The Small Business Column: Start-Up Weekend

Kehlan Kirwan looks at Start-Up Weekend and what makes it so popular.

I’m sitting in the cheap seats at the Irish Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick. Up at the back you can look down upon an impressive stage.

The stars of the show are not musicians or dancers, but start-ups. I’ve written before in this column about Start-up Weekend.

I’ve gushed about talent and skills. I talked about the event and the premise of starting the bones of business in 54 hours.

One weekend to pitch an idea and develop a minimum viable product. I’ve been to every start-up weekend in Limerick since it began last year.

One year later and the third event is reaching its crescendo for final pitches to judges on Sunday evening. This time around, though, something is different.

It’s not the same as it was. In a year this event has grown and developed teeth.

This is the biggest Star-t-up Weekend that Limerick has had. Seventy-three participants with enough people pitching to create a queue out the door and into the corridors.

That’s not to mention organisers and mentors who make the event tick. At one point in the evening the hashtag, #SWLimerick was the number one trending tag in Ireland.

All in all, 41 people pitched an idea and they came from everywhere. Brazil, the Lebanon and Northern Ireland. One participant drove from Bangor on Friday afternoon to make it to Limerick for half six in the evening.

A mentor who came down from Dublin noted that “I’m ginger and I came out into the sunshine to be here, that’s how much I wanted to come”.

Of the 41 people who pitched an idea three of them were under the age of 10. One of whom, Calluain Lavelle, made it into the final with his emotional watch, Emojo.

So, here was a boy with the courage to stand in a room of people and share his idea. It was impressive and inspiring. Bright ideas, it seems, have no age limit. Limerick has designs on being a start-up capital. The place in Ireland to turn that thought into a reality. For that to happen it needs to surround itself with the right platforms.

With energy and drive you can feel that in the room. From ten-year-olds to people in their sixties, there is no one stereotype of an entrepreneur. Here, in this city, is where they’ve found a home. Are you brave enough is the only question people ask you to answer.

I’ve seen this event grow and grow. One of the organisers noted they will soon have to start thinking about putting a cap on the number of participants.

Not that the growing numbers can’t be handled, but that the essence of the event would be lost. It’s not about numbers; it’s about the experience of event.

A few days earlier I attended Start-up Grind. A monthly talk with an entrepreneur or business person about what makes their company a success.

Keiran Harte from Uber, who recently set up in the city, was talking about why a global company like Uber decided to locate in Limerick.

He made a very interesting comment. Limerick, he said, was designing its own future. How they did that would determine the future of the city.

As of writing this there is no winner. The teams have yet to pitch. Perhaps it that is the right way to be.

We determine a lot of events on winners and losers, that there must be only people worthy of being at the top.

However, the clichéd comment of ‘it’s the participation that counts’ rolls off the tongue without a hint of sarcasm. Take what you’ve learned and keep it.

Use it in your business or that niggling thought inside your head, have the bravery to stand by your ideas.

As I look down onto the stage, it’s all set. Banners are up and the mics are being tested. Limerick: the stage is yours, now it’s up to you.