CityCo is a proud sponsor of Manchester’s first Startup Weekend (Friday 9 – Sunday 11 November) – a global movement to help tech entrepreneurs learn the basics of founding startups and launching successful ventures.

Ever wondered what it takes to be a tech entrepreneur?

Startup Weekend is a global grassroots movement of active and empowered entrepreneurs who are learning the basics of founding startups and launching successful ventures. It is the largest community of passionate entrepreneurs with over 400 past events in 100 countries around the world in 2011.

The non-profit organization is headquartered in Seattle, Washington but Startup Weekend organisers and facilitators can be found in over 200 cities around the world. From Mongolia to South Africa to London to Brazil, people around the globe are coming together for workshops to pitch ideas, form teams and start companies.

How it works

All Startup Weekend events follow the same basic model: anyone is welcome to pitch their startup idea and receive feedback from their peers. Teams organically form around the top ideas (as determined by popular vote) and then it’s a 54 hour frenzy of business model creation, coding, designing, and market validation. The weekends culminate with presentations in front of local entrepreneurial leaders with another opportunity for critical feedback.

Whether entrepreneurs found companies, find a cofounder, meet someone new, or learn a skill far outside their usual 9-to-5, everyone is guaranteed to leave the event better prepared to navigate the world of startups.

The Manchester Startup Weekend

Startup Weekend and Silicon Valley are teaming up to bring 54-hour long events simultaneously in London, Manchester, Sheffield, Southampton and Cambridge on Friday 9 – Sunday 11 November.

These events will bring developers, designers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiasts to come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and launch startups. After the weekend, the top startups will be invited to attend an exclusive awards ceremony in London, and will get the chance to fight in a Global Startup Battle.

The weekend’s schedule

Click here for a rundown of the 3 day event.

The judges

Click here to see the Manchester judges.

How to get involved

The Startup Weekend is open to:

• Student Developers: software engineers/coders/developers – anybody who can and will write code
• Student Designers: anybody with a background in design (graphics, UX/UI, etc)
• Student Non-Technicals: business, marketing & PR and anyone with a non-tech background
• Developers: software engineers/coders/developers – anybody who can and will write code
• Designers: anybody with a background in design (graphics, UX/UI, etc)
• Non-Technicals: business, marketing & PR and anyone with a non-tech background.

Click here to register.

More information

Go to manchester.startupweekend.org for all the details and follow @SWManc