The University of Tampa will hold its first Global Startup Weekend this month.

The 54-hour competition will be held from Nov. 13 to Nov. 15 in the university’s John P. Lowth Entrepreneurship Center. The objective of the competition is to create a viable business plan for an original idea in three days, said Eric Liguori, assistant professor of entrepreneurship at the university.

“Judges will look for customer validation, a physical prototype and some sort of viability — is this [idea] something that can actually grow in scale and can the team actually execute it?” Liguori said.

Seventy-five maximum participants will have the early part of Friday to pitch entrepreneurial ideas to those present at the competition, which is called “crowdsourcing,” Liguori said. Then, that same populace will vote on its favorite ideas and select about seven-12 projects to expand upon. After ideas are narrowed down, participants will choose which project they want to be a part of and form corresponding teams.

The teams will have Saturday and Sunday to work on, develop and refine their chosen startup project. Later on Sunday, Liguori said judges will evaluate the work completed by each team and declare the first, second and third place teams. Teams that place will not be receiving a monetary prize, but a package centered more so around mentorship resources, he said.

Anybody at the university is invited to participate in the competition. The event is also open to members of the Tampa community and other schools in the area. Liguori said he thinks the weekend will be an excellent chance for synthesis across majors at UT.

“We think it’s a good opportunity to reach students that we otherwise wouldn’t reach — other majors outside of the business school. It’s a fun, quick event that anyone can get involved in and not be intimidated by,” Liguori said. “It’s very much a good networking opportunity for our students.”

Jimmy Uteg III, a junior entrepreneurship major and a student community organizer for startup weekend at UT, said in an email that in addition to the opportunity to make connections, he is excited to see the energy participants bring.

“As students we can only learn so much in the classroom,” Uteg said. “This is real world experience.”

Brianna Cronin, a junior management major and student community organizer, said she and Uteg have spent a large amount of time internally marketing the event to the UT community to ensure a good turnout.

Cronin said the pair gave a handful of presentations to entrepreneurship classes, clubs and student government; spoke with first-year students; and designed flyers and slideshows to promote the event.

Although Cronin said she doesn’t identify with the term “entrepreneur” and does she plan to become one, she said she took the job of community organizer to be a part of Global Startup Weekend without actually participating in the competition.

“I’m excited to see the different ideas and how different people are going to mesh,” she said. “You need more than just one person to start a business, and I’m excited to see all the people that will come together to help make a business possible.”

Other startup weekends will be happening all over the world at the same time as UT, Liguori said, so it’s only fitting that UT will be taking part as well.

“We’re actually participating in this global movement. There will be teams from Singapore working on this; there will be teams from New York working on this,” he said. “We’ll be able to tap into the energy surrounding that and plan a startup weekend that’s a little more local.”

Published on November 4, 2015 at 10:15 pm

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