Techstars Startup Weekend AI & Life Sciences in Winston-Salem’s Innovation Quarter
Updated: 11:42 PM EST Feb 25, 2025
Up and coming innovators are coming together in Winston Salem for the Tech Stars startup weekend. The events will take place in the innovation quarter. It’ll be focused on AI and life sciences. Here joining me now to share more, we have Cassandra Kleig, Innovation Districts initiatives manager and the director and founder of the Vision to Venture, Michael Bakovich. Thank you both for being with me. Thank you for having us. Yeah, so I mean. The tech world is just, you know, blowing up everywhere we look, Michael, so share the inspiration behind the Tech Stars startup weekend. Why now and where has it really evolved over the last few years? Great, great questions. Um, there’s actually *** lot going on in North Carolina right now and the city of Winston Salem. Just recently, uh, B2B review named North Carolina the best state to start *** new business. We are number 5 as far as starting *** small business, Winston Salem, and our own Greater Winston-Salem was voted the Chamber of the Year across the United States against all size cities, so we have *** lot of energy going on. We have *** lot of support and resources and we. Wanted to sort of bring that to life to start small businesses and we partnered with the Innovation Quarter and this is the 2nd year for this startup weekend style event taking place in the innovation quarter now Cassandra, perfect spot for an event like this in Winston Salem. It is *** place that we have created where people can come and work, live and play. It is *** place where people can gather with within the community at events like concerts, uh, the cinema in the park series and go to bars and restaurants, but it’s also home to our school of medicine to research and educators. And most importantly are entrepreneurs and so we’ve really created this vibrant community and we want people to come down and join us to support those entrepreneurs, right? Yeah, they are not alone and as I mentioned my goal, what is vision to venture? What is its role in conversation in this new world of technology? Great question too, uh, vision to Venture is *** nonprofit. This is our 2nd year. And we’re here in Winston Salem to support some of the existing organizations that already are here to support small businesses, early stage startups, etc. so um our role has been to identify gaps and find opportunities, and we’re doing that at the startup weekend, which will be February 28th through March 2nd. That’s right. And who can participate? I mean, if, if someone is not an entrepreneur, um, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t come out and support and show up. For this weekend, right? This is open to the community. Uh, we’ve had such success having people from starting *** bakery to starting AI companies, etc. so it’s open to the public. Uh, if you have an idea that you like to stand up and see if you could turn into *** business, we invite you to come down. If you have an expertise and you want to contribute to teams, we invite you to come on down and contribute that way. So it’s open to the community. You can have an idea or you can support people with ideas. I like that. What is your dream of where the innovation quarter will be in the next, you know, 5 to 10 years? We would like just to continue growing, expanding not only physically, um, and our innovation quarter phase two. Uh, but we want to continue having more events like TechStar startup weekend, bringing in community from both the city, the region, state, nationally, and can, you know, the vibrant community that we’ve already built, we want to grow that and expand it and we’re pretty excited to start with this startup weekend. I’m, I’m gonna play off of that if I may. Um, so far we have 60 registered participants for this weekend. We have 2 students from Colorado that are coming in just to participate in Winston Salem. So this breadth and scope of these types of events go from New York to Florida all across the country, and we’re happy to bring them here to show them what we have available. So it’s *** lot of fun. Thank you both for joining me and to share more on this very hopefully another 6. Successful year of the startup weekend and you at home can register now for TechStars Startup Weekend just visit Startup Weekend WS.AI. It runs February 28th to March 2nd at Spark, which is located in the Innovation Quarters Bailey Power Plant building.
Techstars Startup Weekend AI & Life Sciences in Winston-Salem’s Innovation Quarter
Updated: 11:42 PM EST Feb 25, 2025
Techstars Startup Weekend AI & Life Sciences is happening February 28 – March 2 in downtown Winston-Salem at Sparq in the Bailey Power Plant on North Patterson Avenue. It’s presented by the Innovation Quarter and powered by VisiontoVenture. The motto is “learn how to think, work and build like a startup in 54 thrilling hours.”Two of the people involved with the event joined the Local Vibe team ahead of the weekend with a preview. Click the video player above to hear form VistionToVenture Director and Founder, Michael Buckovich and Innovation Districts Initiatives Manager, Cassandra Klebig. From students to lifelong entrepreneurs, organizers believe the three day event is the perfect place for people of all ages who are looking to start a new business or learn about the process of getting a startup off the ground. Attendees will get to meet investors, co-founders and mentors to connect, discover and learn how to start a business. Click here for more information and register.
Techstars Startup Weekend AI & Life Sciences is happening February 28 – March 2 in downtown Winston-Salem at Sparq in the Bailey Power Plant on North Patterson Avenue.
It’s presented by the Innovation Quarter and powered by VisiontoVenture. The motto is “learn how to think, work and build like a startup in 54 thrilling hours.”
Two of the people involved with the event joined the Local Vibe team ahead of the weekend with a preview.
Click the video player above to hear form VistionToVenture Director and Founder, Michael Buckovich and Innovation Districts Initiatives Manager, Cassandra Klebig.
From students to lifelong entrepreneurs, organizers believe the three day event is the perfect place for people of all ages who are looking to start a new business or learn about the process of getting a startup off the ground. Attendees will get to meet investors, co-founders and mentors to connect, discover and learn how to start a business.
Click here for more information and register.
