The second Startup Weekend Havana is planned for August 5-7 in Havana.
Startup Weekend organizes high-impact, experiential events that foster entrepreneurship and community building in every corner of the world. As of last year, the organization hosted 200,00 budding entrepreneurs at 2,900 Startup Weekend events, in 501 cities, and in 150 countries. The organization’s 54-hour event is where designers, developers, marketers, and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, and launch startups.
Startup Weekend Havana is organized locally by Merchise. As a media partner, the Cuba Journal covered last year’s event and published an article about the emerging tech scene in Cuba and Merchise’s roots to some of Cuba’s earliest technologists.
The events developed from two “digital meetups” early last year that explored the appetite for a Cuban tech/entrepreneur event in Havana. Turns out, there is a great deal of interest in the topic, as evidenced by the fact that attendance for last year’s first Startup Weekend Havana was over capacity.
The .CO domain is returning as one of the event’s sponsors.
According to Lori Anne Wardi, Co-Founder of .CO Internet, and Vice President of Registry Services at Neustar (.CO’s parent company), “It has been incredible to watch so many historic events unfold since the last Startup Weekend in Cuba. As the country enters a new era of digital innovation, we couldn’t be more excited to be back as a Startup Weekend Sponsor — helping to develop Cuba’s ecosystem of innovators and entrepreneurs.”
Event Details
FRIDAY 5th
6:30pm Registration
7:00pm Dinner & Networking
7:30pm Welcome & Speakers
8:00pm Pitches Starts
9:00pm Forming Teams
10:00pm Begin Work
SATURDAY 6th
9:00am Breakfast / Opening
9:30am Begin Work
11:00am Team Check-In / Requests for Help
12:00pm Lunch
2:00pm Coaches Arrive & Meet with Teams
6:30pm Dinner
7:30pm Continue Work
SUNDAY 7th
9:00am Breakfast / Opening
10:00am Team Check-In
12:00pm Lunch
1:00pm Coaches Arrive & Meet with Teams
3:00pm Presentation Pre & Tech Check
5:00pm Final Presentations
7:30pm Judging & Awards
10:00pm Closing Moments
From 2015: