If you are interested in entrepreneurship the answer is most likely yes. Whether you are a serial entrepreneur or new to the startup scene, you’ll fit right in as long as you are motivated to build a product or startup and are open to new ideas. We believe that great ideas can come from anywhere.

The event is intended to be a collaborative and inclusive forum for sharing, learning, building, and having fun. We expect each member of the startup community to be inclusive of all people and their ideas at Techstars Startup Weekend and we welcome all, regardless of experience, industry or background.

From Friday, January 28, 2022 at 6:00 PM PST to Sunday, January 30, 2022 at 7:00 PM PST. Click here to view the detailed schedule.

Apart from the organizing team, mentors, speakers, event volunteers and judges, everyone who participates in the event is expected to participate in all three days.

This is important not only to preserve your own learning experience, but also to minimize distractions or disruptions for the team you choose to join. At many Techstars Startup Weekends, a “Sunday Presentation Only” registration option is available for those wishing to only view the teams’ final pitch presentations. We welcome any friends, family or colleagues you would like to invite to watch your final presentation to see all you have accomplished in just one weekend.

The online platform we will be using is called Airmeet. 

You will need a laptop or desktop computer, preferably with a webcam to interact with other attendees, and a reliable internet connection with a minimum speed of 10mbps.

The following web browsers and versions are recommended: Chrome 79+, Firefox 76+, Internet Edge, Brave browser. We do not recommend using Safari.

All activities during this weekend will be held on the Airmeet virtual conference platform. We will send those who are registered a link to login.

No, but we highly encourage you to. You can pitch an idea you’ve been thinking about for years, or something you think of at the last minute during the event. Please don’t pitch an idea that you’ve already been developing or have been working on outside of Startup Weekend. The point of the event is to learn how to go from ideation to product. Pitching provides invaluable practice for public speaking. You won’t regret pitching, but might regret not pitching.

Everyone who attends the event as a participant is expected to come to the event without a team and then join and participate with a team at the event. This is important to preserve the Techstars Startup Weekend educational experience. The ideal team consists of members from diverse backgrounds and experiences who collaborate to build a great minimum viable product (MVP) using the Lean Canvas framework. The more people you have on your team to help you do market research and business model development, the quicker you’ll develop an MVP to pitch on Sunday.

We are excited to offer the entire program on a virtual conference platform called Airmeet. 

Update as of 1/7/2022: Due to the increasing cases of COVID-19 in the region, we have decided to switch to an online format for Techstars Startup Weekend Monterey Bay 2022. The dates remain the same for January 28-30, 2022.

Ticket prices for this online event:

• Student ticket: $15
• General admission: $25
• CSUMB and Hartnell College student ticket: Complimentary admission

Refunds are available upon request up to 7 days prior to the start of the event.

There are rules and a code of conduct in place for the weekend which help to ensure that everyone has a great experience.

The Participant Code of Conduct:  Techstars Startup Weekend is always open to all.

We’re committed to making everyone feel included and welcome — before, during and after the weekend. We want to provide all participants with incredible networking and learning opportunity.

The event is intended to be a collaborative forum for sharing, learning, building, and having fun.

We believe that great ideas can come from anywhere. We expect each member of the startup community to be inclusive of all people and their ideas at Startup Weekend. As such, by registering as a participant, you acknowledge that any ideas shared by you or anyone else over the course of the event are contributions to the overall experience of the Startup Weekend community.

If you, as a participant, are worried about someone ‘stealing your idea,’ please reconsider sharing specifics about your idea. You can bring another idea to work on and take your experience, learnings, and contacts from the weekend to further develop your idea after the weekend. Bringing legal documentation to the event is not allowed, and Techstars Startup Weekend does not get involved in any legal matters.

We believe that everyone should act with integrity and be held accountable for their actions. You agree to act professionally, treat everyone with respect and dignity, and treat the event facilities with proper care.

You agree that you are responsible for any accidents or damages that you cause. You also agree to not hold Techstars Startup Weekend, your local organizing team, or any of the event supporters liable for any loss, damage, injury, or any other unforeseeable incident.

Business Model: How does the team plan on making this a successful business? Is it a unique idea? What is their key value proposition? Have they thought about competition, how to scale, acquiring customers, and their revenue model? Have they identified a specific target market? How will they acquire their first 100 customers?

Customer Validation: Are teams building something that people actually want? Did the team talk to customers? Who will be their users, who will be their customers, and are they different? How many users have they interviewed? Did they target the correct people to interview? What did they learn from their customer interviews? What are the core needs of their users?

Execution & Design: Have they established an MVP — the minimum set of product features to be able to start collecting data? What feedback did they get to inspire their Minimum Viable Product (MVP)? Did they build a prototype? Any medium is fine, including paper or Google Slides. How effective is their MVP for the purpose of the weekend? How functional is their technical demo, if applicable? How easy is it for the user to navigate and use their product? Were they able to incorporate customer feedback into the solution?

It’s okay if your business idea does not get picked. You can still participate by joining another team.

Yes! All friends and family are welcome to attend final pitches. We provide all event participants with a shareable final pitch online event registration link.

Laptop/Computer with camera and mic, stable internet and web browser, the Airmeet as a desktop application (There is also an App available for phone and tablet. We encourage you to use the desktop or tablet application), and lots of energy!

Teams are formed on Friday night so you’ll miss an important part of the weekend. Let us know if you’re planning on arriving on Saturday morning and we will do the best we can to accommodate you but do consider passing on your ticket to someone who can attend the entire weekend.

All registrants will be sent a Google form prior to the event, to submit a business idea before the event by Thursday, January 27th at 5:00 PM PST. You do not need to have a business idea to participate. The list of business ideas will help us organize the pitch presentations and provide basic information about each business idea.

Friday: Participants login by 6:00 PM. After an ice-breaking game and an introduction by the Facilitator, and some inspirational tips from a speaker. Then, the “Pitchfire” will commence: anyone intending to pitch will have 60 seconds to give their best pitch. No presentations are needed for Friday, it will just be you and a mic. After pitches are finished, all participants will vote on their favorites, and using these votes, the top ideas will be selected to be worked on over the weekend. The Facilitator will provide guidance on team formation. Then teams will form organically, consolidate, and get to know each other and begin working.

Saturday: Teams will work all day, with the occasional breaks to eat, listen to short talks, or attend a short workshop. In the morning and afternoon, there will be coaches available to provide advice in the field of their expertise for those teams that want it. Please let the Facilitator know what help your team needs.

Sunday: Teams will work until mid-afternoon. They’ll wrap up their product/prototype and presentation at 2:00 PM to do tech-checks and practice their presentation. Presentations begin at 4:00 PM. Each team typically has five minutes plus around a three to five minute Q&A from the judges (depending on the number of teams presenting). The judges will select the top teams, who will be awarded prizes, and the event ends with time for networking.

All business ideas are welcome, whether they’re for-profit or non-profit organizations, however the event is typically tech-oriented. Approximately 90% of all ideas are Software as a service (SaaS) and given the short time-frame to develop your product, we recommend that even non-tech ideas focus on a scalable tech-related deliverable (for example, a website) by Sunday to be able to demonstrate the Minimum Viable Product.

Depending on the number of ideas pitched and the event schedule, you may or may not be able to pitch multiple ideas. Prioritize your ideas: pitch your best idea (and the one you have most prepared for) first. Please note that you will only be able to work on one idea through the weekend.

No. At some events, certain teams will decide to work all through Friday and/or Saturday night, but this is by no means obligatory or expected.

A key part of every Techstars Startup Weekend is the valuable advice and assistance provided by the event’s speakers and mentors. In the spirit of our motto, “No Talk, All Action,” we try to keep talks short and sweet, focusing on practical issues (i.e. “How to give a persuasive pitch” and “Best approaches to customer validation”) that can actually help you and your team better achieve your weekend goals. Mentors – community experts in various fields ranging from entrepreneurship, software development, marketing, finance, law, and more – dedicate their time to provide advice. In addition to the most valuable resources at the weekend (the people), we’ve put together a list of some useful resources and tools for before, during, and after the weekend. Check out the Tools for Participants page for more info.

To the extent intellectual property is presented or disclosed by participants during an event, Techstars doesn’t retain or claim ownership to any of these ideas and any discussions of ownership is left up to the teams. We do acknowledge that the issue of patents, copyrights, and other IP is an important one but the decision to discuss any specific intellectual property during the Startup Weekend is, in the end, a question of risk and reward for you.

Techstars Startup Weekend is about the educational experience of learning how to build a business, so even if you don’t pitch the idea that you’re worried about disclosing publicly, you can still take the learnings from the weekend and apply it to your idea afterwards. You might also make valuable connections with mentors and other participants during the weekend who you want to involve going forward, so participating is still valuable, regardless of the idea.

Beyond just intellectual property, keep in mind that Techstars Startup Weekend does not support or take part in the signing of any legal documents between participants at the events, and while mentors with legal backgrounds are often present and able to give general advice, they are not permitted to give specific legal counsel.

While there are no specific requirements in terms of what teams should have accomplished by Sunday, it’s in your best interest to plan your execution around what you’ll be judged for on Sunday:

• Customer Validation: did you research your business idea?
• Execution and Design: what did you build?
• Business Model: do you have a plan for the future?

As far as presenting goes, some of the most common presentations include any, or a combination, of the following: Website wireframes or more developed sites, mobile App wireframes to fully functional apps, videos (for product demonstrations for example), slide decks with product screenshots, embedded videos etc, live product demos, and skits.

Competition is not a central theme of Techstars Startup Weekend. Our goal is to cultivate a positive and educational atmosphere. We do believe, however, that some friendly competition can be beneficial to all parties and accurately reflects the realities of startup life. Just as it’s important to gather ‘real-world’ feedback over the weekend, it’s also important to have real-world pressures and obstacles.

Whether or not you continue to work on the idea, with some or all of your team, is completely up to you.