“创业周末”的故事
StartupWeekend“创业周末”（以下简称“SW”）于2009年6月份创立于美国，是个非营利组织（NPO）。是著名的美国Global Entrepreneurship Week（全球创业周）最成功的创业实践活动之一！旨在全世界范围内通过活动举行来教育帮助创业者，支持社区建设，以及培养未来领袖。我们的任务和职责在于向创业者们传递世界最先进的关于创业的经验教育。
截止2010年年底，SW构建起了一个膨大的社交网络：拥有超过28000名活动毕业生、150个使者，以及60个杰出的推进者。他们遍布于30多个国家的100多个城市，产生了如Foodspotting、Zaarly等这样世界知名的初创公司。而如今，每个周末都有6到8个SW event在全世界不同的国家不同城市同时举行。这一切都在不断发生，蔓延到创业者们所在的城市。
展望2011年和未来，SW已经不仅仅是一项活动。它将会专注于构建一个社区组织，去帮助、训练和培养未来更多的社区领袖，点燃更多创业的火苗，绘制一幅世界创业者生态系统的蓝图。
注：曾举办过Startup Weekend的城市分布图
“创业周末”活动介绍
Startup Weekend活动是一个为时54个小时的创业活动。是一个创业实践活动！而不是一个讲座！在这里不必废话太多，一切都靠实际去做！其针对的是创业初期的个人创业者和未成熟稳定的还没有成型产品的团队。活动中参与者都是以个人身份参加，然后在活动中与别的参与者组成团队，一起工作54个小时，完成团队的任务，最终成立属于他们的startups。一个SW活动通常汇聚100名左右参与者，一般情况下，参与者中一半是有从事技术方面工作的经验背景的，另一半是有从事贸易销售方面工作的经验背景的。他们当中大多都是有一定的工作经验和技术背景的，有策划者、创造者、决策者、设计师、市场分析师、机械师、产品经理、市场销售者、以及有创业热情的人等，通过这个为时两天多的活动，创业者或有创业抱负的人将能找到自己的未来创业道路上的伙伴，找出他们的创业点子最终是否是可行。
活动一般开始于周五的下午6点，有创业想法或点子的参与者首先通过一个简单的演讲来介绍自己最好的创业点子，去鼓励其他的参与者来加入自己的团队（如果你自己没有idea也没关系，你可以以协助者的身份成为团队中的一部分）。每个人都可以自由地在所有参与者中选择自己的合作伙伴来组建自己的团队。然后通过周六和周日整整两天的努力工作，亲历亲为得去探寻创业之道，使团队的创业点子最终转化为一个小的可行的产品。在周日的晚上，各个团队将展示他们的公司和产品的雏形，并得到我们的Mentors和Judges有价值的反馈。我们邀请了众多杰出的Mentors，在整个活动过程中协助和指导各个团队的开展工作。他们都是行业内的佼佼者和专家。
参加SW活动的十大理由
1、最实质性的创业教育
2、最佳的network场所，建立你的创业社交网络
3、寻找创业道路上的伙伴
4、学习新的创业技巧和经验
5、真真实实地开始你自己的事业
6、与创业佼佼者、行业领袖直接面对面
7、展示自我，被我们的合作伙伴挖掘
8、成为StartupWeekend全球社区组织的一员
9、未来优先得到我们sponsor的资助和投资
10、经历一个充满挑战而与众不同的54小时
从Startup Weekend所产生的一些著名的初创公司：
成功案例一：Foodspotting（美食发现网）
Foodspotting是众多从SW里孵化的startup中其中之一，也是最成功的典范之一，如今它已经拥有了自己的市场。它一个网站及手机应用软件，它的功能是给用户去寻找和分享他们所喜爱的食物。近来他们再次得到BlueRun投资的3百万美元天使基金，其之前已经获得了一笔75万的投资基金。这笔资金将帮助他们在上一轮筹资的基础上进一步发展。Foodspotting计划将突破其名字所定义的领域“食物”，进军更广阔的市场。目前为止他们有超过55万的用户。
Foodspotting的投资者包括了Felicis Ventures,500 Startup, Dave Morin,Steve Lee以及Dan Martell等。
Foodspotting就像一个食物“潘多拉的盒子”一样，到目前为止汇聚了来自30万用户所分享发现的28万中美食。“Foodspotting是一个关于人们怎样去分享他们所尝过的喜爱的食物的网站，进而打造一种积极的饮食文化。”创始人Alexa Andrzejewski如是说。公司继续在手机应用软件上谋求发展，在去年圣诞节期间就发布了第一款Android系统的APP，随后又发布了iphone平台的app，仅是一个假期，其下载量就达到了55万。
网站：http://www.foodspotting.com
成功案例二：Zaarly（手机软件及交易平台）
Zaarly——只花了3周时间便得到了100万美元投资
Zaarly是今年Startup Weekend 洛杉矶站胜出的团队，仅仅在创业周末结束3周时间后，他们便成功获得了100万美元投资。这些投资者包括：阿什顿•库彻（Ashton Kutcher）， Felicis风投（Felicis Ventures）, 保罗•布赫海特（Paul Buchheit ），比尔•李（Bill Lee）, Naval Ravikant 和Lightbank( Groupon 所成立的基金)。
Zaarly是一个精确的即时的围绕买家而展开的市场交易平台。每个人在任何时候对任何一样东西都会有一个出价，而Zaarly的工作就是搭建平台，促成这些即时的交易。它有点像Ebay也有点像Craigslist，但它是移动的、即时的、定位的。它更多是基于人们买东西卖东西的一种体验而非物品或服务的本身，因此它体现出来的价值是非常不同的。
举个例子，你可以想象一下，你正准备去看一场篮球赛，但你想看看是否能找到更好的座位，或者你没有在某家很火的餐馆预留座位但你想现在就去那吃饭。那么Zaarly可以让你为此针对周围的人出个价，比如“我是XX，愿意花500块买一张第5排的票”，那么那个能提供票的人就会找到你，Zaarly的工作就是提供这个交易的渠道。
成功案例三：Sparkrelief（星火急救网）
Sparkrelief“星火救济”是在2010年SW 丹佛站所成立的一个startup，它的所从事的主要工作是在自然灾害中文人们提供各种急救措施和信息。它们为自己定下了这样的使命：“支持和帮助各个社区和组织在自然灾害中迅速准确地分享各种解救措施信息。”
Sparkrelief的模式主要是提供三个途径去让人们在灾害中及时得到救助：
1、提供一个及时的关于灾害的信息；
2、组织一切救援人力物力去帮助那些受灾害影响的人；
3、建立一个通道让那些有心帮助受灾人群的人更加简单快速得去行动，无论是钱财上还是物资上的帮助。
由于前段时间日本所遭受的特大地震海啸及核危机等自然灾害，目前公司已经建立了一个专门针对日本的网站（http://japan.sparkrelief.org/）。通过在网站上简单操作，你们很快找到哪些人正需要帮助，你怎样去帮助他们。
网站：http://www.sparkrelief.org/
成功案例四：Memolane
Copenhagen, Denmark, April 2010
Website: www.memolane.com
What they do: Your time machine for the Web. Memolane captures your entire online life in one timeline making it easy for you to travel back in time and re-live great memories. Whether you'd like to re-discover your holiday of a lifetime, re-live that great party last week or get all nostalgic about when the kids were little, now with Memolane it's easy to keep the memories alive.Milestones to date: $2million funding. Private beta.
成功案例五：SuperMarmite
Paris, France, May 2010
Website: www.super-marmite.com
What they do: Super Marmite is the geolocalized social network and a marketplace for homemade meals. Its couchsurfing in your neighbors kitchen.
Super-Marmite.com allows our cooks (members of the site) to earn money by selling extra portions of their homemade meals online, and allows time conscious consumers and foodies to find and pickup homemade meals available in their neighborhood. Some cooks deliver the meals in their local area as well. Super Marmite is a way to recreate social bonds around the joy of food and avoid waste. The idea is to praise the gastronomic richness and eclecticism produced daily by individuals, in order to provide an alternative choice to the classic take away businesses.Milestones to date: 4,800 users in less than 4 months; Private alpha release in September of 2010 with 500 users; Public beta release in October of 2010.
成功案例六：Giant Thinkwell
Seattle, Washington, March 2010
Website: www.giantthinkwell.com
What They Do: Giant Thinkwell is creating the next generation of fan club platforms using mobile and social web apps.Milestones: We are in an early beta release for QA limited users. We are in the process of raising a $500k round of funding.
成功案例七：Keepstream
Columbus, Ohio, July 2008
Website: www.keepstream.com
What they do: Keepstream is a real-time curation tool for organizing and preserving social media content. Users collect social media statuses from their Twitter and FB streams and place them into permanent topic collections. Twitter favs and FB likes are sent directly to Keepstream where they are tagged and organized via a clean, simple Interface.Milestones: We went through Capital Factory business incubator in Austin, Texas, which provided mentorship, free services, and 20k investment.
成功案例八：Moglue
Seoul, South Korea, May 2010
Website: www.moglue.com
What they do: Our team is currently developing a platform that will allow anyone to design and build their own interactive applications for iOS and Android touchscreen devices, and publish them to their respective app stores with one-click publishing. The application is the first of its kind, utilizing a non-technical, friendly user-interface. For the very first time, people without prior programming knowledge will be able to create their own apps. This will be possible across Mac, Windows and Linux systems. Create. Play. Share. Moglue believes that everyone should have the tools to be a Shakespeare or Beethoven in our modern world. Be an artist, right now.Milestones to date: Moglue is preparing to engage in a closed beta for publishers and professional content creators, set to begin January 24, 2011. In February the team will roll out their open beta.
成功案例四：Memolane
Copenhagen, Denmark, April 2010
Website: www.memolane.com
What they do: Your time machine for the Web. Memolane captures your entire online life in one timeline making it easy for you to travel back in time and re-live great memories. Whether you'd like to re-discover your holiday of a lifetime, re-live that great party last week or get all nostalgic about when the kids were little, now with Memolane it's easy to keep the memories alive.Milestones to date: $2million funding. Private beta.
成功案例五：SuperMarmite
Paris, France, May 2010
Website: www.super-marmite.com
What they do: Super Marmite is the geolocalized social network and a marketplace for homemade meals. Its couchsurfing in your neighbors kitchen. Super-Marmite.com allows our cooks (members of the site) to earn money by selling extra portions of their homemade meals online, and allows time conscious consumers and foodies to find and pickup homemade meals available in their neighborhood. Some cooks deliver the meals in their local area as well. Super Marmite is a way to recreate social bonds around the joy of food and avoid waste. The idea is to praise the gastronomic richness and eclecticism produced daily by individuals, in order to provide an alternative choice to the classic take away businesses.Milestones to date: 4,800 users in less than 4 months; Private alpha release in September of 2010 with 500 users; Public beta release in October of 2010.
成功案例六：Giant Thinkwell
Seattle, Washington, March 2010
Website: www.giantthinkwell.com
What They Do: Giant Thinkwell is creating the next generation of fan club platforms using mobile and social web apps.Milestones: We are in an early beta release for QA limited users. We are in the process of raising a $500k round of funding.
成功案例七：Keepstream
Columbus, Ohio, July 2008
Website: www.keepstream.com
What they do: Keepstream is a real-time curation tool for organizing and preserving social media content. Users collect social media statuses from their Twitter and FB streams and place them into permanent topic collections. Twitter favs and FB likes are sent directly to Keepstream where they are tagged and organized via a clean, simple Interface.Milestones: We went through Capital Factory business incubator in Austin, Texas, which provided mentorship, free services, and 20k investment.
成功案例八：Moglue
Seoul, South Korea, May 2010
Website: www.moglue.com
What they do: Our team is currently developing a platform that will allow anyone to design and build their own interactive applications for iOS and Android touchscreen devices, and publish them to their respective app stores with one-click publishing. The application is the first of its kind, utilizing a non-technical, friendly user-interface. For the very first time, people without prior programming knowledge will be able to create their own apps. This will be possible across Mac, Windows and Linux systems. Create. Play. Share. Moglue believes that everyone should have the tools to be a Shakespeare or Beethoven in our modern world. Be an artist, right now.Milestones to date: Moglue is preparing to engage in a closed beta for publishers and professional content creators, set to begin January 24, 2011. In February the team will roll out their open beta.