What Is Startup Weekend?

What is Startup Weekend?

Startup Weekend is a global network of passionate leaders and entrepreneurs on a mission to inspire, educate, and empower individuals, teams and communities. Come share ideas, form teams, and launch startups.

Startup Weekend Global Site

Past event…

Event Ended

SAP Falcha, Babarmahal Kathamndu


View Larger Map

Ever wondered what it takes to be an entrepreneur?

The professional and personal challenges, the high and lows, the failures and the success?

Startup Weekend is a global grassroots movement of active and empowered entrepreneurs who are learning the basics of founding startups and launching successful ventures. It is the largest community of passionate entrepreneurs with over 400 past events in 100 countries around the world in 2011.

The non-profit organization is headquartered in Seattle, Washington but Startup Weekend organizers and facilitators can be found in over 200 cities around the world. From Mongolia to South Africa to London to Brazil, people around the globe are coming together for weekend long workshops to pitch ideas, form teams, and start companies.

All Startup Weekend events follow the same basic model: anyone is welcome to pitch their startup idea and receive feedback from their peers. Teams organically 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 weekends culminate with presentations in front of local entrepreneurial leaders with another opportunity for critical feedback.

Whether entrepreneurs found companies, find a cofounder, meet someone new, or learn a skill far outside their usual 9-to-5, everyone is guaranteed to leave the event better prepared to navigate the chaotic but fun world of startups. If you want to put yourself in the shoes of an entrepreneur, register now for the best weekend of your life!

This is our first event in Nepal and we need your help, so please spread the word!

To participate buy your ticket soon. Hurry before it’s too late / sold out!

Schedule

Friday

Feb 8
  • Registration Starts
  • Welcome
  • Speakers
  • Pitches Start
  • Dinner & Networking
  • Attendees vote for the top ideas
  • Teams start forming and discussing ideas
  • Submit team member details and take an inventory of skills. Be honest, and direct about what resources and skills are needed for the weekend. You may stay and work as late as the venue will allow
  • Stay Till the Venue Allows

Saturday

Feb 9
  • Arrive, simple breakfast & coffee
  • Teams settle and find a workspace for the weekend
  • Coaches start arriving
  • Lunch
  • Call for needs & skills
  • Coaches help teams one-on-one. They are here to help!
  • Mid weekend check-in, status reports, call for help
  • Dinner
  • Finished for the day. You may stay and work as late as the venue will allow
  • Stay Till the Venue Allows

Sunday

Feb 10
  • Arrive, simple breakfast & coffee
  • Call for help (this is self motivated, so don’t be shy)
  • Lunch
  • Coaches arrive… ASK QUESTIONS
  • Gut check. Start prepping for presentations
  • Mock Pitching
  • FINAL PRESENTATIONS
  • Judging & awards
  • Wrapup followed by Dinner
  • Go home!
Platinum Sponsors
Become one
Coaches

Mark Sears

Founder and CEO, CloudFactory   |  LinkedIn

After doing tech startups in Canada and the US for about 10 years, Mark has spent the last 4 years living in Nepal and using his unique blend of technology and business experience to develop CloudFactory towards creating work for 1 million people.

He started his career as a software developer with Sun Microsystems before finding his groove in the world of startups. Moving into technology evangelism and product management roles he helped a 5 person startup grow to 130 employees across 4 international offices after raising $48 million in venture capital. Mark then raised angel investment, launched and managed his own startup company for 6 years before coming to Nepal and starting the CloudFactory adventure.

Anil Chitrakar

Social Entrepreneur, Architectural Heritage Expert

Anil has spent the past two decades working as a conservationist, environmental leader, and senior Ashoka fellow in Nepal.

An engineer by training, Anil pursued graduate work in energy planning at the University of Pennsylvania and then joined the Kathmandu municipality. His projects and organizations have received numerous awards and grants, and he is presently working to scale his work on a solar lighting system for rural villages in Nepal. He was also part of the team that implemented the National Conservation Strategy for Nepal, preserving its globally unique natural endowment.

He is recipient of the prestigieus Ashoka Fellowship, the Rolex award and the Silicon Valley Tech Award. In 1993 he was recognized as one amongst 100 “Global Leaders for Tomorrow” at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Ashutosh Tiwari

Country Representative, WaterAid Nepal

Ashutosh Tiwari has worked closely with more than 40 small businesses as a small-business advisor at GiZ (Nepal) and at International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. From 2007-2009, he was the CEO of Himalmedia, where he led a successful financial and operational turnaround work that involved working with labour unions. In 2008, he co-founded Entrepreneurs for Nepal, a platform that organizes entrepreneurs' gatherings, offers training, hosts advisory sessions and helps link up angel investors to start-ups.

In 2011, World Economic Forum honoured him as a Young Global Leader

Biswas Dhakal

President, F1Soft International   |  LinkedIn

Biswas established F1Soft with the vision to create the most preferred IT solutions provider in the country and has come a long way since its inception.

A first gen entrepreneur, he grasped all the opportunities and took his company from a humble beginning to being a dominant player in the Nepalese digital transaction market. F1Soft started with value added services like SMS banking and gradually moved to more sophisticated next generation banking solutions which is the core of our business today.

Biswas was recognized with the 'Global Entrepreneur of the Year 2011' at the Global Enterpreneur Week, Nepal.

Bal K Joshi

Co-Founder, thamel.com   |  LinkedIn

Bal K. Joshi is the co-founder and Managing Director of Thamel.com, Kathmandu, Nepal.

With over 13 years of entrepreneurial experience, Bal has been operating trading businesses in Nepal and North America with deep expertise in business development, marketing & operations and systems development. He holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon USA.

He is the recipient of the 2003 Tony Zeitoun Award in the category of “ICT and Poverty Reduction” for the story of thamel.com

Karmath Dangol

VP Engineering, CloudFactory   |  LinkedIn

Prior to joining CloudFactory, Karmath held leadership positions at two of the top software outsourcing companies in Nepal after returning from the US where he lived with his family for over a decade.

In the States he was an Engineering Contractor at Google Inc and also worked at eBay Inc. as Senior Manager of Internet Marketing Solutions. Karmath holds a degree in Bachelors of Science in Computer Science & Mathematics from Metropolitan State College of Denver.

Beside this he was startup co-founder of NextAction.net (now datalogix.com), a direct marketing company that provides a cooperative database for acquisition marketing to over 700 catalogs (competes with Abacus Direct, a division of DoubleClick).

Vidhan Rana

Founding Partner, Biruwa Ventures   |  LinkedIn

Vidhan finished his Bachelors degree in Business Management and Economics in 2008 from Hope College in Michigan, USA. After graduation he worked at Whittaker Associates, Inc., a market research firm. At Whittaker, Vidhan worked with several state and local economic development agencies.

He has provided guidance and support to small businesses and medium size enterprises on issues of employment generation. Vidhan established a research division for Whittaker Associates in Nepal in October 2010, and Biruwa Ventures in July 2011 to support aspiring entrepreneurs fulfill their dreams of starting their own ventures.

Umanga Pandey

Founder-Director, Kehi Garau   |  LinkedIn

Umanga is management philosopher. A serial entrepreneur who started off with his first venture in 1991, Umanga believes in the promise of individual-responsibility.
Umanga has over 10 years of work experience in investment banking, management consulting and ventures capital in over 6 countries.

An alum of United World College, Brandeis University and University of Southern California, he began his career in New York (Salomon Smith Barney & Towers Perrin). Since 2010, he has been heading a social initiative "केही गरौं" (www.kgnepal.com.np) with a mission of enabling individuals to become change-agents.

Abhinab Basnyat

Founding Partner, Biruwa Ventures   |  LinkedIn

Abhinab finished his Bachelors degree in Economics from Carleton College in Minnesota, USA. After graduation Abhinab worked as an energy analyst at ICF International in Fairfax, Virginia. At ICFI, Abhinab forecaseted power market prices, valued energy assets, and provided due diligence support for utilities.

After ICFI, Abhinab joined The Brattle Group – an economic and litigation consulting firm in their Washington, DC office. At Brattle, Abhinab supported expert testimony, and provided economic, policy and regulatory risk analysis in the energy, telecommunication, and international trade sectors.

Abhinab is a founding partner of Biruwa Ventures.

Rahul Saini

Head Product Design, One97 Communications & Founder Videopind   |  LinkedIn

Rahul is the Head of Product Design with One97 Communications Limited where he drives the product and design strategy for consumer mobile and web products viz Paytm. Rahul has vast experience of over 12 years in the design space ranging for digital to print media. Rahul is also the Founder of Videopind (a One97 Incubated company) and is responsible for the User Experience/Interaction Design of the product across all platforms.

Sixit Bhatta

Manager Nepal Investment Bank Ltd, Educator   |  LinkedIn

6+ years of progressive work experience at United Telecom Limited with experience on operation and maintenance of CDMA network, Project planning and implementation as well as marketing and business development.

Sixit brings along professional experience in Financial Modeling and Business development of Mobile Financial Services. He is a visiting Faculty at Ace Institute of Management, teaching Marketing management and business planning to the MBA students. He is also a member of the Toastmasters International Club.

Ranjit Acharya

CEO, Prisma Advertising   |  LinkedIn

Ranjit Acharya is a well-known name in the field of advertising in Nepal. With an experience of more than two decades, Mr. Acharya is the founder, owner and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Prisma Advertising. He also resides as the Director of Media Hub and Managing Director of Neel Barahi Films. Besides being an entrepreneur, he is also a motivational speaker and has been training students to managers on personal growth and development under the program named “Success Mantra”. He also pens down this thoughts in creative way in lyrics which is distributed in form of music

Dileep Agrawal

CEO, WorldLink Communications   |  LinkedIn

Dileep Agrawal's entrepreneurial journey started in 1995 when he was a third year student in college. In that year, he founded WorldLink, one of the first Internet Service Providers (ISP) in the Indian Subcontinent. Over the years, WorldLink has grown to become not only the largest ISP in Nepal, but one of the largest and most prominent IT services companies in the country employing over 200 people. Today, WorldLink provides services ranging from Internet connectivity and related services to system integration and software development. A recognized leader in Nepal’s IT industry, Mr. Agrawal has appeared in national and international media and has received various honors and awards. Riding the success of his first venture, Mr. Agrawal has gone on to create several other successful enterprises dealing in telecommunications, Internet portals, financial services and education.

Shamim Zaman

Marketing Manager (Head of Marketing) , Unilever Nepal Ltd   |  LinkedIn

8+ years of experience in Product/Brand/Category/Business & general management enriched with strategic leadership & business transformation role in South Asian market.

A seasoned marketer with a rigorous grounding in FMCG along with stints in the world of Telecom with industry leaders like Unilever, Orascom Telecom (Banglalink) & telenor ASA (grameenphone).

Binay Bohra

Managing Director, Vianet Communications   |  LinkedIn

Binay Bohra founded Vianet Communication in 1999 and serves as its current managing director .

He has been advisor to South Asian Network Operators Group and also an executive member for ICT Development Technology Committee for FNCCI. He is past chairman of Nepal Internet Exchange which focuses on keeping the local content within Nepal to increase the efficiency and now leads Internet Service Provider Association of Nepal.

Deepak Bajracharya

Software Evangelist

10+ years of software development experience using Perl, Java, dot net. Experience with LISP, Prolog, Haskell, Ocaml etc.

Deepak's previous stints include Principal Software Engineer and then Principal Architect at Verisk Health, Inc. USA, Senior Research Architect and then Principal Software Engineer D2Hawkey Services, Nepal. He has teaching experience at KCMIT, Apex College, Brihaspati College as well.

Narottam Aryal

Executive Director, Gyankuit Pvt. Ltd.

Narottam heads King's College under Gyankuit and is a strong advocator of entrepreneurship in education.

Before Gyankuit, he served as General Manager for CG Education System. He comes from an extensive education background with mutiple degrees in M. Phil (Public Policy) from University of Bergen, Norway

Deependra Tandon

Director, Business Advantage   |  LinkedIn

Deependra looks after the Finance, Administration and Client Servicing duties at Business Advantage. He is also a faculty member at Ace Institute of Management, teaching 'Promotions Management' coursework.

Since 1998, Deependra has worked across the spectrum of marketing services for clients like BMW, Yamaha, Philips, Tuborg Beer, Buddha Air, Necon Air, UNICEF, MRF Tyres, Dabur Nepal. Deependra completed his MBA graduation specializing in marketing and advertising from Kathmandu University.

Silver Sponsors
Become one
Judges

Suman Rayamajhi

Co-founder Beeds Investment

Suman is a chartered accountant with 10+ yrs of work experience in the corporate, capital market and financial sectors.

Suman has a experience of working with the World Bank for the Financial Sector Reform Project, Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) as a Regional Manager for year and half, and expertise in enterprise valuation, deal structuring for merger & acquisition, diagnostic studies of organization, strategic planning, fund structuring/ management and financing of hydro projects

Anand Bagaria

MD, Nimbus Holding, MD Probiotech Industries   |  LinkedIn

Anand has carved a name out for himself in Agri-business, Investment Banking and retailing . He has an acute acumen in analyzing which has lead Nimbus Holdings surpass the targets, becoming one of the most successful in Agriculture sector in Nepal and a success story to Corporate businessman in Nepal with substantial appetite for growth in and out of Nepal.

Nimbus Holding focuses on Animal Health & Nutrition, Farming, Solvent extraction, Polywoven fabrics, Agri Input Trading, Investment Banking, LPG Bottling and Distribution and trading. He is also MD at Probiotech Industries Pvt. Ltd.

Saurabh Jyoti

Director, Jyoti Group   |  LinkedIn

Saurabh Jyoti is involved in multiple segment of Nepalese Market i.e. Manufacturing, trading, and service industry. His diverse nature of experience ranges from steel wires, to automobiles to Hydropower companies. He holds interest in ten companies via Jyoti Group.

He has served in several position in various capacities in organizations like Nepal Automobile Dealer Association (NADA) ,Nepalese Young Entrepreneurs Forum (NYEF), Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industries amongst others.

Contributing Sponsors
Become one
Speakers/Facilitators

Rahul Saini

Head Product Design, One97 Communications & Founder Videopind   |  LinkedIn

Rahul is the Head of Product Design with One97 Communications Limited where he drives the product and design strategy for consumer mobile and web products viz Paytm. Rahul has vast experience of over 12 years in the design space ranging for digital to print media. Rahul is also the Founder of Videopind (a One97 Incubated company) and is responsible for the User Experience/Interaction Design of the product across all platforms.

Yatin K Thakur

StartupWeekend India, Moonlighting, Wiser.org   |  LinkedIn

Yatin is a serial entrepreneur working towards developing the startup eco-system in India, which includes a common platform for innovators, designers, technical enthusiasts and aspiring entrepreneurs to be linked to a network of like minded people and angel investors. He has been actively involved in setting up a startup mansion in Delhi called "Moonlighting" and has been an active StartupWeekend organiser in New Delhi.

Yatin is the Startup Weekend facilitator for SWKTM

Media Partners
Become one
Organizers
Pravin Raj Joshi
Brijen Joshi
Nitin Kumar
Suman Shakya
Ravi Phuyal
Dadhiram Nepal
Hempal Shrestha
Krishna Pd. Paudel
Blog
view all
Upcoming Events
View all