Triangle Business Law, a boutique law firm founded by Elon Law alumnus Mital Patel, '09, was among three entities to organize Triangle Startup Weekend in Durham, North Carolina in early June. The event was designed to support entrepreneurs in the development of early stage product ideas and to encourage increased entrepreneurial activity in the region.
Patel started his career as an entrepreneur, computer programmer and web designer while majoring in computer science at North Carolina State University. His firm specializes in business law, Internet law, and intellectual property matters and serves entrepreneurs, business owners, and technology startup companies.
Triangle Business Law joined the Council for Entrepreneurial Development and the Triangle Interactive Marketing Association to organize Triangle Startup Weekend, a program of the nonprofit Startup Weekend. The 54-hour event brings developers, designers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiasts together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and more.
An article about the event in The Herald-Sun includes the following comment from Patel describing the value of event for new and emerging entrepreneurs.
“Everybody’s really excited about it, but it’s a pretty substantial risk to start something on their own, it doesn’t initially have a steady flow of income. A lot of the folks out there have full-time jobs or other sources of income, and want to try it out and see what it’s like.”
Startup Weekends allow participants to pitch product ideas, collaborate in the development of those ideas, and develop proposals into minimal viable products. Participants also focus on customer development and startup methodologies. At the conclusion of the weekend, teams demonstrate prototypes and receive feedback from a panel of experts.
This year, the first place winner at Triangle Startup Weekend was YardSprout, a company matching homeowners with gardeners to help cultivate their lawn to grow food. Second place winner was DoTheData, a software that helps teachers manage student records.
Click here for the Triangle Startup Weekend website.
Click here for information on Patel and Triangle Business Law.
Click here for The Herald-Sun article preview of Triangle Startup Weekend and click here for that paper’s report on the event proceedings.