The 3 Day Startup kicked off on 3rd November, 2017 at the Arfa Software Technology Park. We hosted the event in collaboration with 3 Day Startup, and it proved to be quite a success.
3 Day Startup is a program designed to provide entrepreneurs hands-on help on how to start their own business. Participants are handpicked by the organizers after registration and only a handful are picked to attend as the whole idea is for everyone to get attention.
Nina Ho, Lead Organizer 3DS, conducted the workshop. The participants were divided into teams on the first day and were engaged in a Lean Canvas activity. All the groups were mentored by Miss Nina while they worked on their ideas and were provided clear instructions on how to proceed. By day end the participants had decided the business ideas they would be taking forward.
Day 2 began at early in the morning and revolved around the groups getting mentoring from Plan9’s alumni. The mentors kept rotating between groups so that everyone had access to the expert advice on more than one aspect of their businesses. Mentors included; Qasim Salam of CampusFeed, Farooq Saeed of Pantera Energy, Usama Abid of DIY Geeks, Moiz Javed of Virgin Teez, Ali Rashid of Car Chabi and Mian Hamza of Auto Genie.
All the mentors came from varied fields and provided the young entrepreneurs a lot of insight on how to streamline their businesses, as well as how to pitch effectively to investors. After the mentoring session, groups to prepared pitchdecks which were presented by one member from each group. The intermediary pitches by the groups were well crafted and they were provided instant feedback on how to improve and add value to their work.
Day 3 was all about groups working together on their presentations and pitches. The groups convened at 10:00 AM at ASTP and began work. In the evening, the participants presented their final pitches to an audience, which included members of the Austin Delegation, currently being hosted by Plan9. Muhammad Qasim, Matt Swinney, Ahmed Moledina and Farooq Husain were present as Judges. The startups presented some excellent startup ideas and received expert opinions on their plan of action.
The event came to an end on the 5th of November, 2017. The participants were provided participation certificates at the end of the ceremony. The event allowed young entrepreneurs to form a community as well as a complete guide on how to build a startup. The event proved to be a success as the participants acquired new knowledge and impressed the judges with their startup initiatives.