Startup Weekend Hamilton 3 ticket sale launch

Last night was the ticket sale launch party for Startup Weekend Hamilton 3! The event took place at the cool new Platform 302 (@Platform302) working space and was kicked off by a keynote from Andrew Holden CXO of Weever Apps (@WeeverApps). Weever Apps is a well known company in Hamilton, a lot of people have referred to it as a bit of a poster child for new industry in Hamilton. But Andrew was pretty open about the challenges they’ve faced along the way. Like how the two technical co-founders had to bring in people with different (i.e. business) skill sets in order to take the company to the next level. Or how it took some adapting to find the right product-market fit. He did a great job of tying it all back into what Startup Weekend is about: putting people with a common interest in starting up a company but with different skill sets together over a weekend.

Startup Weekend Hamilton co-organizer Ash Ayyaswamy (@ayyaswa) talked about his own experience at Startup Weekend Hamilton 1 with Caltrakr. Caltrakr was a smartphone app that “allowed users to systematically manage their nutritional intake and exercise schedules in order to help them achieve their desired health and fitness goals”. Though Caltrakr itself didn’t go on Ash emphasized that the relationships formed at the event did, both within the team and with mentors. Sometimes people ask “what can you really startup in a weekend?” and the truth is Startup Weekend is as much about co-founder dating as it is actually starting a company. There’s no better way to figure out who you can and can’t work with then by working with them over a weekend long crunch.

Finally Matt Gardner of Groupnotes (@Groupnotes) talked about his experience with Startup Weekend. Groupnotes won the most recent Startup Weekend Toronto and Global Startup Battle and are now in the Communitech HYPERDRIVE program. Matt talked about the importance of validation – at the end of the day judges want to see that there’s a market for your product! This has been an important factor in determining the winner of the last two Startup Weekend Hamilton events. And it’s not just about throwing up a landing page and signing people up for a mailing list or getting them to follow you on social media. There’s nothing stopping participants from lining up paying customers over the weekend. Matt also emphasized the importance of peer and mentor relationships that carry on far past the weekend is over.

Startup Weekend Hamilton 3 will be taking place from April 26th – April 28th at Radius Cafe (@RadiusDowntown). With Radius hosting you can expect amazing food all weekend. Startup Weekend Hamilton is the best way for the startup curious to dip their toes in the water and for those looking to a start a company to find talent and potential co-founders. And for a limited time you can buy a ticket for only $79, sign-up below!