On Friday May 29th, entrepreneurs will gather at Galvanize’s new Platte location for a special Startup Weekend event focused on creating the next generation of Internet of Things companies. In just 54 hours, teams will form, ideas will be discussed, prototypes will be built, markets will be analyzed, and companies will be pitched.
Startup Weekend is one of the largest communities of passionate entrepreneurs, hosting over 1800 past events in 120 countries around the world. It’s an amazing organization that has brought thousands of entrepreneurs together with their unique event format.
The upcoming IoT-focused Startup Weekend event is especially exciting because teams will develop their ideas for Internet connected devices and create hardware prototypes. The Internet of Things is an emerging market and presents a massive opportunity for the next generation of entrepreneurs.
If launching an IoT-company in a weekend isn’t enough to get you excited, just wait … there’s more! An incredible group of companies have graciously donated to make this event possible, and their contributions are all to help the Startup Weekend participants succeed. Let’s go through the sponsors so far and see how they’ll make the weekend awesome, and how they’ll help set your company up for success after the event.
Support During the Event
Particle Cores
Particle (until most recently known as Spark) has a really cool hardware product that makes creating an Internet connected device a snap. Getting a small microcontroller-powered device on the Internet used to be a huge challenge. Now, with the Particle Core, it takes about five minutes. It’s technology like this that really expands the realm of possibility.
Particle has graciously donated 15 of their Maker Kits, which come complete with a Core + lots of sensors and other goodies. It includes everything you need to get started with building simple Internet connected devices. Each team will get a Maker Kit so they can prototype their idea over the weekend.
Temboo
Once you get your Particle Core connected to the Internet, now what? One thing you may want to do is integrate a popular web service, like Twitter or Google Drive or Twilio. Temboo provides easy integration with over 100 different APIs so you can program your application lightning fast.
All participants will get free Temboo accounts with three free months of access, so you’ll have a head start on getting your company off the ground.
FunGram Workshop
While getting started with the Particle Core is fairly straightforward, there still are some challenges involved if you’ve never worked with embedded devices. To help get you started, FunGram has offered to run an introductory workshop on Wednesday May 27th. This workshop will give you an overview of the Particle Core devices, what they are capable of, and how to create a simple IoT device.
Ubidots
Let’s say you’ve wired up your Particle Core with some sensors and you’re able to access that data via the Internet. Awesome. But where does that data go? What does it do? That’s where Ubidots comes in.Ubidots provides the infrastructure to make sense of your sensor data. You can watch your data stream in on a real time dashboard, or trigger actions when the sensor value hits a threshold.
Ubidots will provide high usage accounts for all participants during the event, and the three winning teams will each get free starter plan subscriptions for 1 year.
Support After the Event
Galvanize
Galvanize has recently opened up their newest Platte location in Denver, and it’s a great space in a cool location. Not only are they providing the space for this event to take place, but they are also offering a one-month free membership to the winning team. So you get to stick around and keep working on your company!
Chromedia
Chromedia is a web development shop focused on getting startups to launch quickly and smartly. They specialize in turning rough ideas into polished websites, which sounds perfect for Startup Weekend companies! For the winning team, Chromedia will donate 20 hours of website development time so you can share your idea with the world.
Modus Law
Modus Law is the entrepreneurs law firm. They specialize in helping young companies with formation, IP, M&A, general council, litigation, and all the other complicated law-related activities that are best left to the experts. Modus Law will help the winning team with their company formation documents so they structure their company for success.
Boomtown
After Startup Weekend, your team’s idea will likely need some work to take it to the next level. That’s where Boomtown can help. With a 12-week accelerator program in Boulder, Boomtown will help turn your idea into a real company with seed funding, mentors, and experts in design and marketing. The top two teams from the IoT Startup Weekend will receive fast track status for Boomtown’s accelerator program in either the Fall 2015 or Spring 2016 classes!
Are You Ready?
The Internet of Things Startup Weekend event is quickly approaching. Are you ready to take your ideas and create an IoT company in just 54 hours? The emerging IoT market is a HUGE opportunity for the coming years, and one of the best ways to get involved is to dive in head first with your own company.
Even if you don’t continue on with your idea and create the next Nest, the experiences you have and the connections you’ll make are invaluable.
If you haven’t yet signed up, you can still register for the event and purchase tickets.
