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I was part of the first Startup Weekend that happened in Brazil. So when Diego Remus
invited me to be part of the first I could not imagine I would be here today in Maceió.
Maceio is not a city known for having startups nor digital entrepreneurs
despite already having some stories of success. I think the most important thing is the
knowledge about startups and digital entrepreneurship that everyone is absorbing.
These actors, they are all important, so we need an entrepreneur community
united and developed locally. We need a supporting government.
The business sector and universities also acting. And when they act together,
the community gets stronger.
Felipe said it more aptly. Because from 15 Startup Weekends he participated
this was the first time he saw a representative of the government participating, interested,
wondering what's going on here. I think this is essential.
I found it very nice here in Alagoas the presence of the Secretary of State for Science and Technology.
He came here, not only for the opening but stayed here, watched the pitches, talked
to the mentors, showed that he is interested.
The quality of the people who are participating. We have a group that because of the reality
of Alagoas was supposed to be a group alienated, oblivious to everything that's happening in
the universe of digital entrepreneurship and it's not what we're seeing here.
We are seeing people who are extremely connected to what is happening in the world and interested
to bring a piece of this movement to their region.
The startups from Startup Weekend Maceió are very interesting. To me it is interesting
because there are things completely different, we have one that's about agriculture, another one
about food and even another related to ride sharing.
I find that in the mentoring process it's interesting to go with another mentor, not only a single mentor.
because you can be Mark Zuckeberg but you still have something to learn. I think
to do this double, even if it's not a rule, it's not mandatory. Because the way
I see it is what I learned at my market but perhaps my market is different
from the other mentor and the startup.
To bring a group of mentors like this you need to have a network of contacts, its necessary
to convince people that it's worth to spend a weekend in Maceio and even with a sunny day like that
rather than being out on the beach, stay here and help other people with volunteer work.
What's more importante to learn about this event is that there's people here
eager to become entrepreneurs. They need help and support.
I think Startup Weekend was a support. It was a beginning of something very important.
Demo days and presentation events are important but educational events
are fundamental to the creation of the ecosystem. So I think that's it,
it's the first educational event for a startup community.
The big question at a Startup Weekend is learning. Once you have learned how
the model of creating a startup works, it becomes easier to build a startup here
and anywhere else.
It's interesting that after the first Startup Weekend held in São Paulo there was a boom.
we had absolutely nothing, we had to talk to a lot of people
so we could bring people to build their startups. After that the community started to move.
So that's what the first Startup Weekend does.
It starts to attract a lot of people who were already thinking about it, who was wondering
do this and builds an ecosystem of friends. That's what is more important in Startup Weekend.
For those who did not come in Startup Weekend Maceio, for this first edition, you can only regret.
Do not miss the next edition, next year. And begin to engage with what is
going on here, get closer to the people who participated in this edition, get closer to the
organizers, the teams, and start to build a startup ecosystem
with digital entrepreneurs and people interested in social and economic
change of the region. And start to get stronger
so next year we can make an event even more stunning than this one.