startupmania

Do you dream of starting a start-up but can’t find the time to do it?

Do you carry around the next big idea, but lack the programing knowledge to bring it to fruition?

Are you a world-class programer but need the marketing chops and web design know-how to complete your dream team to bring about the next computing revolution?

On December 16th, your dream can become a reality.

Start-Up Weekend, 3 straight days of joined development work on fast-paced micro-start-ups, will be held at the IBM headquarters in Petach Tikva and will bring together under roof 150 potential start-ups. All involved will throw their ideas into the ring, the best will be chosen and the participants will attempt to get a full-fledged start-up up and running in 3 days.

Start-Up Weekend, which has been running in the US for a couple of years to great success, was brought to Israel by Amir Harel. Harel tweeted one day “Why isn’t there a Start-Up Weekend in /Israel?”, only to receive an answer from Marc Nager, one of the American organizers, that simply read “Why don’t you start one?”.

After receiving a short briefing from Nager, a few instructions focusing on the importance of getting sponsored and locating an appropriate venue, Harel partnered up with Eddy Resnik and Shelby Zittelman. Together the three managed to recruit IBM Israel to supply the infrastructure, Development Consulting firm Astrails, the investment company Platonix, the law firm Tal Ron Drihem & Co., and other sponsors. They have already signed up roughly 70 of the 150 available spots.

According to Harel, at the beginning of the event, which will start on a Wednesday (Dec. 16th), at 16:00, the attendees will be treated to a lecture by Google’s Nir Bar-Lev about Google Analytics. Following that, Ofer Adler of Incredimail will relate the “Incredimail Story”. Following the “lectures that will drive people a little crazy”, as Harel says, “will come the pitching round, where each participant can suggest his idea for a project to be developed during the event.” The pitcher will invite the other attendees – developers, marketing people, designers and business men to dedicate the next 3 days to turning the idea into a viable project.

“After the pitching stage, any attendee can approach the people who pitched and idea he found interesting and start discussing the ideas in depth,” Harel explains. “The next stage is the vote, where we find out which ideas garnered the most support, and those will be developed through the event.”

It’s important to emphasize that each team working on a specific project can set their own goals and destinations – starting from building a preliminary prototype, to a fully functional system.

“Friday will be a showcase of all the applications, including a conclusion by the members of the group as well as a judging panel that will decide on the most successful project,” adds Harel. “The winning team will receive benefits worth tens of thousands of shekels from our sponsors, should they choose to take their idea and form it into a genuine start-up company.”

Click Here to sign up to the event

Translated by Itai Rosenbaum