STARTUP WEEKEND OKANAGAN RETURNS FOR THE THIRD YEAR ON MARCH 14 – 16, 2014

For immediate release – FEB 18, 2014

[Kelowna] Startup Weekend Okanagan will host its third annual event in Kelowna, British Columbia on March 14-16, 2014. Startup Weekend is a weekend-long, hands-on experiences where entrepreneurs, developers, designers, marketers, product managers, and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and launch startups.

Startup Weekend Okanagan 2012 and 2013 easily sold out, and has been a huge success for the Okanagan’s tech community with over 75 attendees each year from across British Columbia, and from as far away as Alberta, Seattle and even Lithuania, taking place in the weekend-long event.

About half of Startup Weekendʼs attendees have technical backgrounds, the other half have business backgrounds. Startup Weekend is designed for entrepreneurs interested in receiving feedback on an idea, looking for a co-founder, or wanting to learn a new skill and welcomes anyone looking to test the entrepreneurial waters. Startup Weekend Okanagan is a risk-free environment where everyone is expected to roll up their sleeves and dive into the exhilarating world of startups.

Beginning with open-mic pitches on Friday March 14th, attendees bring their best ideas and inspire others to join their team. Over Saturday and Sunday teams focus on customer development, validating their ideas, and building a minimal viable product. On Sunday evening teams demo their prototypes and receive valuable feedback from a panel of experts.

Brent Lachman, one of the organizers, said “Right now thereʼs a strong entrepreneurial movement in the Okanaganʼs high tech sector. We feel that this budding community will benefit greatly from bringing Startup Weekend to the Valley.”

“Digital Okanagan is a non-profit association in the Okanagan dedicated to building the technology community here. After facilitating hundreds of community events in the last year, we are thrilled that Startup Weekend continues to have huge support,” said Daryl Chymko, Chief Volunteer Officer of Digital Okanagan.

Andrew Greer, Program Manager at Accelerate Okanagan said, “Startup Weekend is one of the best opportunities in the calendar year to try out what it’s like to be an entrepreneur. This year Startup Weekend is going to create a collision point between the social impact and technology communities. It will be incredible to see what the tech community can do to help those with a focused social mission.”

With success stories include Foodspotting, a food finding application established during San Franciscoʼs Startup Weekend and the Copenhagen startup company, memolane, who recently received $2,000,000 investment. Who knows, the next success story could come from the Okanagan.

Startup Weekend Okanagan can be found online at:

# Website – okanagan.startupweekend.org

# Twitter – @swokanagan

For more information or media on Startup Weekend Okanagan, please contact:

Contact: Brent Lachman

Telephone: 250-979-8887

Email: [email protected]



About Startup Weekend

Startup Weekends are 54-hour events designed to provide superior experiential education for technical and non-technical entrepreneurs. The weekend events are centered on action, innovation, and education. Beginning with Friday night pitches and continuing through testing,business model development, and basic prototype creation, Startup Weekends culminate in Sunday night demos to a panel of potential investors and local entrepreneurs. Participants are challenged with building functional startups during the event and are able to collaborate with like-minded individuals outside of their daily networks.



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