Startup Weekend Competition Comes to UCSB

Eager entrepreneurs networked, pitched ideas and presented prototypes to a panel of experts at UCSB’s Startup Weekend Friday through Sunday at Corwin Pavilion.

The event allowed attendees to connect with sponsors and company representatives from Dandelion Nitro, SB Hackers, StartupSB, I.V. Cuts, Impact Radius and Citrix. Participating entrepreneurs pitched their ideas on Friday and looked for members to add to their teams. Attendees voted for the top 15 teams, and these teams competed Saturday and Sunday to build the best product.

The top teams also competed with teams from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which was hosting its own Startup Weekend.

Clint Nelsen, co-founder of Startup Weekend and CEO of Ticketbase, brought the event, which takes place in 135 countries, to Santa Barbara in 2009.

“Over an impromptu lunch, we shook hands to buy the company from [previous owner Andrew Hyde] for about $150,000, and we didn’t have a penny in our bank accounts,” Nelsen said.

Mark Cardona, who graduated from UCSB in 2009, said his interest in entrepreneurship began with selling candy out of his backpack in middle school.

“I actually made quite a bit of money doing that, and ever since then I have been trying to build other businesses,” Cardona said.

ProductPlan founder Jim Semick shared advice on building a business and finding lean market validation.

“A lot of products come to market, and the founders and people who are starting the company are really excited about it,” Semick said. “They believe their ideas can change the world, and unfortunately the world doesn’t care sometimes. This [weekend] is really the lowest-risk chance for you to get in front of people and talk about your idea.

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Peeka Zimmerman, The Daily Nexus