Sheffield music and literature startup weekend

by Startacus Admin

Of all the Startup Weekends taking place right across the UK and indeed beyond, it’s safe to say that Sheffield’s contribution to this global movement is one of the very best.

Over the years they have produced many an inspiring startup story that we have been glad to share with our audience, as they continue to take an innovative and proactive approach to delivering and promoting the startup weekend ethos.

This time around they have really outdone themselves in their plans. They want their upcoming Sheffield Startup Weekend to uncover an idea with the potential to become the next Goodreads, Spotify or SoundCloud!  

The event taking place from June 26th to 28th June 2015 will pay a courteous nod to the changing way in which we consume and share content, and the way it is created and sold. The central theme of the weekend will be ‘Music and Literature’ and will bring together a broad range of people including musicians, writers, developers, designers, and entrepreneurs who will team up to develop and launch a startup within the space of just 54 hours!

If you haven't been to a Startup Weekend before you might be wondering what you can expect from signing up to take part.  Here’s a quick idea of the structure of the proceedings.  

On Friday evening the show will kick-off with open-mic pitches, giving anyone with a music / literature themed idea to inspire other to get on board with it! After this, teams will be formed based on what the most popular pitches were and what skill-sets are available. Over Saturday and Sunday it will be all hands on deck as teams’ focus is on building a minimal viable product, validating ideas, and practising Lean Startup techniques. Mentors will be on-hand to offer their advice and support whenever it is needed. On Sunday each team will present their prototype, and receive feedback from a panel of experts as well as the chance to win some great prizes, contributed by the Sheffield startup community.

Crowdfunding Campaign

This time around the folks at Sheffield Startup Weekend have taken things a step further by creating a crowdfunding campaign to help raise some extra funds to help deliver the weekend and provide extra support for the teams afterwards.  With just seven days of the campaign left they have already raised £3,000, which is £500 more than their initial target, but they are hoping that this figure will go even higher in the remaining few days. (It’s worth pointing out that Startup Weekend are a not-for-profit organisation and so all donations will go towards developing and supporting innovative and enterprising people in the Sheffield area).  The campaign will close on the 27th of May 2015 so get over to the Indiegogo page before then to make a donation!

You might also like to check out some of these recent Sheffield startup articles:

Sheffield Startup Weekend App Could Save NHS Millions

UK’s Largest Entrepreneurial Festival Returns to Sheffield

Sheffield Startup Events and Meetups

• #sheffield
• #startup weekend

Published on: 21st May 2015