How Did Startup Weekend Actually Startup?

Startup Weekend in San Diego.

What do most of your weekends consist of?

Guzzling beer on the Lazy Boy while watching ESPN?

Sleeping in until 1:00 in the afternoon and grabbing a bowl of Cap’N Crunch?

Maybe it’s time to start doing something productive with your weekends.  And we have your opportunity:  Startup Weekend Kansas City. 

On April 15-17, Think Big Partners is proud to host Startup Weekend Kansas City—an opportunity for entrepreneurs to develop feedback on an idea, learn new skills, meet co-founders, and test the entrepreneurial waters.  Startup Weekend is a risk-free environment where everyone is expected to roll up their sleeves and dive into the exhilarating world of startups.  It’s all about collaboration, it’s all about coworking, it’s what we’re all about!

But how in the world did the idea for Startup Weekend, well…start up?

It was a late night in June of 2007 at TechStars when the idea was coined.  Danny Newman and Stan James discussed how they missed collaborating on projects with others now that they were working on bigger projects, later David Cohen and Joe Scharf pushed founder Andrew Hyde to take the concept into reality. In May of 2009, Marc Nager and Clint Nelsen really saw an opportunity to help Startup Weekend continue to grow and took over the operations of Startup Weekend.  When everyone started collaborating, Startup Weekend became a success because of its drive towards coworking, idea-building, and entrepreneurship. 

Today, there are at least three Startup Weekends that occur each weekend in various cities…and not just in the U.S.!  You can find Startup Weekend in Paris, Kyoto and many more!     

So what are you waiting for?  You have an idea, you have a free weekend, and it’s time to put them to good use!  Put down the bag of Lay’s potato chips, get off your Lazy Boy and join us for Startup Weekend, coming to Kansas City April 15-17 at the Think Big Partners business incubator (1800 Baltimore, Kansas City, Missouri).  Register today!  Now’s your chance to Think Big! 

Written by Allison Way.  Allison is a writer for Think Big Partners, Kansas City’s early stage business incubator and startup accelerator.  To read more of Allison’s work, check out the Kansas City Entrepreneurship Examiner as well as her articles on Helium, BrooWaha and eZine.  Follow Allison! @AllisonThinkBig

HighTower Stands Tall in Think Big Partners' Coworking Space



The HighTower team busy at work at Think Big Partners.


When HighTower Furniture Group was looking to expand to a new location, it looked past Indianapolis, skimmed over Detroit, and merely glimpsed at Chicago.  Finally, the group landed in a place "more unique" than the other large Midwestern cities: it landed in Kansas City.  And more specifically, in Think Big Partners' coworking space. 

When asked "why Kansas City?", HighTower's VP of Sales, Kristin Goodman simply smiled.  "We wanted Kansas City because it's different than a place like Chicago.  And at HighTower, we are all about being different."

As HighTower's third location (they are also located in Los Angeles and New York City), Kansas City provides the interconnectedness of a "small" city with the energy and collaborative vibe of a big entrepreneurial community.

Once landing in a city that met HighTower's needs, the company was then on the search for the right office space.  Serial entrepreneur and founder of HighTower, Scott Hartkopf, found Think Big Partners online and recommended Goodman to take a tour of the space.  Immediately after taking the tour, Goodman and her team were convinced: this was the office space for them.

"We were extremely cautious and particular of our surroundings when choosing an office space," says Goodman.  "When we saw Think Big Partners' space, we loved the creative-design environment that it offered.  We automatically felt comfortable here."

As a company that manufactures and sells modern office furniture, HighTower knows what a creative, comfortable, and innovative workspace should look like.  Now as tenants in Think Big Partners' coworking space, the team of HighTower Kansas City can collaborate with entrepreneurs, remain close to the buzzing downtown area, and most importantly, stay inspired and motivated throughout the workday.

"An innovative workspace like Think Big Partners brings out the best in people," says Goodman.  "It brings out creativity.  It gives you confidence.  Everybody needs to work in a space that makes them want to work; this space does it for us."

If you're interested in becoming a tenant at Think Big Partners, call, click or stop by today!

816.842.5244    |    http://www.bizperc.com/  

1800 Baltimore Kansas City, MO

Written by Allison Way.  Allison is a writer for Think Big Partners, Kansas City's mentorship-based startup accelerator and business incubator.  To read more of Allison's work, check out the Kansas City Entrepreneurship Examiner as well as her articles on eZine, Helium and BrooWaha.  Follow Allison!  @AllisonThinkBig

NextSpace: A Co-Working Community Takes Office Space to the Next Level

NextSpace is a co-working space
located in California.

NextSpace is not your typical office space.  With an idea paint wall, a bustling central café, and even an upcoming anti-Valentine’s Day party, NextSpace is, without a doubt, anything but ordinary.  But for many entrepreneurs and freelancers in California, this is a good thing.

NextSpace is an innovative and collaborative workspace located in both San Francisco and Santa Cruz, California.  The two locations have been specifically designed for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and creative class professionals who are looking to succeed in the 21^st century knowledge economy.  But according to Rebecca Brian, co-founder of NextSpace San Francisco, as well as many of NextSpace’s tenants, the office space is so much more than that.

“My partner and I see NextSpace as two pieces,” says Brian.  “Community first, space second.  Both pieces provide the infrastructure that an entrepreneur needs to accelerate a business.  It’s all about being connected.”

Located in what Brian refers to as the “nexus of the city” (2nd and Market), NextSpace San Francisco is a modern and innovative co-working space that banishes all signs of isolation that many work-from-home entrepreneurs seem to face.  And with collaborative tables, idea paint for brainstorming, numerous white boards, a centrally-located café, a shared printer, as well as member happy hours and team lunches, it’s no wonder many entrepreneurs run successful businesses from inside the walls of NextSpace—simply because of collaborative hard work.

“NextSpace is an incredible environment, full of very cool people doing interesting stuff,” states Spencer Lindsay, founder of Lindsay Digital and tenant of NextSpace.  “Walking the hallways, you can hear conversations that range from music synthesizer algorithms to invertebrate biology to iPhone development.  It’s this awesome mix of creativity and talent that brought me here in the first place.”*

But can an office space push the boundaries even further?  Think Big Partners believes that it can.  That’s why TBP has taken the same beliefs, values and opportunities that NextSpace applies and has brought it to the Midwest.  bizperc, Kansas City’s newest mentorship-based business incubator and startup accelerator, incorporates the same co-working model of NextSpace and adds its own Midwestern flare and necessary startup resources.

These co-working spaces are just what this nation needs in order to produce more successful businesses and tight-knit entrepreneurial communities.  Rebecca Brian puts it best: “It’s true that entrepreneurs have a huge generosity of spirit.  No one is a successful entrepreneur by themselves—they have advisors, mentors, help.  To be able to bring that to a high number of people for not a whole lot of money and continue to help the way the world is moving is what we want to do.”

*Quote developed from NextSpace.com.

Written by Allison Way.  Allison is a writer and videographer for Think Big Partners, Kansas City’s newest mentorship-based business incubator and startup accelerator.  To read more of Allison’s work, please visit the Kansas City Entrepreneurship Examiner as well as her articles on Helium, BrooWaha, eZine and Newsvine.