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Winter 2012 Newsletter Extended: Startup Weekend SLO

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AN ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT: RPTA STUDENT INSTRUMENTAL IN PLANNING SOLD OUT STARTUP WEEKEND SLO

By "The Report" staff

Over 120 students and community members rallied on the Cal Poly campus to embrace collaboration, innovation, and entrepreneurship for the 1st Annual Startup Weekend SLO that took place January 20-22, 2011.

Group picture for Startup Weekend SLO

Startup Weekend is a global grassroots movement of active and empowered entrepreneurs who are learning the basics of founding startups and launching successful ventures. Startup Weekends occur all over the world, but the 1st Annual Startup Weekend SLO was organized by 3rd year RPTA Event Planning & Management student Eric Duarte along with Cal Poly students Kristin Kenney, Chris Petersilge, and Matt McGunnagle.

Picture of crowd at presentationsMore than 80 participants on 12 teams presented their prototypes Sunday night at San Luis Obispo's first Startup Weekend. The sold-out event brought community members and Cal Poly students together in a dynamic environment to build their ideas in just 54 hours. Student backgrounds ranged from business/marketing, graphic design, computer science, and RPTA. A panel of four judges critiqued the teams on customer validation, business model, and execution. Judges included faculty members and local business executives. Mentors also visited throughout the weekend to coach teams and guide them through any problems.

"Startup Weekend was an interdisciplinary effort, from the planning to the teams. Our goal from the beginning was to change the culture at Cal Poly to promote this integration of skills, ideas and passion," Petersilge said.

Picture of students working on computersDr. Jonathan York, professor and co-founder of the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, saw Startup Weekend as the beginning of a culture change in the community and on campus. "Not only did the participants accomplish amazing things this weekend, but they're bridging a gap. Community members and students from all different areas came together and that's something we need to see more of," York said.

Startup Weekend SLO will continue to plan for the 2nd annual event and hopes to spread the entrepreneurial spirit to students at Cal Poly across all majors and departments.

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