AUBURN — A weekend boot camp for would-be entrepreneurs set for this weekend won’t happen, according to organizers.
“We think we need to work better with the community to get them more acquainted with the idea,” Mamie Ney, director of the Auburn Public Library. “We’ll also work with the global group to coordinate events better between Portland, Bangor and Lewiston.”
Lewiston-Auburn was scheduled to host its first Startup Weekend Nov. 14-16 at the Auburn Public Library. The pressure-cooker weekend was designed to help local business leaders work out ideas and then enlist a team to help hone and present it.
In the end, one idea gets technical support from the local community.
Portland has hosted two startup weekends. A Bangor event similar to Auburn’s scheduled in September was also postponed.
Ney said the concept will still happen in the Twin Cities, just not now.
“Now Portland is more into doing a specialized weekend, and we will be more along the lines of Bangor, introducing the weekend to the community,” she said. “We will regroup after the first of year.”
The event was going to be hosted by the city of Auburn and Auburn Public Library, with support from Blackstone Accelerates Growth, a statewide group created by the Blackstone Foundation to promote entrepreneurship and innovation.
The foundation is the charitable arm of the private equity and investment banking firm Blackstone Group.
In a usual setup, would-be entrepreneurs pitch their ideas on Friday to the entire group. Attendees vote, and the best move forward, recruiting teams. Those teams spend Saturday and Sunday honing the pitch and answering questions, making a final pitch to judges on Sunday night.
Ney said organizers now could focus on smaller entrepreneur workshops leading up the full weekend.
“We’d probably do something like getting people to formulate their ideas and practice pitching so they know what people will be looking for in terms of what people are looking for and how their ideas come together.”
Ney said more information and a rescheduled program will be posted to the effort’s website, www.up.co/communities/usa/maine/startup-weekend/4159.
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