Start-up Weekend is returning to downtown Detroit for the fourth time in mid February, providing a chance for dozens of Metro Detroiters to create a handful of new start-ups and make many more professional connections.
"Start-up Weekend is an art form," says Brandon Chesnutt, local organizer and global facilitator for
Startup Weekend Detroit. "Not only do you learn about starting something but you build something."
Startup Weekend likes to pride itself on four words: "No talk. All action." The weekend event goes for 54 hours where it pairs small groups of entrepreneurs to turn an idea into a tech business and get it ready to launch. The process inherently provides a opportunities for networks, building community and discovering local resources.
The event also features a couple of presenters who are now accomplished local tech entrepreneurs, such as Steven Robert of Troy-based
Billhighway and Southfield-based Benzinga's
Jason Raznick. Raznick participated in the first Startup Weekend Detroit in 2009.
"He pitched
Benzinga (an online news service focused on investing) and no one wanted to work on it," Chesnutt says. "Two years later he landed a $1 million round of funding."
Start-up Weekend Detroit will be held on Feb. 17-19 at the Madison Building, 1555 Broadway St in downtown Detroit. For information, click
here.
Source: Brandon Chesnutt, local organizer and global facilitator for Startup Weekend Detroit
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at
SEMichiganStartup.com.
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