Glad you asked. RIT48 aims to bring together students from various disciplines to pitch, plan, develop and launch a web startup in
— or, as the name suggests, 48 hours. An intense, energy fueled, entrepreneurial event, RIT48 was designed to showcase the innovative and creative spirit of RIT students while offering the opportunity to learn and meet new people. Always had a cool idea for a web startup but never the time or resources to make it happen? RIT48 is for you. You can form a team, develop your idea, and launch a web startup to the world in a mere 48 hours. We'll bring the coffee.
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Who can compete?
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The RIT48 competition is open to RIT students, alumni and faculty.
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Can I start now?
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You are encouraged to think of an idea and discuss it before RIT48, however you may not work on a prototype or business plan before the competition starts.
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Team sizes?
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You may have between two and five people on your team, however we highly reccommend you go with three- a programmer, a designer, and a business/marketing person. The three may overlap, of course (i.e. you can have a designer who programs)
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Where is the event located?
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The event will take place on the academic side of campus. Teams will each get a SE breakout room in GCCIS (small conference room with a projector, white board, computer and table) as their home base for the day. Presentations will be held nearby; we're still working on the exact location for that.
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What can I make?
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We're looking for teams who can create some sort of web-based application. We're hoping to come up with a bunch of small projects that people can use at the end of Saturday.
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I need ideas!
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You can try leveraging pre-made APIs. My favorites include Twilio (for voice+texting) or Googles APIs (for, well, everything). You can make a Facebook or iPhone app, too. Another great place to start is RIT-related apps. Maybe an application to match up RIT co-op students in other cities, or an RIT ride board? (You can use RIT Connect for these)
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Who owns my idea/project?
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You do, 100%!
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Will food be provided?
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(Updated!) Yes- the Simone Center is providing food (breakfast foods, pizza and sandwiches) for all meals. We'll also provide soda and coffee.
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How much does it cost?
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Registration and food is all free. All you'll have to pay for is things like services your startup uses and domain names.
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My team isn't complete yet..
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That's fine- sign up with who you have so far, and indicate somewhere that you have someone else coming (or, let us know if you need someone, and we'll try to make an introduction). If you find someone new, just email us their infomation to RIT48.com.
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Can I donate?
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If you or your organization is interested in sponsoring the event, contact us.
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What are the prizes?
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(New!) All participants get a nifty RIT48 shirt (thanks to the IST department), and a box.net business account (donated by box.net), just for showing up. The winning teams will get prizes; we're still working on those details, though.
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What's the schedule?
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Friday (9AM-All Night): Introductions, Planning, Developing
| 9:00 AM | Registration/Breakfast (GCCIS Atrium) |
| 10:00 AM | Welcoming Talk - Ian Mikutel & Greg Koberger, Co-Founders, RIT48 (GCCIS Auditorium) |
| 10:15 AM | Team & Mentor Introductions / Elevator Pitch (1 minute per team; GCCIS Auditorium) |
| 10:30 AM | 1st Team Boardroom Meeting: Create brief description of product team is creating, determine what team will focus on until next boardroom meeting, brainstorm questions for mentors. (GCCIS SE Breakout rooms) |
| 11:00 AM | Breakout sessions
Question and answer session with the judges (GCCIS Auditorium) |
| 12:00 PM | Lunch (GCCIS room 1445) |
| 12:30 PM | Work time (GCCIS SE Breakout rooms) |
| 5:00 PM | Dinner, 2nd Team Boardroom Meeting: Cover team progress, current problems, brainstorm questions for mentors, what to focus on for rest of the day/night. (GCCIS SE Breakout rooms) |
| 5:30 PM | Work time (GCCIS SE Breakout rooms) |
Saturday (10am-7pm): Testing, Tweaking, Refining, Presenting
| 9:30 AM | Breakfast (GCCIS room 1435) |
| 10:00 AM | Day 2 Welcoming Remarks by RIT President Destler, Richard DeMartino, Ian Mikutel & Greg Koberger |
| 10:30 AM | 3rd Team Boardroom Meeting: Review progress, what team will focus on until next boardroom meeting, brainstorm questions for mentors. |
| 11:00 PM | Work time (GCCIS SE Breakout rooms) |
| 12:00 PM | Lunch (GCCIS room 1435) |
| 12:30 PM | Work time (GCCIS SE Breakout rooms) |
| 5:00 PM | Dinner, 4th Team Boardroom Meeting: Cover team progress, current problems, finalize plans for final presentation to panel. (GCCIS room 1435) |
| 6:00 PM | Final Presentations to panel with judge feedback (GCCIS Auditorium) |
| 8:00 PM | (Approximate time) Winners announced, RIT48 Closing Remarks (GCCIS Auditorium) |
Not familiar with RIT? GCCIS is the name for Building 70. The SE Breakout rooms are to the right of the SEE room (first room when you go in the main GCCIS entrance); they are located down a long hallway. The Atrium is big (you can't miss it!), and the Auditorium is off it (Room 1400).
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Did we miss something?
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Send us an email, and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.
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