June 12-14, 2026

54 hours. One idea. Infinite possibilities.

EntrePartners Innovation Center, Iowa City, IA

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What is techstars_ Startup Weekend?

Get ready for a fast-paced, life-changing experience!

Learn how to think, work, and build like a startup in 54 thrilling hours. Startup Weekend Iowa City is an exciting and immersive foray into the world of startups. Over an action-packed three days, you’ll meet the very best mentors, investors, co-founders and sponsors to show you how to get more done faster (and, maybe even start that Business.)

Terms of Participation Agreement: It is our job to provide you with an incredible networking and learning experience. Our intention is that you meet some amazing people that you might start a company with, learn from mentors as well as learning from your peers. The event is intended to be a collaborative forum for sharing, learning, building, and having fun. As such, by registering as a participant, you acknowledge that any ideas shared by you or anyone else over the course of the event are contributions to the overall experience and community. If you’re very concerned, you can limit your pitch to the rough outline of the idea without giving away key information.

As a member of your startup community, you agree to be inclusive of any and all people and their ideas. You agree to act professionally, treat everyone with respect, and treat the event facilities with proper care. You agree that you are responsible in the event of any accidents or damages that you cause. You also agree to not hold techstars_ Startup Weekend, your local volunteer team, or any of the event supporters liable for any loss, damage, injury, or any other unforeseeable incident.

By participating in the event, you grant techstars_ Startup Weekend Iowa City and EntrePartners permission to capture photos/videos of the event.

By purchasing a ticket to a techstars_ Startup Weekend event, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. If you have questions please reach out to privacy@techstars.com.

The Weekend Format

Three days of intensive learning, building, and connecting.

Friday

Pitch & Team Up

Participants pitch their ideas, and the most promising concepts are selected through voting. Teams of 3-5 people form around these ideas, setting the stage for an exciting weekend of collaboration and innovation.

Saturday

Build & Validate

Saturday is all about bringing your startup to life. Teams work tirelessly to develop prototypes, validate their ideas, and refine their business models with the help of mentors and coaches.

Sunday

Pitch & Celebrate

Showcase your newly created startups to a panel of judges. This is your chance to pitch your idea, demonstrate your progress, and potentially secure partnerships. The weekend concludes with a celebration.

Previous Events

Watch highlights from our past Startup Weekend Iowa City events.

Startup Weekend Iowa City 2023 Final Pitches

Startup Weekend Iowa City 2024 Final Pitches

Startup Weekend Iowa City 2025 Final Pitches

Frequently Asked Questions

Weekend Schedule

Doors open at 5 pm, Dinner served at 6 pm

Dinner and networking, Welcome from the Community, Ice-Breaker, Idea Pitches and Voting, Team Formation, and Start of Work
Doors open at 8 am, close at 10 pm

Workshop on Customer Discovery, Mentor Madness, and work all day
Doors open at 8 am

Workshop on Pitching, Work until 3 pm, and Final Pitches

Before The Event:

If you are interested in entrepreneurship the answer is most likely yes. Whether you are a serial entrepreneur or new to the startup scene, you’ll fit right in as long as you are motivated to build a product or startup and are open to new ideas. We believe that great ideas can come from anywhere.

The event is intended to be a collaborative and inclusive forum for sharing, learning, building, and having fun. We expect each member of the startup community to be inclusive of all people and their ideas at techstars_ Startup Weekend and we welcome all, regardless of experience, industry or background.
Apart from the organizing team, mentors, speakers, event volunteers and judges, everyone who participates in the event is expected to participate in all three days. This is important not only to preserve your own learning experience, but also to minimize distractions or disruptions for the team you choose to join.
In some cases you’ll be able to pay for your ticket at the door, on the day of the event. However, it’s preferable to buy your ticket in advance as organizers need to order catering and supplies to meet the needs of the weekend. Please reach out to the local organizers to understand more about payment in your local city.
Everyone who attends the event as a participant is expected to come to the event without a team and then join and participate with a team at the event. This is important to preserve the Startup Weekend educational experience. The ideal team consists of members from diverse backgrounds and experiences who collaborate to build a great minimum viable product (MVP) using the Lean Canvas framework. The more people you have on your team to help you do market research and business model development, the quicker you’ll develop an MVP to pitch on Sunday.
In most cases, participants are responsible for providing their own transportation and accommodation (if needed) to in-person events. If you are traveling and unfamiliar with the location, reach out to the local organizing team to ask for nearby recommendations.
No, but we highly encourage you to. You can pitch an idea you've been thinking about for years, or something you think of at the last minute during the event. Please don’t pitch an idea that you’ve already been developing or have been working on outside of Startup Weekend. The point of the event is to learn how to go from ideation to product. Pitching provides invaluable practice for public speaking. You won’t regret pitching, but might regret not pitching.
Business Model: How does the team plan on making this a successful business?

Customer Validation: Are teams building something that people actually want?

Execution & Design: Have they established an MVP — the minimum set of product features to be able to start collecting data?
  • Laptop/Portable Computer
  • Power cord for Laptop
  • Notepad and pen
  • Business cards (or a business card app)
  • Your phone - feel free to take pictures or video of the event
  • Optional: A second monitor, keyboard, etc…. Whatever helps you to be most productive.
  • Lots of energy!
  • Laptop/Computer with camera and mic
  • Good internet connection!
  • Lots of energy!
  • You can find a list of tools that can help you prepare for the weekend here.
  • Doing some market research will give you a better understanding of the problem you are trying to solve.
  • Practice your pitch. You'll have 60 seconds on Friday to persuade other participants to join your team. Make it clear, concise, and convincing! The elements of a good 60 second pitch are to: state who you are and what your background is, mention what problem your product is solving, explain the product and how it solves the problem, what skill sets you need on the team like a developer, marketer or designer,and provide a name for your startup.
  • Get familiar with some of the tools that you can use during the weekend like the Lean Canvas.
  • Get some rest!
There are rules and a code of conduct in place for the weekend which help to ensure that everyone has a great experience.

During The Event:

All business ideas are welcome, whether they're for-profit or non-profit organizations, however the event is typically tech-oriented. Approximately 90% of all ideas are Software as a service (SaaS) and given the short time-frame to develop your product, we recommend that even non-tech ideas focus on a scalable tech-related deliverable (for example, a website) by Sunday to be able to demonstrate the Minimum Viable Product.
Depending on the number of ideas pitched and the event schedule, you may or may not be able to pitch multiple ideas. Prioritize your ideas: pitch your best idea (and the one you have most prepared for) first. Please note that you will only be able to work on one idea through the weekend.
No. Startup Weekend is designed to be the most effective platform for growing new businesses from the ground up over the course of a weekend. A key facet of the weekend, and a central value for participants, is the spirit of complete collaboration, buy-in, and ownership.

We’ve found that having existing businesses in the mix undermines this spirit, in addition to creating an unequal playing field alongside those ideas that are truly conceived at the grass-roots level. The local organizers have the right to disqualify any existing ideas pitched during the event at any time.
The purpose of the Friday voting isn’t to exclude certain ideas, but simply to highlight the most popular and high-potential pitches and end up with a manageable number of teams - ensuring that each team has a variety of backgrounds and skills. If your idea isn’t selected, but you’ve managed to form a team around the idea, you’re welcome to work on it over the weekend. If you decide to do so, however, please tell the event Organizer and Facilitator.
No. At some events, certain teams will decide to work all through Friday and/or Saturday night, but this is by no means obligatory or expected.
A key part of every Startup Weekend is the valuable advice and assistance provided by the event’s speakers and mentors. In the spirit of our motto, “No Talk, All Action,” we try to keep talks short and sweet, focusing on practical issues (i.e. “How to give a persuasive pitch” and “Best approaches to customer validation”) that can actually help you and your team better achieve your weekend goals. Mentors - community experts in various fields ranging from entrepreneurship, software development, marketing, finance, law, and more - dedicate their time to provide advice. In addition to the most valuable resources at the weekend (the people), we’ve put together a list of some useful resources and tools for before, during, and after the weekend. Check out the Tools for Participants section above for more info.
To the extent intellectual property is presented or disclosed by participants during an event, techstars_ doesn’t retain or claim ownership to any of these ideas and any discussions of ownership is left up to the teams. We do acknowledge that the issue of patents, copyrights, and other IP is an important one but the decision to discuss any specific intellectual property during the Startup Weekend is, in the end, a question of risk and reward for you.

Startup Weekend is about the educational experience of learning how to build a business, so even if you don’t pitch the idea that you’re worried about disclosing publicly, you can still take the learnings from the weekend and apply it to your idea afterwards. You might also make valuable connections with mentors and other participants during the weekend who you want to involve going forward, so participating is still valuable, regardless of the idea.

Beyond just intellectual property, keep in mind that Startup Weekend does not support or take part in the signing of any legal documents between participants at the events, and while mentors with legal backgrounds are often present and able to give general advice, they are not permitted to give specific legal counsel.
While there are no specific requirements in terms of what teams should have accomplished by Sunday, it’s in your best interest to plan your execution around what you’ll be judged for on Sunday: Customer Validation, Execution and Design, and Business Model.

As far as presenting goes, some of the most common presentations include any, or a combination, of the following:
  • Website wireframes or more developed sites
  • Mobile App wireframes to fully functional apps
  • Videos (for product demonstrations for example)
  • Slide decks with product screenshots, embedded videos, etc.
  • Live product demos
  • Skits
Competition is not a central theme of Startup Weekend. Our goal is to cultivate a positive and educational atmosphere. We do believe, however, that some friendly competition can be beneficial to all parties and accurately reflects the realities of startup life. Just as it’s important to gather ‘real-world’ feedback over the weekend, it’s also important to have real-world pressures and obstacles.

After The Weekend:

Whether or not you continue to work on the idea, with some or all of your team, is completely up to you.
Having participated in a Startup Weekend, you are now part of an extensive global network of passionate entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs, mentors, startup talent and community supporters.

Startup Weekend primarily focuses on the entry point to entrepreneurship, but our support and community spans much further beyond the weekend. Whether you’re ready to accelerate your business or want to help build your local entrepreneurial ecosystem, we’re here to help in any way we can. Visit Techstars.com to learn more.

Refund Policy

We understand that plans can change. Here's our refund policy for Startup Weekend Iowa City tickets:

  • Full Refund: Available up to 7 days before the event if you cancel for any reason.
  • No Refund: Within 7 days of the event start date. However, ticket transfers to another attendee are permitted.
  • Event Cancellation: Full refund if the event is cancelled by organizers.

To request a refund or transfer your ticket, please contact us at least 7 days before the event starts. All refunds will be processed within 5-7 business days to the original payment method.

Note: In extraordinary circumstances (medical emergency, etc.), please reach out directly and we'll do our best to accommodate you.

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