Startup Weekend Cebu is finally shaping up. Judges, mentors and sponsors have signed up; the date is final, May 11th to 13th, and the venue is booked, at UP Cebu.

I am one of the organizers for this upcoming event, and i’m inviting everyone who would like to start a startup or be part of one — to join.

From their website,

Startup Weekend 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!

Here’s a video to give you an idea what Startup Weekend is about:

Who should attend? I say anyone who is interested to be part of a startup or take part in building an awesome product. The product ideas are not exclusively tech or software based, so any business idea is a go.

In addition to the reasons mentioned on their site, i would like to add the following that’s applicable to us:

• It’s a major startup event that will be held in Cebu.
• It’s not for entrepreneurs only, but also for technical people (programmers, designers, project managers, testers, etc.) and business people as well (managers, operations, marketing, sales, etc.).
• In fact, it’s nice if people from all different backgrounds will attend, since launching / conceptualizing a startup, benefits from expertise in various areas.
• There’s a lot of interest from VCs and investors in participating, both from the local community and abroad (Singapore, Japan, US) — and connecting with local talents.
• To participate, you don’t need to have a product idea. There’s not even a need to bring a team. Just bring yourself, and form/join a team during the event.
• Launching a startup in 54 hours might be a stretch, however one major benefit from an SW event is getting feedback from your product idea or ideas, AND also connecting with people who can help you build your product and business. So you might not be able to launch a startup in 54 hours, but it can be the beginning to building something later.
• If starting a business is not your thing, but just want to be part of the founding team of a startup, then SW is a good event to connect and join one.
• One big factor with SW is the all action focus. The first night is focused on pitching ideas and forming teams. After that, all the time is spent conceptualizing and building your product. Until the last night, for the final pitching competition. The entire weekend is spent building your product and working with your team. Which means, you get hands-on experience with the product idea and also the members of the team. Way better than looking at resumes.

I’m sure, there’s a lot more reasons to attend. The items i mentioned above is just scratching the surface.

We’re promoting it to schools with the junior and senior level students. And also promoting it to the local industry through the local user groups and clubs.

Register now, let your friends know, bring your colleagues, promote it to your club, spread the word.