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
Startup Weekend Manila, which is
in its second year, will be held on April 27-29 at MINT
College in Bonifacio Global
City 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 the US , 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.
