about this event being held as part of Tulsa’s participation in Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW).
Agenda
Friday, Nov. 12th
6:00 pm Doors Open – Food and drinks provided
7:00 pm Event officially starts
7:45 pm Elevator Pitches begin
8:00 pm Teams start forming
9:00 pm Doors Close – Teams will often head to a bar or coffee shop for more work!
Saturday, Nov. 13th
9:00 am Doors Open -
Breakfast, lunch and dinner provided – mixed in with work, work and more work!
9:00 pm Doors Close – Time to blow off some steam with some libations – Details to be announced
Sunday, Nov. 14th
9:00 am Doors Open
Breakfast, lunch and dinner provided – mixed in with work, work and more work!
7:00 pm Final Team Presentations/Product Launches
9:00 pm …that’s all folks!
SWTulsa 2009 Success Story: Matt Galloway
Matt Galloway also left Startup Weekend feeling confident and ready to create something of his own.
Before Matt could decide his next step, the universe decided for him.
The Monday after Startup Weekend, he found out he was getting laid off in February.
Matt spent the next few weeks deciding what his game plan was. A month after his layoff, Matt cofounded Architactile, a company that makes Apple iPad applications for architects.
Matt attributes the confidence he felt to start Architactile to Startup Weekend.
“That weekend helped me realize that I want to work in a startup environment, not in a big corporate atmosphere,” he said. “Startup Weekend really motivated me to take the leap and try to get something going.”
The company’s first endeavor is tentatively called Inception.
The application helps architects speed up the planning process by putting everything on the screen of an iPad. Architects can quickly show clients the project’s scope and conceptual budget, thanks in part to the fact that the application does formulas for the architects.
Anyone can download the free version of the application, Inception Lite, on iTunes. Matt hopes to launch the paid version in December.
Inception Lite has been downloaded more than 2,000 times. Only 40 percent of the downloads have been in the U.S., something Matt didn’t anticipate.
He soon updated the application to include metric units and international currency symbols to make it more applicable for use outside the U.S.
“We’re very encouraged at this point,” he said. “We have no idea whether anybody will actually pay for it yet. We’ll find that out in December.”
SWTulsa 2009 Success Story: Caleb Oller
Caleb Oller left Startup Weekend last year knowing that just because he’s 24, doesn’t mean he can’t try to start a business.
For young people, Startup Weekend is a huge confidence boost.
“It makes startup ideas feel more possible,” he said. “So, build stuff you’re passionate about, have fun doing it and something will happen.”
Caleb grew up in southeast Oklahoma in Wilburton, a town of about 3,000 people. He now works in Providence, Rhode Island, at a software engineering consulting firm.
Caleb wouldn’t be living 1,600 miles from home had he not attended Startup Weekend in Tulsa in 2009.
Startup Weekend got the ball rolling for Caleb. He was able to network with aspiring entrepreneurs and, through those connections, find out about opportunities like Betaspring, a 12-week startup accelerator program in Providence.
Caleb finished that program and is now in a great position to try for a second attempt with a startup business.
Caleb was the cofounder of a software development company that ended earlier this year when he and his business partner parted ways. Regardless, the experience was invaluable. And it taught him that it’s OK to fail.
“There shouldn’t be fear of failure,” he said. “If you’re scared of failure, you’ll be scared to go into Startup Weekend.”
