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Hartford Joins Startup Weekend Movement

By MARA LEE

September 20, 2011

Hartford will have its first Startup Weekend, a national program that aims to help people who want to develop a website or mobile phone app that could become the heart of a credible business. There have been 54-hour Startup Weekends in 100 cities in more than 30 countries in the last four years.

Students, software developers and marketing/management types will start meeting at the Hartford Public Library Friday at 6 p.m., and work and learn in two marathon weekend days — the schedule runs Saturday from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The registration fee for students would typically be $49, but sponsor Connecticut Light & Power is providing a scholarship so that it will be $24. For everyone else, registration is $99. To sign up, visit hartford.startupweekend.org or call 860-728-2284 or 860-243-9896, Ext. 201.

Teams will make pitches Friday afternoon, and the group will vote on their favorites. But all participants will get mentoring, and be eligible for awards at the end-of-weekend judging. The top three teams will get some hours of free accounting advice from BlumShapiro, and the top team will get discounted incubator space.

Companies have launched out of past weekends, including Zazu, which started selling an app about nine months after the founders attended a Boston Startup Weekend in 2009.

Startup Weekend Hartford is being organized by the MetroHartford Alliance's Hartford Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs. A co-founder of Grasshopper and a founder of Priceline.com will speak at the event.