Leading telecommunications company Globe Telecom, pioneering incubator Kickstart Ventures, Inc., web engineering firms Proudcloud and Dynamic Objx, and innovative educator MINT College, once again bring the much-anticipated Startup Weekend to the Philippines in 2012, to generate breakthrough ideas from tech communities in key cities of the country.
Startup Weekend Manila, which is in its second year, will be held on April 27-29 at MINT College in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Next in line is Cebu which is scheduled on May 11-13, with other cities/events planned later in the year. Startup Weekend is a 54-hour competition where developers, designers, marketers, technopreneurs, and venture capitalists come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and launch startup businesses.
“Globe believes in giving opportunities to everyone with the skills and burning desire to turn their bright ideas into viable businesses. Startup Weekend Manila is the venue for those who have a passion for innovation and who want to be part of a global movement towards reshaping our economic future,” said Minette Navarrete, Head of Globe New Business Group and President of Kickstart Ventures, Inc.
Startup Weekends are designed for entrepreneurs interested in receiving feedback for an idea, looking for co-founders, or who want to learn a new skill, especially in the field of mobile and internet applications. The concept, which started in theUS, is now a global movement, taking digital start-up businesses from ideas to investment readiness through intensive mentoring from industry experts and access to markets and investors across Asia.
Participants get acquainted with one another starting Friday night. They pitch startup concepts they are passionate about, and form teams around the most popular ideas. They refine their ideas and business plans and start building product prototypes with the help of the onsite mentors, and then present what they have accomplished in a 4-minute pitch and demo by Sunday evening.
Startup Weekend Manila 2011 was one of the most attended among all Startup Weekends worldwide. It saw almost triple the expected number of participants, making the organizers increase the number of events and cities for this year, and expand available slots to 200 participants for this year’s Manila run.
Startup Weekend Manila 2011 winner HobbyMash – the preformed team of Liezl Buenaventura, Josh Liao, Rafael Oca and Mark Co – came away with a SGD15,000 startup fund and enrolment in a 100-Day Startup Bootcamp in Singapore, led by SingTel Innov8 (the corporate venture arm of leading telecoms provider SingTel) and Joyful Frog Digital Incubator (JFDI). They presented in Demo Asia 2012, and are working towards the 2012 Demo Day this May.
Aside from the Philippines, Startup Weekends this year will also be held in France, Singapore, Argentina, Canada, USA, Norway, UK, Denmark, Mexico, Italy, Palestine, Senegal, Taiwan, Hungary, Australia, Lithuania, Algeria, Ireland, Switzerland, Martinique, Tunisia, and Spain, China, India, Brazil, Chile, Czech Republic, Belarus, Poland, Turkey, Uganda, Kosovo, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Germany, Peru, Moldova, Croatia, Cambodia, Egypt, Bolivia, and the Netherlands.
Parties interested in Startup Weekend Manila can register via http://manila.startupweekend.org until April 25, or while slots are available. To know more about Startup Weekend Manila, visit www.manila.startupweekend.org.
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