Startup Weekend Conejo Valley 2021 was electric! Hosted by Hub101 and the Steven Dorfman Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Cal Lutheran School of Management, the event attracted several Startup-Weekend-first-timers, college students from Cal Lutheran and CSUCI, high school students from Oaks Christian School and Newbury Park High School, and many entrepreneurs in the community.
After nearly 20 months of lockdowns, shutdowns, and navigating a pandemic, the energy at Hub101 was inspiring.
Startup Weekend is a global grassroots movement of entrepreneurs who are learning the basics of founding startups and launching successful ventures. Over an action-packed, three days, participants are immersed into the life of an entrepreneur as they develop, test, and launch a business idea.
This year, dozens of entrepreneurs, students, and community members came together for Startup Weekend Conejo Valley 2021.
This year's teams consisted of Go Global, NXTSTEP, RoRoGo, and Prop Clicks.
Go Global
Team members: Christina Whyte, Avery Conrad, Suren Sarkissian, Aram Sarkissian, Masa Higuchi, and Ralf Mandt
Go Global is an app for students who are going to study abroad. Go Global provides safe, secure, and fun experiences by matching students with hosts who are ready to greet them with local tips, tools, and resources.
The idea for Go Global originated from co-founder Christina's painful experience of landing at an airport in Barcelona as a study-abroad student, and feeling completely lost. She didn't know anyone, or how to speak the language, book transportation, or get to where she needed to be, etc.
Go Global won the Best Overall award.
NXTSTEP
Team members: Alexandra Radoumis-Weiler, Florence Pan, Ariadna Coll Bech, and Crystal Minera.
NXTSTEP is a platform that enables high school students to meet with mentors in various industries. NXTSTEP
Young people are often asked the questions, "what do you want to study in college?" and "what do you want to do when you grow up?" The pressure from these big questions can cause stress and anxiety.
With NXTSTEP, students can select the fields they want to explore and purchase 30-minute meetings with mentors with expertise in those fields.
NXTSTEP won the Best Customer Validation award.
ROROGO
Team members: Arianna Avila Torres, Jacqueline Cortes, Max Zadeh, and Emilio Mora.
ROROGO provides an accessible concierge service at airports from the curbside to check-in in minutes.
The team originally set out to assist elderly people at airports. However, after going to LAX and conducting an in-person experiment by asking people if they needed help with their luggage, the team realized that not only did the elderly accept assistance, but so too did anyone overwhelmed with too much luggage, too few hands, or little sense of direction.
ROROGO guides customers through the airport chaos.
ROROGO won the Best MVP Design/Execution award.
Prop Clicks
Team members: Zach Dunn and Ryan Gordan
Prop Clicks is a one-stop-shop for realtor signage capable of delivering real-time in person analytical intelligence.
The team set out to provide a platform for realtors that is capable of tracking real-time yard and directional signage and engagements. Prop Clicks provides signs with a QR Code, RFID chip, and geo tag; in addition to a portal that allows realtors to track user engagement.
Prop Clicks won the Best Business Model award.
Alliance for SoCal Innovation
We also announced the launch of a New Site for Ventura County Innovation.
The amount of innovation coming out of Ventura County may seem surprising...unless you live here, because to us it feels normal. Sure, we have huge names like Amgen, Patagonia, Trade Desk, and Aerovironment, along with a bunch of game changing powerhouses you may not know, yet. We do not like to boast, maybe because we cherish the desirable balance of high growth companies and a deep talent pool of researchers, makers, designers, and doers.
Today we are announcing a new website that showcases Ventura County’s unique assets and narratives about what this community can build and produce for the world. The new website, with your participation, will also be a place to find and share local events that bring us together.
Check out the new Ventura County website, share with your network, and post your upcoming events, so we can further build the vibrancy of our community. https://www.alliancesocal.org/venturacounty/home
The website was created through the collaboration of Ventura County leaders, in partnership with the Alliance for SoCal Innovation, that sought to showcase the creative energy of startups combined with the resources of market leaders within a diverse range of industries.
Read more about the launch here.
Thank you to our awesome mentors, judges, organizers, and facilitator!
Mentors
Gerardo Broussi, Cindy Sherman, Peter Scifres, Hovig Tchalian, Steve Medina, Molly Strawn, Erin Brady, Michael Sobolewski, Rita Mounir, Gary Livingston, Beau Brannan, Maria Ballesteros-Sola, and John duHadway.
Judges
Jen Buzza, Carmina Bech-Segarra, and Michele Wilson.
Organizers
Kristin Bell and Mike Panesis
Facilitator
Dina Moy
What is Startup Weekend?
Startup Weekend is a local and global movement, and a community.
Over an action-packed three days, participants meet the very best mentors, investors, and fellow entrepreneurs and get access to tools and resources to develop, test, and launch a business idea.
How It Works
Participants come together on a Friday and form teams to work on startup ideas.
On Saturday, the participants are immersed in a high energy environment as they continue to work on their startups, receive feedback from mentors, interview customers, and work on their business model.
On Sunday, teams continue to work on their startup ideas, receive mentorship, and practice their pitches, before presenting to a panel of judges at the final showcase on Sunday evening.
Learn how to think, work, and build like a startup. Techstars Startup Weekend is an exciting and immersive foray into the world of startups.
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