Entrepreneurially-minded to gather at Startup Weekend Iowa City

IOWA CITY - Entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs will gather this weekend in Coralville for three days to pitch ideas, form teams, get feedback and start companies.

Startup Weekend Iowa City will start at 6:30 p.m. Friday with registration and run through 9 p.m. Sunday at the University of Iowa BioVentures Center, 2500 Crosspark Rd.

Teams will form around the top ideas (as determined by popular vote) and then it's a 54-hour frenzy of business model creation, coding, designing and market validation. The weekend will end with presentations in front of local entrepreneurial leaders, who will provide feedback.

Mentors will include Beth McKeon, founder of Kids Calendar in Lawrence, Kan.; Adam Ingersoll, an entrepreneur and executive who is a co-founder and managing member of BBI (Built By Iowa), an equity fund created to support Iowa-based businesses in need of capital and strategic guidance; Jay Johnson, CEO and entrepreneur, Summit Technology Group LLC; Tim McDougall, president of Strategic Innovation, The Gazette Company, Fusionfarm and Vernon Research Group; Scott Swenson, regional director for the Kirkwood Small Business Development Center; and Fitzgerald Steele, director of marketing at Integrated DNA Technologies in Coralville.

Startup Weekend is a global grass roots movement of active entrepreneurs who are learning the basics of founding start-ups and launching successful ventures.