An event that gives budding entrepreneurs 54 hours to develop a business plan is making its way to Richmond.
RVA Startup Weekend will be Sept. 7-9 in Manchester. The weekend-long program puts would-be business people through a 54-hour gauntlet in which they must flesh out a business plan with attention to fundamentals such as marketing and financing.
The Richmond event, organized by local business people, is affiliated with the Seattle-based nonprofit Startup Weekend, which developed the weekend startup workshop and has run events in almost 700 cities around the globe.
Holy Yang, a local entrepreneur and one of the organizers of the RVA Startup Weekend, said she expects about 100 people to come out for the event’s first year in Richmond.
“Some of the people there will be pitching business ideas, and others will be web designers, developers and marketing professionals,” said Yang. “The people giving the pitch also have to form their teams, so you have to convince people to work with you, which really helps develop those skills.”
Holy Yang, one of the organizers of the event.
Yang, 22, who owns Made in Asia restaurant in Chesterfield and Yang Business Services, said the event would begin with pitches on Friday followed by team selection. On Saturday, participants will hammer out the business, and by Sunday night they’ll be pitching the final plan to a panel of judges composed of local business people.
Instead of cash, prizes will be business services offered by event sponsors, Yang said.
Yang was inspired to help organize the event when she attended Startup Weekend in Charlottesville this year.
“It was intense, but it was such a great learning experience,” she said. “I really got to see, when putting my skills to the test, how well I can perform under the time pressure and working with people I didn’t know.”
According to Startup Weekend’s website, people who want to organize an event in their city must have attended a Startup Weekend workshop elsewhere.
Each weekend costs an average of $5,000 to put on and is financed through ticket sales and sponsorships, the website says. About 50 percent of the leftover proceeds go back to the parent Startup Weekend organization, and 50 percent goes into a separate fund that can be used by the event’s local organizers to sponsor another city’s Startup Weekend, among other things.
Registration for the RVA Startup Weekend event costs $75. The event will be at the CRT/Tanaka building at 101 West Commerce Road on the Southside in Manchester.
Create Digital, UDig and Keiter are among the sponsors.
An event that gives budding entrepreneurs 54 hours to develop a business plan is making its way to Richmond.
RVA Startup Weekend will be Sept. 7-9 in Manchester. The weekend-long program puts would-be business people through a 54-hour gauntlet in which they must flesh out a business plan with attention to fundamentals such as marketing and financing.
The Richmond event, organized by local business people, is affiliated with the Seattle-based nonprofit Startup Weekend, which developed the weekend startup workshop and has run events in almost 700 cities around the globe.
Holy Yang, a local entrepreneur and one of the organizers of the RVA Startup Weekend, said she expects about 100 people to come out for the event’s first year in Richmond.
“Some of the people there will be pitching business ideas, and others will be web designers, developers and marketing professionals,” said Yang. “The people giving the pitch also have to form their teams, so you have to convince people to work with you, which really helps develop those skills.”
Holy Yang, one of the organizers of the event.
Yang, 22, who owns Made in Asia restaurant in Chesterfield and Yang Business Services, said the event would begin with pitches on Friday followed by team selection. On Saturday, participants will hammer out the business, and by Sunday night they’ll be pitching the final plan to a panel of judges composed of local business people.
Instead of cash, prizes will be business services offered by event sponsors, Yang said.
Yang was inspired to help organize the event when she attended Startup Weekend in Charlottesville this year.
“It was intense, but it was such a great learning experience,” she said. “I really got to see, when putting my skills to the test, how well I can perform under the time pressure and working with people I didn’t know.”
According to Startup Weekend’s website, people who want to organize an event in their city must have attended a Startup Weekend workshop elsewhere.
Each weekend costs an average of $5,000 to put on and is financed through ticket sales and sponsorships, the website says. About 50 percent of the leftover proceeds go back to the parent Startup Weekend organization, and 50 percent goes into a separate fund that can be used by the event’s local organizers to sponsor another city’s Startup Weekend, among other things.
Registration for the RVA Startup Weekend event costs $75. The event will be at the CRT/Tanaka building at 101 West Commerce Road on the Southside in Manchester.
Create Digital, UDig and Keiter are among the sponsors.
This is going to be a SUPER event to showcase the depth of our #RVA ‘trep talent pool – kudos to the folks putting it together – Let’s keep the momentum going #RVA. Another great resource to connect ‘treps with resources is Gangplank-Henrico. Check it out at http://www.gangplankhenrico.org/ or http://whatisgangplank.com/.
This is an awesome event – I attended C’ville Startup Weekend and am excited to see it come to Richmond – Thanks for being leaders in RVA Tech world – Larkin and team. For those who want to know the people you need to know – be sure to connect with the 804RVA team. I can’t say enough good things about you all and the fact that you have brought co-working and serious collaboration to Richmond – Congrats !!! http://www.804rva.com/
I’m excited to be participating as a mentor and hearing all of the innovative and creative business ideas. Get ready for a grueling but rewarding weekend!
Thanks so much for hosting this event in Richmond. I’d contacted Startup to find out the criteria to do so & then my prayers were answered! See you there.