BINGHAMTON — Attention, entrepreneurs with a great business idea: the city of Binghamton says it has just the place for you to come and pitch your idea.
Binghamton will host Startup Weekend Binghamton Nov. 9-11 at the Binghamton Riverwalk Hotel & Conference Center, 225 Water St. The premise of the 54-hour event is that participants have the chance to pitch a business idea and move forward in a contest-like format to eventually win prizes that could help them launch that business.
The idea to host a Startup Weekend in Binghamton came after someone from Startup Weekend, a Seattle–based nonprofit that organizes events around the world, made a presentation at a SUNY Business and Education Cooperative (SUNY BEST) meeting recently.
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“What made me really motivated to be part of it was the idea of really using it as a platform to promote entrepreneurship in the community,” says Omar Sanders, a financial analyst in the Binghamton Economic Development Office and lead organizer of the Binghamton event. Other event sponsors and organizers include Visions Federal Credit Union, Chobani, Binghamton Riverwalk Hotel & Conference Center, Binghamton University, NBT Bank, Broome Community College, the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce, Southern Tier Opportunity Coalition, the Binghamton Local Development Corporation, Broome County, CenterState CEO, Newman Development Group, and the Broome County Industrial Development Agency.
“It’s definitely … an intense competition,” Sanders says of Startup Weekend. “You have a minute to pitch your idea. You have to be inspiring in a minute,” he says. That happens on Friday night. All participants vote for their favorites, and the top 15 will move forward to the next phase on Saturday and Sunday. During those days, participants will form teams to build their idea into a marketable business concept. Teams will present those concepts to a panel of five judges Sunday evening and the judges will choose the top three teams. Those teams will win prizes including cash and business services to help them launch their business, Sanders says.
“I’m hoping for a large turnout,” he says. His goal is to have between 100 and 125 participants for the event. Attendees must register online at www.binghamton.startupweekend.org by Nov. 3. The fee to register ranges from $65 for student participants to $99 for developers and designers. Proceeds from registration fees will be used to provide meals and materials to participants during the event, Sanders says.
There is no age limit — young or old — and no geographic limit to who can participate in the event, Sanders says. He anticipates drawing people from beyond just the Binghamton area, including Syracuse, Scranton, Pa., and as far away as Buffalo and New York City.
“This is a way to showcase our city and show it’s a great place to start a business,” he says.
Being selected to host a Startup Weekend is a nice notch in the city’s belt, he adds. Startup Weekend is very selective when it comes to choosing host cities, Sanders says. “The fact that we fit that criteria says something about our community.”
According to its website (www.startupweekend.org), Startup Weekend will also hold events in Milwaukee, Wisc.; South Bend, Ind.; Orlando, Fla.; Sydney, Australia; Bern, Switzerland; Shenzhen, China; and Buenos Aires, Argentina the same weekend as the Binghamton event.
The benefits of participating, according to Startup Weekend, include education, networking, and skills building as participants work together with a team to formulate a business model.
To date, Startup Weekend has held 672 events that led to the creation of 5,005 startup businesses.
The Startup Weekend program has spawned Startup Labs, a new business competition. On Sept. 18, organizers announced that Syracuse would become the first U.S. city to host the competition. Startup Labs Syracuse will award $350,000 in cash and prizes to five teams, with the winner being announced in April 2013.
Contact DeLore at tdelore@tgbbj.com
