Soda Inc wants to attract national participation as it launches NZ Startup Bootcamp, a new name for Innes48.
The weekend-long business bootcamp will provide a platform for participants to test their entrepreneurial skills, test and validate an idea they’ve had or get feedback and exposure on a startup they’re building from talented mentors and business legends.
The bootcamp will be held at the Wintec Atrium in Central Hamilton from May 17-19.
Soda Inc head of operations Rachel Adams is encouraging people with innovative business ideas or a startup to register their interest for a place in the 20 available team spots to participate in the weekend. There are two categories: Best Startup and Best Idea. Both have a cash prize of $10,000 and services for the winning teams.
Registrations of Interest are open now and applications for a team spot will open on March 18.
“We wanted to open the event up to both people with ideas and to people who are already in business and want to use this platform as an opportunity to get feedback and test their business model over an intensive weekend,” she said.
“We want to attract national participation and we are currently looking for flight sponsors so participants can get to Hamilton.”
There are other sponsorship opportunities still available. But the Best Idea and Best Startup category sponsorships have already been snapped up by Gallagher and ASB, with other key sponsors such as Xero, Deloitte and Wintec also coming on board.
The bootcamp will start on Friday afternoon and end on Sunday evening. The teams will first hear from inspirational speakers about their successes, failures and learnings as an entrepreneur. Up to 20 teams will then have 48 hours to participate in workshops, build business models, get feedback from mentors and validate their ideas and business models.
At the end of the weekend the teams will pitch their new ideas or existing startups to a panel of high profile judges and an audience of 300 people. These judges will select a winner for each category.
The opening and closing ceremonies are packed to capacity with contestants, investors, sponsors, mentors, judges and national business leaders.
