Prince George, BC –  In less than an hour, participants in the 2nd Annual 'Start-Up Weekend' will begin pitching their business ideas to a panel of judges, and a capacity crowd, in downtown Prince George.

It's a sell-out at the Copper Pig, with approximately 80 people set to witness what's called a 'Pitch Off'.  Start-Up Weekends are part of a global entrepreneurial movement to encourage participants to practise innovation, entrepreneurship, and collaboration.  Billed as an 'MBA in a weekend', participants begin on Friday night with a 'Pitchfire', where they brainstorm and pitch business ideas.  The ideas are voted on, whittled down, and teams form around the surviving concepts.

One of the organizers, Shauna Harper of LiveWorkPG, said with six last minute sign-ups on Friday morning, a total of 33 people were taking part in the competition, up from last year's inaugural event.  "We have people from all different cross-sections of the population, which, to me, is very exciting because new people mean new ideas."

"We have participants who are entrepreneurs and students.  We actually have a professor this year, and an accountant." Harper says the diverse age range – from 18 to 60 – brings so many unique perpectives and experiences into the room.

The teams spent yesterday working with two coaches – local entrepreneur, Will Cadell, owner of SparkGeo, and Renata King, Director of Business Development at NDI Trust – to prepare for tonight's final pitch.

"What we find is all through Saturday, the teams pivot a lot," says Harper.  "They'll come up with a great idea Friday and, then, they go and test it with the market and realize, 'The market doesn't really want it, but they do want this' and that's when they have to adjust and adapt their plans."

Harper says organizers are very excited about tonight's Pitch Off because last year's final event was packed with energy and 'really celebrated what they'd done over the weekend'.  The judges include:  local entrepreneur Pat Bell, the founder of Goldstream Publishing, Sean Simmons,  Regional District of Fraser-Fort George IT Manager, Steve Botham, and CNC Industry Liaison, Zelda Craig.