3 Day Start Up liberates students from the classroom, and creates an environment where budding entrepreneurs can learn by doing. Over the course of a weekend, students pitch their business ideas, vote on the projects they find the most compelling, and ultimately self-organize into project teams to create a prototype, perform market research, and formulate a business strategy. Participating students hail from myriad backgrounds including computer science, engineering, business, law and design, to create the skill set necessary to jumpstart a company. The weekend event is hosted by the Austin Technology Incubator.
3 Day Startup (3DS) is currently accepting applications for its spring event, Friday, March 30 at 2pm until Sunday, April 1 at 10pm.
Application deadline: March 1st. Rolling Admissions
Info sessions will be held on February 6 & 16th at 5:00pm in JGB 2.216. If you have any questions contact Rishi Shah at rishi09@gmail.com.
There will be sponsors, mentors, press coverage, and of course, the invited participants don’t pay for anything. The culmination of the event is when students pitch their start-ups to a wide array of Austin entrepreneurs. Past mentors include:
- Bob Metcalfe, Professor of Innovation, Murchison Fellow of Free Enterprise at the University of Texas at Austin;
- Gary Forni, Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN);
- Josh Baer, Capital Factory & OtherInbox;
- Zaz Floreani, Austin Ventures
Companies that have emerged from previous 3 Day Start Up events include: Famigo (famigogames.com), Hurricane Party (hurricaneparty.com), and HootMe (hoot.me). 3 Day Start Up was started by students and is run by students.
When asked about the influence of 3 Day Start up on their academic and professional careers, previous participants have said the following:
“3DS takes all kinds of people from their respective little boxes and encourages them to bring their talents together to make something great.” – Jeff Zhao, BBA Finance, 3DS Spring ’11
“3DS has been by far the best experience I’ve had thus far as a graduate student. The weekend is intense and sometimes grueling but it’s also just a lot of fun. “- Rene Pinnell, MS Design, 3DS Fall ’09
“At 3 Day Startup, we learned by doing. Instead of sitting in an auditorium, I worked with forty like-minded people to go through the process of launching something great. The next time I go to a seminar on entrepreneurship, I’m going to sit in the middle of the front row, watch the PowerPoint presentation, and think to myself, ‘I’ve done that.’” – Rishi Shah, Plan II Honors, 3DS Fall ’10
If you’re interested, apply at http://austin.3daystartup.org/apply/. Check out our website at http://austin.3daystartup.org or our Facebook Page or Twitter. Questions? Email austin@3daystartup.org.
