Ann Arbor Startup Weekend

If you’ve been reading along here, you already know what to expect at Startup Weekend. We’ll be building and launching companies in one exciting marathon weekend, and learning a lot while we do it.

But what happens to the new companies on June 23? Largely, that will be up to the teams to decide. It could be that they continue working on the company in their free time, or they might consider hiring staff. It will depend on how each team wants to proceed.

Luckily, there is a multitude of local support for fledgling startups. Our local economic development group, Ann Arbor SPARK, has a ton of resources, including the Business Accelerator. This program can provide new startups with up to $50K of seed and development money, in addition to ongoing business development support and coaching. Scott Olson is eagerly anticipating talking to the Startup Weekend companies we form, and will be ready to help those who want to pursue that avenue. It’s not at all a requirement that our SW teams work with SPARK, but it is a terrific local resource for those who are interested.

In addition, there is SPARK’s Starting Your Own Business program, which is a periodic one-day workshop for new entrepreneurs which includes group training and one-on-one coaching. The fee for the workshop is normally $25; Startup Weekend attendees can attend SYOB for free!

And of course, by the time we’re done on Sunday night, we will have built a community of startup-friendly, energetic pros, and stuffed our address books with terrific contacts we can carry on with long after the weekend.