BW got kickstarted as 'Bootstrap Sundays' after seeing a lack of ecosystem in Lucknow.
In the first meetup in January 2014, 12 people turned up from eight startups, and the journey started with evolution of 'Bootstrap Sundays' to 'Bootstrap Weekend'
September 2014
Bootstrap Weekend touched the social angle with Villgro.
December 2014
By December 2014, the 'Bootstrap Weekend' group took the formal shape with an 'Informal' avatar and a core team has been formed with a long term vision.
March 2014
The coverage of Bootstrap Weekend (Feb 14) inYourStory.com increased the visibility of 'Bootstrap Weekend' and many entreprenuers joined the group.
18March 2015
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur.
March 2015
By March 2015, the Bootstrap Weekend has become a must visit for any entrepreneur coming to Lucknow. Read the coverage here.
May 2015
May 2015, turned on the Heat by Bootstrap #BeatTheHeat Weekend.
July 2015
In July 2015, Bootstrap Weekend connected with IIT-Kanpur for their annual flagship event. 5th July 2015, we had a preliminary meetup to plan the next moves.
July 2015
Bootstrap Weekend's IITK-Prefest held on Sunday, 19 July 2015 saw the maximum turnout in a Startup Event of Lucknow.
But first things first, we at Bootstrap Weekend would like to extend our sincere thanks to Mr. Jatin Srivastava - Chairperson, Center for Entrepreneurship Development, Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow for providing the best facility on such a short notice. We are grateful to Jatin Sir, Dr. Reena Agarwal and Jaipuria Inst. of Mgmt. to felicitate the StartUp Ecosystem of Lucknow.
We are also grateful to Mr. Alok Soni (Chief Editor, YourStory.com) who took the pain to fly (Oh Yes, he can fly, he is a Superhero!) from Bangalore to Lucknow for this particular event, and not to forget the hard work put by Team from IIT-Kanpur Entrepreneurship Cell. Cheers to all of you!
It was an exciting Sunday morning in Jaipuria, entrepreneurs were meeting other entrepreneurs, laughing, joking, discussing with each other.
The event started with the beautifully worded introduction by Dr. Reena agarwal from Jaipuria - CED about why Jaipuria Inst. of Mgmt. is facilitating StartUps and Entrepreneurs in and around Lucknow and other cities.
Mr. Vinit Kapoor, everyone's favorite, then piloted the event by giving a fantastic introduction to Bootstrap Weekend's origin and its current endeavours. He called upon Mr. Alok Mishra (friend, philosopher and guide of Bootstrap Weekend) to welcome Mr. Alok Soni (Alok to Alok) by presenting him a nice bouquet of flowers.
After an energetic description given by Snehil from IITK-Ecell about IIT Kanpur's Event to be held on 28-30 August, Mr. Alok Soni took all of us on a superb journey which had all the flavors ranging from history to chemistry to technology to agriculture to Bangladesh to old values and what not.
Here are few highlights:-
* Delhi got the maximum funding deals in first half of 2015 which is a good news as people have started looking north and every thing is not happening only in financial capital of India.
* Govts of our neighbouring countries like Bangladesh are focusing on infrastructure development for business and these could be the new avenues for Indian Startups.
* Discussion over 'Be in love with Govt. but Don't marry them' - Jack Ma.
* Freedom, Quick Money, Cool Factor, Fame should *NOT* be the reason for starting a venture.
* Lucknow's ecosystem is evolving and it is the right time to start a venture in Oudh region.
The environment went electric when Mr. Alok Soni shared a post from 'Quora' stating some misconceptions/incomplete arguments about Lucknow's Ecosystem.
The juice came out from the discussion was that much is happening in and around Lucknow but everyone is doing it in their silos, the stories are not coming out and we should take the collective responsibility for it.
It was also decided that Bootstrap Weekend may serve as a channel to share startup stories from Lucknow to YourStory.com
All the members felt very positive and motivated after the event and many were excited to know that they are not alone in their StartUp journey. The event ended with presentation of a beautiful memento to Mr. Alok Soni and discussions were continued in cafeteria.
Here are few photographs from the event for you
October 2015
Bootstrap #GoDigital Weekend held on 11 October, 2015.
With an excellent turnout and insightful discussion on how to take your business online, this event proved to be a milestone in Bootstrap Weekend's journey.
Our guest, Gaurav Gurbaxani shared some impressive insights on how to establish your business on digital platform. Few highlights of the discussion were:-
# Create a website if you dont have it already.
# Identificaton of right 'keywords' is extremely important to get the right traffic.
# Never put incomplete information on the web.
# One cannot ignore a Social Media presence.
# Using analytics tool like Google Analytics to study the behaviour of your site's visitors is a 'must do'.
# Use the combination of Website, Social Media, Local Listing sites to have a prominent presence all around web.
# Use paid advertising to test your keywords before going into a full fledged SEO.
# Use of Facebook Ads is extemely powerful where you can target the right customer with plethora of identifiable features.
# Never spam your customers.
# Use of 'Lead Magnet' (freebies or discounts) is a great way to hook your customers to your site/business.
# Tweak your strategy as per the nature of your business, as there is no one 'fit for all' solution.
March 2018
Bootstrap #StartUp Weekend held on 18th March, 2018.
Ravi Ranjan, an Entrepreneurship Evangelist and Startup Expert
Ravi has spent last 8 Years working across India and Outside to help promote Entrepreneurship.
In his previous Roles he had an active part of Indian Angel Network, NASSCOM 10000 Startups and other Angel Networks and Incubators.
He is an IVLP Alumni from 2016. Ravi concluded his corporate Career in December 2017 to start his Brand Called: “Starting Up With Ravi Ranjan”.
