Startup camp a first for state

A few dozen aspiring entrepreneurs are headed to a three-day boot camp for startup companies beginning today at the Santa Fe Business Incubator.

If the event, dubbed “Startup Weekend,” unfolds as it has in many other cities in recent years, a few new local companies will have formed, and will have taken the first steps to becoming viable businesses, said Eric Renz-Whitmore, executive director of the New Mexico Technology Council. It’s the first time Startup Weekend, which launched in 2008 in Seattle, Wash., will be held in New Mexico.

“This brings together people who want to start companies and who have many skills but who don’t necessarily know one another,” Renz-Whitmore said. “We want to facilitate networking and help them learn about what it takes to get started.”

About 40 people are expected at the event, which begins with presentations by anyone with a startup idea. Participants vote on the most-promising ones, then break off into project teams to pursue them, he said.

The teams spend the weekend building business foundations, which they present on Sunday to investors and experienced entrepreneurs who offer mentoring and feedback.

Even if ideas fizzle, the event offers invaluable training, said Santa Fe Business Incubator President and CEO Marie Longserre.

In many other places, Startup Weekend has provided a successful launching pad.

Russ Yelton, president and CEO of the Northern Arizona Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, told the Journal said one team “built a phone app for barbershops to schedule haircuts, and they got the biggest training school in Arizona to include the app in its program.”

Since 2008, more than 1,000 Startup Weekends have been held in the U.S. and other countries.
— This article appeared on page B01 of the Albuquerque Journal