Have a great business idea but not sure how to get started?
Your dream may be about to come true. A national nonprofit aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship has chosen Lansing for a weekend-long event designed to pair idea-makers with the right teams to launch new businesses.
Called Startup Weekend, the event has become a global phenomenon in which promising entrepreneurs have the chance to pitch their business ides in roughly 90 seconds to a panel of judges. The best ideas are then assigned teams of volunteers with expertise in everything from marketing to computer programming to come up with a plan for turning idea into business.
MSU student Eric Jorgenson petitioned Startup Weekend to select Lansing after he attended Startup in Detroit a few months ago to pitch his own business idea. His was among those selected, and he’s almost ready to launch his company — before he has even graduated from college.
“It’s an incredible weekend,” says Jorgenson, a business and economics senior. “You show up Friday night, pitch your ideas and then get to work Saturday morning. You have 18 hours of work time to get your company launched. Some people walk away on Sunday with companies, with a website up and running.”
Startup Lansing is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 5-7 at Michigan State University’s Henry Center and at East Lansing’s Technology and Innovation Center. Registration has not yet opened, but updates will be available for now on Twitter with the hashtag #SWLansing.
Source: Eric Jorgenson
Writer: Louise Knott Ahern
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