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Startup Weekend Sheffield April 2019
Friday, April 5 - 7, 2019
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Startup Weekend Sheffield April 2019
Friday, April 5 - 7, 2019
Friday, April 5 - 7, 2019
Event starts at 6:00 pm
Sheffield Hallam iLabs (Top Floor)
Aspect Court
Pond Hill
Sheffield,
South Yorkshire
S1 2BG
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Your idea brought to life in 54 hours!
Do you have an idea you'd like to pursue or a problem you'd like to solve
but don't know where to start or who to start with?
Techstars Startup Weekend is the place to look for a team, create a prototype of your idea, validate your business idea, and receive feedback from experienced entrepreneurs, all in one weekend.
What do you need to bring?
Lots of energy! You'll pitch your own idea or listen to others, then vote on the most interesting ideas and form teams with diverse skill sets. You can come with friends, but you’ll get the full experience if you participate in separate teams. Remember, it’s all about the team. Your idea should be something you have not previously worked on. The idea you pitch and the problem you set out to solve can span social, educational, financial, environmental, or other issues. Over the course of the weekend you'll be challenged to create a prototype of your MVP, or minimum viable product, that fits the needs of your target customer. You'll get feedback, iterate, and likely pivot your approach entirely! Important: You cannot have worked previously on your idea.
Techstars Startup Weekend is a full weekend long experience. Your ticket includes:
No talk, all action!
Techstars Startup Weekend is the place to look for a team, create a prototype of your idea, validate your business idea, and receive feedback from experienced entrepreneurs, all in one weekend.
What do you need to bring?
Lots of energy! You'll pitch your own idea or listen to others, then vote on the most interesting ideas and form teams with diverse skill sets. You can come with friends, but you’ll get the full experience if you participate in separate teams. Remember, it’s all about the team. Your idea should be something you have not previously worked on. The idea you pitch and the problem you set out to solve can span social, educational, financial, environmental, or other issues. Over the course of the weekend you'll be challenged to create a prototype of your MVP, or minimum viable product, that fits the needs of your target customer. You'll get feedback, iterate, and likely pivot your approach entirely! Important: You cannot have worked previously on your idea.
Techstars Startup Weekend is a full weekend long experience. Your ticket includes:
- 7 full (and delicious) meals over the course of the weekend
- Benefits and discounts from our global partners
- One-on-one time with amazing mentors
- A new network of developers, designers, and entrepreneurs eager, like you, to change the world.
- All the internet and coffee you can consume.
No talk, all action!
EVENT SCHEDULE
Friday April 5th
6:00 pm
Registration
Arrive at the venue and get checked in
6:00 pm
Dinner & Networking
Eat food, share ideas, practice pitches, get to know fellow participants
7:00 pm
Welcome & Speakers
Review agenda for the weekend and introduce speakers, coaches, and community leaders
7:30 pm
Pitches Start
Optionally line up to give your pitch
9:00 pm
Voting
Attendees vote for the top pitches
9:15 pm
Form Teams
Teams start forming and discussing ideas
10:00 pm
Begin Work
Start to formalize teams and take an inventory of skills. Be honest, and direct about what resources and skills are needed for the weekend. You may stay and work as late as the venue will allow
Saturday April 6th
9:00 am
Breakfast
Arrive, simple breakfast & coffee
9:30 am
Begin Work
Teams formed and setting up workspace for the weekend
12:00 pm
Lunch
1:00 pm
Check-In
After-lunch check-in, status reports, call for help
2:00 pm
Coach Meetings
Coaches help teams one-on-one. They are here to help!
6:30 pm
Dinner
7:30 pm
Check-In
After-dinner check-in, status reports, call for help
10:00 pm
Wrap-Up
Finished for the day. You may stay and work as late as the venue will allow
Sunday April 7th
9:00 am
Breakfast
Arrive, simple breakfast & coffee
10:00 am
Check-In
Coaches arrive. Final opportunity to ask questions
12:00 pm
Lunch
12:30 pm
Coach Meetings
Coaches arrive… ASK QUESTIONS
3:00 pm
Presentation Prep & Tech Check
Final hours of worktime should be focused on perfecting your presentation, tech-check for final presentations also takes place
4:00 pm
Dinner
5:00 pm
Final Presentations
7:30 pm
Judging & Awards
8:30 pm
Wrap-Up
9:00 pm
After Party! (optional)
Head to a nearby bar, drink, and share stories of our weekend!
Speakers
Phill White
Head of Programmes and Growth at IoT Tribe | Founder and CEO at Sustainability Cloud
Phill White is many things. An entrepreneur, a circular economy thought leader, a catalyst for startups, and much more. He is the Head of Programmes and Growth at IoT Tribe, the founder and CEO of Sustainability Cloud, and works as a startup coach for companies around the world. Spending over 10 years overseas in Australia, Asia and the USA. Phill is the real deal. Utilise his vast knowledge where you can!
Event Judges
Laura Bennett
Sheffield City Region LEP Board and PhD Researcher
Laura Bennett is a business leader in Sheffield, her experience is vast and impressive. She's a private sector board member of the Sheffield City Region LEP board, she's doing a PhD on Entrepreneurship at University of Sheffield, and works part time at Sheffield Technology Parks as an Entrepreneurship Enabler. Is there anything she can't do? We say no, so we asked her to be a judge on top of all that too, and Laura said yes.
Mel Kanarek
Director at TigerNash and Sheffield Digital
Mel is no stranger to Startup Weekends, having both judged and attended in the past! She runs TigerNash, which helps business to grow through the application of marketing tools. Mel is also director and co-founder of Sheffield Digital. As a result, Mel is well engrained in Sheffield's digital community. It's this community that you'll need to engage with after Startup Weekend if you want your startup to be successful. So be sure to speak to Mel over the weekend.
Phill White
Head of Programmes and Growth at IoT Tribe | Founder and CEO at Sustainability Cloud
Phill White is many things. An entrepreneur, a circular economy thought leader, a catalyst for startups, and much more. He is the Head of Programmes and Growth at IoT Tribe, the founder and CEO of Sustainability Cloud, and works as a startup coach for companies around the world. Spending over 10 years overseas in Australia, Asia and the USA. Phill is the real deal. Utilise his vast knowledge where you can!
Coaches and Mentors
Mark Hughes
CEO and co-founder of Tutorful
Mark is the CEO and co-founder of the biggest tuition company in the country, Tutorful. Since the founding in 2015, he has been on a mission to change the shape of the tuition industry. Before that he worked as a business analyst for 7 years and is Cambridge-educated. This man is impressive beyond belief, and we're lucky enough to have him judging!
Paul Ridgway
Director at The Curve
Paul is an experienced Software Engineer turned Strategic Technology Leader. Since graduating from The University of Sheffield with a First Class Honours Masters Degree in Software Engineering Paul has turned his hand to Technical and Operational Leadership, co-founding and growing a successful technology start-up in the UK to become a sustainable global business worth millions of pounds and employing over 100 people. In addition to the original design and build of the entire technology stack, he hired and developed a team of over 80 engineers and other technology professionals and led them to deliver high-quality software, on time and on spec, to customers all around the world. Paul operates successfully at all levels of business working with developers, product teams, leaders and executives, often acting as a bridge between different business functions, translating requirements into specifications, expressing highly technical concepts with easy-to-digest real-world metaphors and designing solutions for complex problems. Paul's interest in Engineering extends beyond Software to electronics, embedded systems, and other real-world applications.
James Ridgway
Director at The Curve
James is an experienced Software Engineer and Leader of Engineering Teams.Since graduating with a First Class Honours Masters degree in Software Engineering from The University of Sheffield James has worked across numerous technology stacks from Android development and web development through to data science analytics and building distributed platforms of microservices. His approach to engineering is quality focused, with an emphasis on consistency, best practice and technical excellence.Experienced in technical leadership James has transformed poor-performing, high-attrition teams to delivering regularly and consistently. In transforming teams, James has re-built team cultures, instilled best practices, embedded continuous improvement processes and enabled individuals and teams to reach their potential.
Event Sponsors, and Partners
The Startup Weekend Sheffield April 2019 team is grateful for the support of local community partners without whom this event would not be possible.
Learn how to become a sponsor here.
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Organizing Team
Techstars Startup Weekend Sheffield is 100% led by volunteer community leaders.
Learn how to get involved here
Facilitators
Sean Paul Shanor
Founder & Coach at Synergy Space
Sean Paul Shanor is a Norwegian American entrepreneur, facilitator, coach, and speaker with a drive to connect, enable, and inspire individuals to fuel their passion, build startups, and empower others with the right tools and ecosystem support to succeed. He is a techgeek, jack of-all digital-analog-trades entrepreneur that has learned how to piece together startups at low cost, high impact, and by facilitating key partnerships to leverage assets any team needs.
Event Staff
Giorgio Cassella
Head of Marketing at Evoluted
Giorgio is Head of Marketing at the award-winning Sheffield-based web development and digital marketing agency, Evoluted. He also organises Sheffield's favourite marketing meetup, Sheffield DM. Working with international clients and a few local favourites including The University of Sheffield, PuckStop and Henderson's Relish, Giorgio's previous experience includes time as Head of Marketing at local startup Tutorful, where he led growth from a team of 4 in a cramped office through to 30 employees with millions in revenue. Alongside three years as a Community Leader for Startup Weekend Sheffield and Startup Weekend Derby, he knows a thing or two about starting, growing and scaling startups!
Eva Barabas
Software Engineer @ NHS Digital
Eva is a designer, developer and maintainer of Ruby applications working at NHS Digital. She co-organises the Sheffield Ruby User Group, and is a Young Professional Representative at BCS South Yorkshire. She's also an attendee and organiser of coderetreats, hackathon runner up, and wannabe speaker.
Event Blog
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