A weekend for you to test your startup idea, business plan, and teamwork while meeting cool people and eating delicious food!
Startup Weekends are 54-hour events where developers, designers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and launch startups!
Startup Weekends are specifically designed for entrepreneurs interested in receiving feedback on an idea, looking for a co-founder, or who want to learn a new skill. We also welcome anyone looking to test the entrepreneurial waters.
Startup Weekends are risk-free environments where everyone is expected to roll up their sleeves and dive into the exhilarating world of startups
Startup Weekends are weekend-long, hands-on experiences where entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs can find out if startup ideas are viable. On average, half of Startup Weekend’s attendees have technical backgrounds, the other half have business backgrounds.
Startup Weekend is an experience – so don’t sit on the sidelines during the weekend. Pitch an idea, learn a new skill, talk to as many people as possible, and step out of your comfort zone. It’ll be the best thing you do that weekend!
New Zealand-born, former Kāpiti College student, London-based businesswoman and philanthropist Katherine Corich has had a string of accolades to her name.
The founder of the global international business consultancy Sysdoc
She’s been named the Ernst & Young Master Entrepreneur of the Year, UK New Zealander of the Year, and Sysdoc, has twice been named as one of the 30 Top Employers for Working Families by Working Families UK in London.
Katherine is a visionary leader with contagious entrepreneurial energy, leads Sysdoc performance-based philanthropy, offering expertise, time and seed funding, to deliver projects where they can make a significant and sustainable difference globally.
Katherine serves on the boards of the Liverpool Mayoral Development Corporation, WIL Europe and is Chair of global charity Happy Child International. She is on the international advisory board for the University of Canterbury and is also an advisor/ambassador for the university’s earthquake database. She also qualified as a commercial pilot and flight instructor.
RedShield is a globally expanding cyber-security company, and is not only the winner of two NZ HiTech Awards in 2017, and the iSANZ InfoSec Company of the Year 2016 but most importantly was winner of Kapiti Horowhenua Electra Business of the Year in 2013 (then named Aura RedEye).
Personally, Andy is the winner of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 Services Business category, having grown Aura InfoSec to NZ’s leading “ethical hacking” company which he sold in 2015, to RedShield which today has high profile customers all over the globe and protects over 39 million peoples’ data and privacy every minute of every day.
It’s a story of a husband and wife team (with Diane his wife of 25 years and business partner of 19), starting a company on the Kapiti Coast, and now using cyber-space to reach their global market. The journey includes many sleepless nights, hundreds of thousands of air-miles, some great mistakes and most importantly some epic wins.
Nick is Director of Marketing at Raygun – A Wellington based company selling products that help software teams detect and diagnose issues in their code.
Having spent the last 15 years in and around startup businesses, including several of his own, he is no stranger to the successes and failures that come with building upon an idea from the ground up.
Joining at its infancy, Raygun is now one of New Zealand’s fastest growing tech companies, recently announcing plans to invest $15M and create 70+ new jobs in the Wellington region to support their rapid growth.
Between the company HQ on Courtenay Place and Seattle offices, the company supports thousands of customers over 100 countries, including Coca-Cola, Dominos Pizza, Samsung and Microsoft.
Originally from the UK, Nick now calls the beautiful Kapiti Coast home with his partner and two daughters.
Poppy has recently been appointed as CEO for Collaborate, a social enterprise that she, and three other young women founded in early 2015. Collaborate is a platform that democratises volunteering, by connecting people to volunteer opportunities that match their skills and interests. Poppy leads the volunteer-powered team of 18 young people around the country.
Poppy’s kaupapa is to empower and upskill young people across New Zealand, which she brings to her own team, providing mentoring and training. Prior to stepping into the CEO role, Poppy was the Digital Marketing Strategist and Community Outreach Lead, and she still plays a large role in this space.
During the day, Poppy is a Student Liaison Officer for Victoria University of Wellington, which sees her travelling the country to recruit new students and assist them with their transition into the University.
Poppy has a Bachelor of Science with a double major in Psychology and Educational Psychology.
Both roles have a large focus on empowering young adults to discover and achieve their full potential. She has a great amount of experience volunteering in the community and brings this knowledge and passion to her role in Collaborate. Poppy’s leadership and passion has been recognised and was a recipient of the Rotary Youth Leadership award, 2016, was named one a finalist in the 2017 and 2018 Women of Influence Awards and has been awarded a Kiwibank Local Hero Award 2018.
Beginning with open mic pitches on Friday, attendees are encouraged to bring their best ideas and inspire others to join their team.
Over Saturday and Sunday teams design and develop business plans while constantly streamlining their startup vision.
On Sunday evening teams demo their prototypes, listen to judges’ feedback and in some cities, win prizes.
Thank you to our partners with out their support and encouragement Kāpiti Startup Weekend would not be possible.
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