The idea of 3 Day Startup is simple: start tech companies over the course of three days. We rent work space for an entire weekend, recruit 45 student participants from a wide range of backgrounds, cater food and drinks, and bring in top-notch entrepreneurs and investors. The participants pick the best ideas for startups during the Friday brainstorming session and deliver prototypes and investor pitches on Sunday night.
More info can be found in our Program Information Sheet.
For students, 3 Day Startup is an intensely fun way to learn about startups and executing on business ideas by cramming semesters’ worth of learning into three days. You connect with cofounders, make friends, drink too much caffeine, and learn by doing. If you’re already sold on participating in or running a 3 Day Startup event, click here.
For administrators and professors, 3 Day Startup is an academic program designed to teach entrepreneurial skills in an extreme hands-on environment. The 3DS program creates a living entrepreneurship laboratory on university campuses by bringing together students ranging from freshmen to freshly-minted PhDs with diverse backgrounds, including computer science, business, engineering, law, design, communications and others. Participants gain experience in cross-disciplinary collaboration, brainstorming and ideation, and group productivity, including ad-hoc leadership and decision-making under severe time constraints. The resulting experience is just like that of working with a budding startup company. The 1500+ 3DS alumni from 26 events over the last three years have started 16 technology companies that have collectively raised over $6 million in investment capital. If you are interested in putting on a 3 Day Startup in your school, contact us at founders@3daystartup.org.
For sponsors, 3 Day Startup is a way to reach desirable audiences and encourage a tested, proven, and exciting model for entrepreneurship education. If you are interested in sponsoring 3 Day Startup, learn more here.
Event Goals
The weekend is designed with two specific goals in mind: kick-start new student-run companies and build entrepreneurial capabilities in students and their university communities.
3 Day Startup Global by the Numbers
- 38 events in the US, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, France, Portugal, Israel, Chile, and China.
- 28 startups collectively raising $7M investment
- 13 3DS-originated companies accepted to accelerator and incubator programs
- 1500+ 3DS alumni from 40+ different majors
- 30 events scheduled for 2012
Want to know more about our results? Check out the companies founded by 3DS alumni, and our press page.
History
In January 2008, a group of students founded 3 Day Startup at The University of Texas at Austin, which is the home of the flagship 3DS event. Originally a student organization, 3 Day Startup is now a nonprofit corporation. Over the past three years, the program has spread from semester events at the University of Texas to schools other schools in North America, Europe, South America, the Middle East and Asia.
The 3DS team is headed by Joel Hestness, Cam Houser, Ruchit Shah, and Bart Bohn. 3 Day Startup, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.