StartUp Weekend Beijing is On This Weekend!

StartUp Weekend Beijing is on again this weekend! To give budding entrepreneurs a glimpse into what doing a start-up is like in a very short period of time, IT developers, engineers, business managers, startup enthusiasts, marketing gurus, graphic artists come together to pitch their ideas, build a team and build a demo product in an energy charged 54 hours then re-pitch it to investors.

Held at Holiday Inn on No.1 Chunxiu Road, the event will run like this:

• Friday October  21: Beginning with “open mic” pitches, attendees bring their best ideas and inspire others to join their team.
• Saturday October 22: Teams focus on customer development, validating their ideas, practicing LEAN Startup Methodologies, and building a minimal viable product.
• Sunday October 23: Teams demo their prototypes for a live audience and receive valuable feedback from a panel of expert judges – one winning team is selected before the night is over.

The confirmed guest speakers and mentors are:

• Ken Shi, Managing Director of Morningside Group
• Ellen Gao, SVP of WI Harper Group
• Yinan Li, Partner at GSR Ventures and former Baidu CTO
• Feng Li, Partner of IDG Accel
• Zhou Wei, Managing Partner of KPCB

The event costs 500rmb per person to participate.

There are great prizes up for grabs this time! In line with the upcoming TechCrunch Disrupt Conference, teams can win an Exhibitors’ Package at TechCrunch Disrupt Beijing (4 passes to conference plus exhibition space and invitation to private VC/angel investor reception – total value $15,000) and at least US$25,000 investment from China Startup Republic/Innovation Camp for team(s) that meet certain investment criteria. These are great incentives that will help propel any start-up team towards success!

To sign up, register here.

For a great wrap up of the last StartUp Weekend Beijing, held in June, check out Kai’s article on Meibao (美包): Luxury Handbag Rentals for the Win at StartupWeekend Beijing.