Poly's BEST Hosts New York's First Startup Weekend

(Brooklyn, NY – September 26, 2007) Polytechnic University is New York City’s BEST center for entrepreneurial startups.  The University today announced its successful collaboration with Startup Weekend, an initiative that seeks to harness the entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen inherent in communities around the world to build successful, innovative tech-oriented enterprises.  More than 30 Polytechnic University students, plus local Brooklyn entrepreneurs and others from as faraway as Buffalo, NY became part of New York City tech history as they gathered at Polytechnic’s Brooklyn Enterprise on Science & Technology (BEST) Center and developed a company over the course of one weekend.

For 54 hours, during September 21 -23, talented tech-savvy entrepreneurs – emerging and established – met at the MetroTech Center campus where they built an Internet-based restaurant referral company called “Favoreats.”  Participants selected roles including web developer, marketing and public relations manager, designers and user-experience experts to move the idea from concept to a functioning enterprise.

“Polytechnic University and the B.E.S.T. Center embrace our entrepreneurial mission to turn science and technology into products, services, and jobs for Brooklyn and New York City, the state, the nation and the world,” says Jerry Hultin, President of the University. “New York City’s Startup Weekend has been a terrific opportunity for our students and entrepreneurs to join Poly in fulfilling this vital goal.”

"I was impressed with the talent and passion in New York City’s startup scene as well as the energy and inspiration that Polytechnic University produces," said Andrew Hyde, CEO and Founder of Startup Weekend, launched earlier this year. Hyde says he developed the initiative “to enable tech entrepreneurs to meet like-minded individuals and complete a project together.”

“The entrepreneurs who participated in this event took away not only the satisfaction of having created a company in several days but also the knowledge of what it takes to start a company, and the relationships needed to develop and implement ideas,” said Bruce Niswander, director of Poly’s BEST Center, the University’s entrepreneurial hub for startup and spin-off technology-based companies. “It’s about process. And that's why Startup Weekend was at home here at Poly. We encourage our students to find new ways and new ideas to develop the products -- and provide the services -- that people need to survive in this changing technological world.”