According to a
recent study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, net job growth throughout the United States is overwhelmingly being driven by "startups."
To help catalyze these new ventures, several area entrepreneurs are helping to organize, facilitate and mentor new projects at the third annual
Startup Weekend West Michigan, a 54-hour event taking place Jan. 13-15 at The Factory in downtown Grand Rapids.
What can be accomplished in a weekend? Amanda Chocko, who acts as the program director of the Grand Rapids seed accelerator
Momentum-MI's and is also member of the organizing committee, says, "Some of our best applicants have come out of Startup Weekend events. By teaming up with a diverse group of talent, people get an outside perspective on their ideas and make a great deal of progress over the weekend."
One of the three speakers during the weekend will be
TEDxGrandRapids organizer, Steve Frazee. Frazee will be addressing the participants on Saturday, encouraging them to create a grand vision for their startup, including an eye on the triple bottom line from the start. "Epic lives have epic stories," says Frazee.
Other speakers include entrepreneur and
MI-SBDTC technology consultant Jason Pliml and Jacob Cohen, VP of
Detroit Venture Partners.
To register for the event, you can visit the site
here. To learn more about the various entrepreneurial efforts in West Michigan, you can visit a regional startup site
here.
(full disclosure: The writer of this story is one of the organizers of the event.)
Source: Amanda Chocko, Momentum-MI
Writer: John Rumery, Innovation and Job News Editor
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