What’s your idea for a business, for a product? What’s the idea that’s been rolling around in your head for a while, that if you had the time (and the money, of course), you’d take a stab at bringing to life?
What if you had 54 hours to dedicate to workshopping that idea–to develop it, do research, find mentorship, and pitch it to others? What if you dedicated 54 hours to seeing whether that idea actually had legs?
This year you have a chance to get real experience in what it’s like to be an entrepreneur and bring your ideas to life. Vision to Venture, a Winston-Salem organization dedicated to encouraging entrepreneurship, is presenting a Techstars Startup Weekend in partnership with the Innovation Quarter at Sparq on February 28-March 2.
If you’re remotely interested in what it takes to become an entrepreneur, you should be there. This event will help answer the questions you have about startups and entrepreneurship, along with more than a handful of questions you didn’t know you had.
What Does It Take to Be an Entrepreneur?
There are plenty of obstacles to bringing a business idea to life. Most people don’t have the foggiest idea of how to become an entrepreneur.
“Most people don’t know what it’s like to be an entrepreneur. Those are just words to most people. Until you’re in it, entrepreneurship doesn’t mean anything. You need to experience it,” Mike Buckovich, founder and director of Vision to Venture, says.
Buckovich, who spent more than 30 years in advertising, marketing, and digital & software development, founded Vision to Venture to help early-stage entrepreneurs get the experience and resources they need. Working with more than 35 organizations in the local entrepreneurial ecosystem, Vision to Venture helps startups make better decisions, ask better questions, connect to available resources, and de-risk their companies before they start raising money by providing early-stage curriculum and events.
One of the best ways to learn what it takes to become an entrepreneur is just to do it, to get real-world experience. Enter the Techstars Startup Weekend.
Techstars, a prestigious international accelerator, helps entrepreneurs succeed by providing mentorship, guidance, and investment. The Startup Weekend, one of Techstars hallmark programs, has been held over 7,000 times in more than 150 countries with over 450,000 participants.
The 2025 Winston-Salem Techstars Startup Weekend will be the second event organized by VisionToVenture–this time with an emphasis on AI and life sciences–but the weekend promises to be fruitful for entrepreneurs of all kinds.
What is a Techstars Startup Weekend?
The Techstars Startup Weekend takes place–you guessed it–over a weekend. It’s 54 hours of entrepreneurial adrenaline. During those 54 hours, participants learn from a panel of entrepreneurial experts, mentors, experienced entrepreneurs, and each other.
Participants bring ideas for new businesses–nothing established–and form teams that research the idea, get advice from subject matter experts and experienced entrepreneurs, and present a pitch at the end of the weekend to win prizes that help them further the business idea.
Registration for the event is designed to be affordable–with special discounts for students–and include all sessions, mentorship, pitch competition, meals, and an after-party.
“We’re calling everybody to come and bring an idea. If there’s something maybe you’ve been thinking about and you want to bring it to life, come,” Kami Leslie, Vision to Venture’s director of community development and events, says. Leslie leads this particular event for Vision to Venture.
This Startup Weekend is the second one that Vision to Venture has put on, the first in 2024. This year’s event has a particular focus: AI and life sciences.
That AI and life sciences focus means that some of the experts on hand will have a deep expertise in those particular areas, and they’ll be ready to dole out advice for people exploring businesses in those areas.
“For the general public, AI is a brand new thing. We’re all exploring how we can use it and apply it to our businesses,” Buckovich says. “Since we’re in the Innovation Quarter, we have all of these entities here that focus on life science, healthtech, and medtech, so we’ve combined the two.”
Is the Startup Weekend Just for AI or Life Sciences Entrepreneurs?
While the Winston-Salem Techstars Startup Weekend is bringing together resources and mentors to help out AI and life science entrepreneurs, any and every business idea is welcome.
“This event is open to any idea. If you want to start a bakery, come on in. If you want to start a database analysis company using AI that has nothing to do with life sciences, come on in,” Buckovich says.
Regardless of the business idea, the mentors can help entrepreneurs get a good start because many of them are entrepreneurs themselves.
“We’ve been putting a lot of emphasis on bringing mentors who are also entrepreneurs,” Leslie says. “They’ve started businesses. For people just starting, they hear from another entrepreneur who just went through this same process not long ago, and they can identify, they can relate.”
The collaborative nature of the Startup Weekend gives prospective entrepreneurs a taste of what entrepreneurship is like–whether you’ve been thinking about it for years and have much of it figured out or whether entrepreneurship is a new idea and you have no idea where to begin.
“Why should you attend this Startup Weekend?” Buckovich says. “To understand what it would be like to apply all of your ideas and hard work in the real world. Anybody who’s ever wondered what it’s like to start a business, to work in a startup, to be an entrepreneur can get that type of exposure at one of these weekends.”
Can You Come If You Don’t Have a Business Idea?
A new business idea is not a prerequisite for signing up for the Techstars Startup Weekend. There are many other people who attend these weekends, people–including many college and graduate students–who are interested in entrepreneurship and startups, but not interested in developing a business idea of their own–at least not yet.
“There are people who sign up to attend,” Leslie says. “They don’t really want to pitch an idea; they just want to support others. They join a team and support that team, rather than being the leader.”
Business ideas take a team, and these sorts of people become a crucial part of developing the business idea. They bring their own expertise and skills, which can be invaluable to a person pitching a business. They sign on to help others bring the best version of their ideas to the pitch part of the event.
“This is what it’s like to work in a startup or to be an entrepreneur,” Burkovich adds. “You have to count on others, you have to work in teams.”
Participants come from all over the region–sometimes the country–to join in a Startup Weekend. The events are a draw for entrepreneurs, students, and those who just want to help out. Important connections are made at Startup Weekends, and you never know who you’ll meet or where you’ll find inspiration. Take Wing Me, for example. Wing Me is a new event app created by local entrepreneur Santiago Ramos that you will be one of the first conference-goers to use throughout the weekend.
The Wing Me app will help participants connect and communicate with each other, as well as allowing event organizers to communicate important information. It will even help teams stay connected after the event is over. Plus, Ramos will be on site as a mentor to share his insights from launching this tech startup. Meet Ramos or someone else through his app; they might just help your idea take flight.
What Happens When It’s Over?
When the Techstars Startup Weekend is complete, the journey isn’t over. It’s just the first step for entrepreneurs. So what is a newly-minted entrepreneur to do now?
“It’s important to make sure that it doesn’t just stop with the Startup Weekend,” Leslie says. “We offer entrepreneurs next steps.”
Many of the sponsors for the Startup Weekend are offering pro bono services for pitch winners with a variety of services such as accounting, legal, technology, marketing and more. These services help winning companies continue their journey after the weekend ends. Event sponsors include:
- CliftonAllenLarson (CLA)
- InfoPathways
- Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton
- Longrun Solutions
- NC IDEA Foundation
- PENTAX Medical
- Wexford Science + Technology
- YohDev
The interconnectedness of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Winston-Salem can have huge benefits for entrepreneurs–and this event launches you into that community. One of the roles that Vision to Venture plays is to connect early-stage entrepreneurs with the training and resources they need through groups like Winston Starts, the Center for Creative Economy, Sparq and Sparq Labs, and Greater Winston-Salem, Inc.
“This weekend helps validate your idea, identify customers, bring a pitch together, and at the end, we can actually point you to some of the other organizations in our community that can help you continue down your journey,” Buckovich says.
Where Do I Go for More Information?
To get the nitty-gritty information on the event schedule or to register, visit the Winston-Salem Techstars Startup Weekend website. You can also learn more about the host, Sparq, in the iQ.
Wing Me App
Your Entrepreneurial Wingman
This year, the Winston-Salem Techstars Startup Weekend will have a fun, new hometown tool for participants to explore.
Wing Me, an event app, will be in use by participants and organizers throughout the Weekend. Developed by Winston-Salem entrepreneur, Santiago Ramos, this app helps people connect and communicate during in-person events.
“It’s an example of how events like these can support entrepreneurs,” Mike Buckovich says. “Santiago has been a mentor at other Startup Weekends, and now we are supporting the next steps of his startup and, at the same time, supporting event participants by using the app.”
