Victoria Entrepreneur Bootcamp Prize

One of the significant prizes at Climathon is the opportunity to take your business idea into the Victoria Entrepreneur Bootcamp, a 3-month pre-accelerator programme designed to help you further validate your idea, and learn to think and act like an entrepreneur.

This opportunity is usually reserved for students, however, one winning Climathon team will be the exception.

The purpose of the Bootcamp is not just to grow businesses, but to grow entrepreneurs who learn essential skills while working on their own startups. By the end – you will have gathered enough evidence to work out whether it’s worth investing more of your precious time and money into your startup idea.

The delivery team have all either worked in, or are working in, startups that they have been founders of, and can guide you and your team based on their personal experience. They truly understand what it takes to build a successful startup, and work with Emily Sullivan from Viclink to develop a challenging programme that will give you the skills and mindset you need build your own.

Bart de Vries, one of the co-conspirators behind and the face of Climathon, will be the startup coach for whoever wins this prize. His startup experience and knowledge, ranging from sustainability, physical products, sports, physiotherapy, food, art, etc, will be yours to benefit from on a weekly basis for the duration of the programme.

Backing up the entrepreneurs are our partners – the BizDojo, Deloitte, Chapman Tripp, Accenture, Humankind and 1st Assembly.  Additional mentoring and workshops on all the essential small business skills complements the work of the startup coaches and sets you up with the networks of people you can call on in the future to help grow your business.

Boot-campers become residents at the BizDojo for the summer. You will work alongside other entrepreneurs, and engage with community networking events.

Through Boot-camp fireside chats you'll meet awesome people from across Wellington and beyond. Be inspired and connect with others who have turned their ideas into businesses – from recent Boot-camp Alumni, to experienced investors.

Boot-camp gives you the chance to build your business, learning all the skills you need as you go. There are no exams or assignments, you learn by doing, experimenting, and making mistakes.

You will gain experience in lean startup and become very familiar with your business model canvas, testing your assumptions as you go.

With the help of our partners, you will develop skills in running businesses, including financials, legal considerations, operations, sales, business planning and pitching.

This is also the ONLY prize offered at Climathon that you must opt in for, as it requires a certain level of commitment from your team.

Next summer's Boot-camp starts 19 November 2018, and runs for 12 weeks, with a two break over the Christmas period. It ends with a showcase event on the 27th of February.

For the summer, all Boot-campers become residents of the BizDojo – an amazing co-working space on the corner of Tory and Vivian St.  In addition to being surrounded by amazing startups, freelancers, and more established businesses, you will be working with 8 other Boot-camp teams, and will have access to mentors and advisers, networking events and access to other opportunities in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Boot-campers are required to be present at the following times:

• Monday – A 1-hour session with your business coach, often with additional advisors from Deloitte, Chapman Tripp, and Accenture.
• Wednesday Morning – a 1 hour Technical workshop
• Wednesday afternoon – a 3 hour Boot-camp workshop
• Friday Lunch - a 1 hour chat with a local entrepreneur

With Climathon teams, this is not always possible for all team members, but at least one member of the team needs to be able to attend all of these.  Additionally –at least 1 team members must be able to put in 20 hours per week to further their idea.  It’s better if more than one member can make this commitment, and most of your team should have an ability to commit at a good number of hours to the project.  Workshops are far more fun if more than one team member is there to workshop your idea, and team members who might not be able to make the full commitment are welcome to show up as their schedule allows.

If you do happen to be a student at Victoria University of Wellington, or have studied here in 2018, you will be entitled to receive a stipend.

Find our more at www.vicbootcamp.co.nz or https://www.facebook.com/VUWBootcamp/ 

Climathon Wellington is a 24 hour challenge happening on the 26th and 27th of October. In it's 4th year it brings together people from different industries to create and test ideas to solve Wellingtons greatest challenges in a highly supportive environment.

Climathon 2018 passes are all gone, but it's not too late to join the waitlist!