Twin Cities Startup Week will embark this weekend on its 10th year of gathering founders and funders to celebrate entrepreneurship.
This year is “back to basics,” said Cihan Behlivan, interim executive director at The Beta Group, which facilitates TCSW. The decentralized festivities will include at least 125 events across about 50 venues mostly in Minneapolis and St. Paul, he said. Final tweaks to the schedule are still underway as opening day approaches.
“It's a good place for knowledge exchange, and it gives a platform for small startups, small companies to put themselves out there,” Behlivan said.
The opening party will kick things off on Friday at 6 p.m. at the Twin Ignition Keg House, leading into a weekend chock-full of networking events — like meals and a cornhole tournament — with a couple workshops and teaching sessions.
A variety of showcases will follow throughout next week: Startups led by women and people of color will engage in a Shark Tank-style event on Monday at 12:30 p.m. at Northrop on the University of Minnesota campus. Gener8tor’s gBeta St. Thomas Summer 2023 Startup Showcase is at 4 p.m. that same day. The Minnesota Cup will hold its grand finale starting at the same time, located at McNamara Alumni Center at the U campus.
Other showcases include:
- Minnedemo39 on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Riverview Theater,
- Fall 2023 Beta Showcase on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Target Field,
- Minnesota Blockchain Shark Tank Night at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Augurian & Cloudburst SBC and
- Minnesota Startup Awards on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Luminary Arts Center.
Around 700 people show up to the Beta Showcase, and Behlivan said the opening and closing events often bring hundreds of people together.
But he said not to overlook the many happy hour events happening throughout the week.
“They're where [founders] can meet the people,” he said. “This isn't only going and sitting somewhere and learning something. That's an important part of it. But also the most critical thing is — it's all relationships. People need to go and nurture and create those relationships. I think that's amazing.”
Some of the days include themes. Next Tuesday is venture capital day, Wednesday is artificial intelligence day and Thursday will include some human resources-oriented morning sessions that will end with the Optum Cup, a showcase that spotlights startups in the health care tech ecosystem.
Behlivan also emphasized events at the Luminary Arts Center, which will host sessions on raising funds, AI and other topics.
It’s a community-led event and Beta just creates the sandbox, Behlivan said.
