Vocus Upstart has announced they will sponsor Startup Weekend Perth, and will also extend their submissions deadline to Monday 2nd May to allow Startup Weekend teams to apply for the accelerator.
Startup Weekend Perth #8 is happening on April 29th-May 1st, at Spacecubed. We’ve covered it before, many times before. It’s a weekend education in startup, with attendees pitching their ideas on the Friday evening, and forming teams to build a business by Sunday afternoon. The aim is to get customer validation (in the form of actual customer purchases) for the idea during the weekend, turning it from an idea into an actual business, and most teams manage to do this. The teams then pitch their businesses to a panel of experts, and the winners are announced at the end of Sunday.
Vocus Upstart is Perth’s only true accelerator, providing $40K of funding in return for 8% of the equity in the business, as well as a 10-week program of intense mentoring from some of the community’s best mentors, and Spacecubed-provided co-working space. The program was due to close for admissions on April 29th, the day that Startup Weekend started. But as part of the sponsorship agreement with Startup Weekend, they’ve extended the deadline to the Monday after Startup Weekend so that teams can apply.
Winning teams from Startup Weekend can get assistance from Rob Nathan, Vocus Upstart’s CEO (pictured right), in completing their application if needed. Rob will be attending the weekend and will give more information about the program on the weekend, and commented:
We are proud to support Startup Weekend. At Vocus Upstart we are looking to back passionate and committed teams. People who have the passion to give up their weekend to launch a startup are the type of people we are looking for. What you need to build a successful startup cannot be taught in a classroom but only by going our doing it, which is what Startup Weekend does. Startup Weekend encourages entrepreneurs to build a team around a good idea and get it out there. What people will learn in 54 hours at Startup Weekend will be invaluable if they decide to continue to their startup journey.
Any Startup Weekend team can apply for Vocus Upstart if they want to. Both Startup Weekend and Vocus Upstart use the F6S platform to manage team information, so the application process is simple for Startup Weekend teams.
