Startup Weekend Opens up new horizons; After Kathmandu, SW to enter Ahmedabad

Friday February 15, 2013 , 2 min Read

‘Startup Weekend’ is a global grassroots, not-for-profit entrepreneurship program that works to create local communities of entrepreneurs and product innovators. It is a no talk, all action 54 hour hackathon wherein teams come together and launch a startup within this timeframe. SW has spread to 108 countries globally including India where Pankaj Jain, the country co-ordinator started it 2 years ago. Pankaj is now also a venture partner at 500 Startups.

Adam Stelle, COO of startup was in India last year for the event in Bangalore (catch him on video) and the success here has spurred the organizers to take the event to newer places. On February 8th, SW took place in Kathmandu, Nepal where an enthusiastic set of people got together to put some ideas action. Here is the list of winners.

One of the winning teams from Startup Weekend, Nepal

Pankaj believes there are many naysayers of the SW model but the fact is that over 100,000 people have gone through it globally and over 1200 people have gone through SW in India gives him confidence. "We have done 13 events in India including themed events in Education, Mobile and Health," he informs. Event 14 is scheduled to happen in Bangalore on February 22nd post which SW would be heading to Ahmedabad, Gujarat on March 1. Ahmedabad is definitely an upcoming startup hub (proof from our TechSparks RoundTable) and this SW event will further boost the entrepreneurial energy in the city.