What W1 does
Upcoming Events
Startup events happening around us.
Bronco Build It
WMU Student Center
A weekly workspace for homework, side projects, and launching a business. Meets in the WMU Student Center RSO Lounge.
Bronco Build It
WMU Student Center
A weekly workspace for homework, side projects, and launching a business. Meets in the WMU Student Center RSO Lounge.
Bronco Build It
WMU Student Center
A weekly workspace for homework, side projects, and launching a business. Meets in the WMU Student Center RSO Lounge.
Cultivate269: The $100,000 Pitch Night
WMU Student Center, Kalamazoo
Pitch competition hosted by Kalamazoo Forward Ventures. Local founders compete for a share of $100,000 in front of investors.
Bronco Build It
WMU Student Center
A weekly workspace for homework, side projects, and launching a business. Meets in the WMU Student Center RSO Lounge.
Dev Club: Learn ESP32
Parkview Engineering Campus
Build a Simon Says game on an ESP32. Learn breadboards, C with Arduino IDE, GPIO, OLED displays, and MQTT. Winner gets a free t-shirt.
ClawCon Michigan
Crisler Center, Ann Arbor
Open, social-first gathering from the OpenClaw community. Live demos of personal AI tools, Q&A, and time to meet fellow builders.
Bronco Build It
WMU Student Center
A weekly workspace for homework, side projects, and launching a business. Meets in the WMU Student Center RSO Lounge.
Student Software Showcase
Floyd Hall D-212, Parkview Engineering Campus
Show off your projects and businesses at Dev Club's last event of the semester. Free Canes, lemonade, and cookies.
LINK: Art Night at KIA
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts
Evening at the KIA with hands-on art activities, guided gallery tours, live music, food, and short talks from local voices in the Kalamazoo arts scene.
Kalamazoo Venture Tuesday
Online (Microsoft Teams)
Free virtual pitch event hosted by the WMed Innovation Center. Three investors give live feedback to three presenting companies on what they did right and wrong.
April 5x5 Night
Start Garden Vault, 2 Fulton St W, Grand Rapids
Five Michigan innovators get five minutes each to pitch. One walks away with $5,000. Open pitch competition hosted by Start Garden.
Founders First Friday
Start Garden Vault, 2 Fulton St W, Grand Rapids
Agenda-free morning meetup for founders to connect, share challenges, and be resources for each other. Hosted by Start Garden on the first Friday of each month.
Startup Zoo Pitch Night
229 East Michigan Avenue, Suite 335, Kalamazoo
Five finalists pitch their startups for $10,000 in equity-free capital. Audience favorite wins an additional $1,000. Hosted by Startup Zoo.
August 5x5 Night
Birch & Blossom, 112 E Main St, Hart
Five entrepreneurs get five minutes and five slides each to pitch a panel of judges and a live audience. One walks away with $5,000. Hosted by Start Garden with West Michigan economic development partners.
Bronco Bash
Western Michigan University
WMU's giant start-of-semester festival, 3 to 6 PM. Come find our table in Zone 0, Tables 11-13, to meet the team and see what we're building.
1 Million Cups Kalamazoo
WMed Innovation Center, 4717 Campus Drive, Kalamazoo
Free monthly morning meetup where early-stage founders present their companies to a room of entrepreneurs, mentors, and advisers. Each presenter gets six minutes, then opens the floor for questions.
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Tech Week Grand Rapids Kick-Off
11 Ottawa Ave NW, Grand Rapids
Tech Week Grand Rapids starts here. The week-long showcase of West Michigan's tech community runs September 14-19, and the kick-off features Shark Tank's Daymond John and Robert Herjavec.
PitchMI Semifinal: Defense & Aerospace
Grand Rapids Civic Theatre
Defense and aerospace semifinal of PitchMI, presented by the MSU Research Foundation and the MEDC. The winner takes $250,000 and advances to the statewide championship for another $1 million.
SW Michigan Summit: Pitch Night
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, 314 S Park St, Kalamazoo
Five founders take the stage with five minutes each to pitch the judges. One goes home with $10,000. Opening night of the Southwest Michigan Entrepreneurship Summit, hosted by Startup Zoo.
SW Michigan Entrepreneurship Summit
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, 314 S Park St, Kalamazoo
Over 100 founders and funders gather from 10 AM to 4 PM to dig into how tomorrow's Michigan companies get funded and built. Hosted by Startup Zoo.
PitchMI Semifinal: AI & Software
Kalamazoo Civic Theatre, 329 S Park St, Kalamazoo
AI and software semifinal of PitchMI, presented by the MSU Research Foundation and the MEDC. The winner takes $250,000 and advances to the statewide championship for another $1 million.
PitchMI Semifinal: Advanced Manufacturing, Materials & Outdoors
Northern Center, Marquette
Advanced manufacturing, materials, and outdoors semifinal of PitchMI, presented by the MSU Research Foundation and the MEDC. The winner takes $250,000 and advances to the statewide championship for another $1 million.
PitchMI Semifinal: Healthcare & Life Sciences
The Department at Hudson's, Detroit
Healthcare and life sciences semifinal of PitchMI, presented by the MSU Research Foundation and the MEDC. The winner takes $250,000 and advances to the statewide championship for another $1 million.