Achill Island. Image: UTBP/Shutterstock
The future of towns is the enterprising theme that should send entrepreneurial hearts racing in Achill.
Achill Island will be the scene of the next Startup Weekend battleground, with the theme centred around the future of towns.
You read that right. Startup Weekend, that wonderful and intense experience of budding entrepreneurs joining forces as strangers and creating world-changing businesses, is going west.
‘The aim is to get an eclectic mix of attendees – ranging from those with a technical or design background, to people with a business background – to share their ideas, form teams and work on new start-ups for 54 hours’
– TRACY KEOGH
Between 27 and 29 April on Achill Island, entrepreneurs will meet as strangers and form teams to build a business, from idea to a minimal viable product within 54 hours.
This will culminate in a final pitch battle where exacting judges will decide the winners.
Go west
Startup Weekend, a Techstars programme supported by Bank of Ireland and Google for Entrepreneurs, is an incredible experience where total strangers test their entrepreneurial chops.
Traditionally held in Dublin, with the most recent fintech edition taking place in November last year, this will be the first time Startup Weekend is held in the west of Ireland.
The €60 registration fee covers the cost of breakfast, lunch and dinner; mentorship; a Startup Weekend T-shirt and goodies; and accommodation for Friday and Saturday.
Sponsored by Bank of Ireland, NWRA, OnePageCRM and Mayo.ie, the Pure Magic Lodge will play host to three days of building and learning, with the future of towns the priority.
“The aim is to get an eclectic mix of attendees – ranging from those with a technical or design background, to people with a business background – to share their ideas, form teams and work on new start-ups for 54 hours,” explained event leader and innovation community manager at Bank of Ireland’s Galway Startlab, Tracy Keogh.
“The event has already seen ticket sales from all corners of Ireland, from city planners to developer groups, building architects to transport designers, and those just interested in how to go from an idea to a built prototype,” Keogh explained.
