Innovate Mississippi is bringing Startup Weekend Oxford back to campus this weekend. The Ridgeland company is offering Ole Miss students and Oxford locals a three-day competition to create a viable business plan in a high-energy environment.
The weekend kicks off with the Discovery Luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Friday at the Oxford Conference Center. In addition to this 54-hour business building competition, the Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship on campus is also hosting Innovation Bootcamp, which begins at 3 p.m. in Holman 38, two hours before the first round of Startup Weekend.
The Bootcamp is a two-hour pitch-forming workshop where students will learn how to take a viable idea from its developing stages to a pitch room quickly. Students will communicate one-on-one with faculty and other students in brainstorming sessions.
The Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship has many other events scheduled throughout the semester for students interested in the business world. The 14th Gillespie Business Plan Competition begins next week, which gives many Ole Miss students their entrepreneurial start.
At Startup Weekend, attendees will hear guest speaker Garret Gray talk about his career as CEO of Next Gear Solutions of Oxford.
The first round of Startup Weekend will consist of hopeful entrepreneurs presenting their product or business to the group of participants, who will then decide on the 15 most promising pitches. The participants will split into competition groups and spend the remainder of the weekend developing their assigned business plans.
Programmers, marketers, financiers and designers will work together on their products until the awards ceremony Sunday night, where the top three teams will be awarded.
Participating students have the opportunity to challenge their skills and expand their network at the competition. According to Startup Weekend’s website, 50 percent of the attendees come from technical backgrounds and 50 percent come from business backgrounds.
Students in the business school have the opportunity to connect with potential business partners, as well as meet with the coders and developers who bring their ideas to life. The website also states roughly 80 percent of all project groups continue work with their business plan after the weekend concludes.
Cobie Crews is the director of student and alumni programs at the University.
“The Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship is excited about kicking off the semester with Innovation Bootcamp and Startup Weekend,” Crews said. “Both are great ways to get involved with entrepreneurship, even if students aren’t sure if they have a business or product idea.”
