How A Startup Weekend, AI Edition completely validated the paradigm shift of how companies go from 0>1.

Last week, as part of West Slope Startup Week, we co-hosted Startup Weekend: AI Edition—a day and a half sprint where teams turned ideas into functioning prototypes powered by artificial intelligence.

We all say AI is changing the game for founders. But this weekend made it undeniable: the startup playbook has been completely rewritten.

Tom Miaskiewicz, a professor in AI at Fort Lewis College leading the conversation and showcasing AI tools and methodologies.

The fun part is that one of our Partners, Marc, was one of the co-founders of Startup Weekend and has seen these events literally around the world. With help from our friends at the AI Institute here in Durango, we revamped the entire format for the AI era. The results were impressive to say the least.

Key Changes to the Startup Weekend format, made possible by AI:

Shorter Schedule: Literally a day less. It was only a 1+ 1/4 day. This format was only enabled because teams could utilize AI tools to accomplish exponentially more on the business plan and product.
Education/Workshop: While the old format and era only permitted time to focus on teaching methodologies like customer development and the lean startup, this format focused on teaching companies how to leverage AI tools to do a TON of research and then turn that into real products, FAST. Customers and that feedback loop still matter, and now there is more time to do valuable cycles with a lot more thought behind it.

The Companies: Ultimately Calm Connect was selected as the winner by the judges and DurAIngo won the crowd vote. Will the companies continue? Likely all will, but that’s not the point.
- Seven Generations: An AI engine to help train LLMs on Indigenous languages.
- AP2 Gateway: A security layer to enable payments in AI platforms.
- DurAIngo: An AI bot that integrates all local events in a community and serves them up in a chatbot type interface.
- CalmConnect: Automating workflows, increasing retention, and adding value to dental offices.

KEY Insights:

The human part (still) matters more than ever: Unlike some simple hackathon formats, the Startup Weekend format starts with people pitching their ideas, getting feedback, a round of ruthless crowdsourcing, and ultimately team building. Especially in an AI & tech dominated world, the soft/human skills behind all of these aspects is more critical than ever. If anything, this is the skillset that folks felt the most rusty on, which seems obvious in a post-COVID world.
Most ideas we’re not deeply technical: As Startup Weekend grew up in the web & app era from 2007-mid 2010’s, many of the winning teams & ideas were deeply technical. It was fascinating to watch the much more obvious and simple ideas rise straight to the top. Real world problems that could be completely reframed with the lens of what AI can do to help solve them today. This was perhaps one of the most profound and inspiring aspects of this event, as it points to where the real lift from AI really can be to help communities and society make real progress. My favorite part was watching folks with no tech background literally spin up AI Agents that were handling real workflows in a matter of hours. It was truly transformational from a skills development aspect, and it proves we can virtually eliminate the barrier to entry bar for what it takes to spin up a tech company, at least initially.
AI is Intimidating & Education Matters: Even if you are living it every day as an engineer, AI is intimidating for 98% of the population. I watched some of the most technical people at the event light up as they got to play with new tools that literally might not have been available weeks before. Almost 100% of attendees reported that they use tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, etc. on a daily basis, and it was a beautiful thing to break down the barriers and let people learn by doing in a safe and supportive environment. Thanks to our amazing friends and co-organizers Tomasz Miaskiewicz and Nick Goodman, we began with 2hrs worth of workshops on the second day, starting with a case study of what’s really possible today with a mock idea and then deeper dives into vibe coding, design, and research tools/approaches. Beyond blowing most people’s minds, it created a common vocabulary, toolset and enabled people to hit the ground running.
Experiential Learning is still Queen/King: There is no amount of books or classes that can teach you or keep you up to speed with the rapid advancements in the AI world. Just like I remember teaching myself how to “code” on my TI-86 calculator and early home computers in the early 90’s, there is no better way to learn than by CREATING. I’ll add that it is even more powerful to learn by applying to real problems and startup ideas with a team and community behind you.
AI isn’t a panacea, but it can show you the future: All of us involved are more AI realists vs. blind optimists, and while most of the lessons and insights shared here are optimistic and inspiring, it is also clear that AI is still quite clunky, at best, for most use cases around going from 0>1. There are a lot of hurdles and limitations, but once you really dive in and experience what’s possible today (that literally wasn’t even months ago), you can see the future with a new level of clarity - recently released Caffeine, is a good example. AGI completely aside, it’s clear that our world is in the midst of great transition, and it’s also clear that is has the potential to truly democratize and unlock every human’s ability to create and build. We have a long way to go, especially to do that responsibly and equitably.
A Future with Two Paths: Just like many of us recall the adoption of the internet and hold-outs of the .com era, we will all quickly be living in a world with two types of people: those who choose to learn, create and embrace the change coming, and those that don’t. History holds a pretty strong lesson here, and I for one only see one prudent approach - especially if we want AI to bring more good than harm to our society.

Next up: First, we’re already planning our next Startup Weekend AI in Durango in the Spring of 2026 (join our mailing list if you want to stay in the loop). Second, I’m excited to chat with our friends at Techstars about revamping and relaunching Startup Weekend globally. It’s clear to me that the role an event like this is a critical pillar for developing and facilitating startup ecosystems globally to make the AI transition and help lead it in a positive direction. I’m also happy that a little event in Durango, Colorado might help inform the next iteration of a platform that influenced the trajectory of entrepreneurial ecosystems around the world over the past several decades.

Last Thought: One thing most of us probably agree on: if we let the big companies just run with AI, it is more likely lead to a lot of perverse outcomes… I fundamentally believe though, that like past technological revolutions, if we can democratize access to AI and help people in communities around the world both adopt and define the future by being part of the innovation engine, that will be the best outcome we can hope for. It is more importantly, the most likely approach that increases the odds for helping society move forward in positive ways that benefit everyone.

A special thank you to Techstars, Startup Colorado, West Slope Startup Week, and the AI Institute at Fort Lewis for making this a great event. If you’re looking for an excuse to jump into the conversation, check out the Four Corners AI Summit, coming to Durango on December 16th.

The playbook may be rewritten—but the story is still about people and communities. Let’s keep building the future, together!

AI is Rewriting the Playbook for Company Creation

How A Startup Weekend, AI Edition completely validated the paradigm shift of how companies go from 0>1.

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