Posted on 16 November 2015
Think you have what it takes to launch a business in a weekend? The Welsh Startup event, Startup Weekend Swansea, returns for the third year running, giving people the chance to make their business idea a reality.
On Friday the 20th November, the University of Wales Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea will play host to a weekend-long competition for budding entrepreneurs to share ideas, form teams, pioneer products and launch new businesses.
This year’s event, as always, will take place on the final week of Global Entrepreneurship Week. This means that teams formed over the weekend not only have the chance to meet likeminded people, form a new business and win some great prizes, but they also have the chance to enter the Global Startup Battle, fighting it out against teams from over 200 other cities around the world to take the crown in the ultimate Startup competition.
Last year's Startup Weekend Swansea acted as a huge springboard for Emma Coles, whose digital advertising platform Adlet went on to win the Global Startup Battle competition.
As part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, StartUp Weekend Swansea will welcome over 100 developers, designers, marketers, product managers and start-up enthusiasts to the Centre, who will compete for the chance to win a range of prizes.
During the event, attendees will pitch their business ideas to a judging panel, with teams organically forming around the most popular concepts. There will then be a 54-hour frenzy of business model creation, coding, designing, and market validation. Each team will receive support to develop their ideas by a string of successful entrepreneurs, business mentors and investors.
The competition will culminate with presentations to local entrepreneurial leaders and a judging panel that includes Anna Bastek, the chief executive of Swansea-based multilingual multimedia agency VoiceBox, businesswoman Debra Williams, whose previous roles include managing director at Confused.com, David Hieatt, the founder of jeans company Hiut Denim, and Dina Henry, the current chief commercial officer for Charity Aid Foundation Bank.
The event has been made possible thanks to support from local community partners which include the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Gower College Swansea, Swansea University and the Welsh Government.
For more information and to purchase a ticket for this year's event, please visit: www.up.co/communities/uk/swansea/startup-weekend/6603