Startup Weekend Spokane, a 54-hour event in which entrepreneurs pitch business ideas, will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 13, and run through Sunday, Nov. 15, at Gonzaga University’s Jepson Center, at 502 E. Boone.

The event enables people with business ideas to meet others, form teams, and create businesses within that three-day time period and launch products, says Marsh Sutherland, co-founder of Startup Weekend Spokane. Sutherland also is ambassador for UP Global, a Seattle-based company that organizes Startup Weekend events for a number of communities in the U.S. 

On Friday, attendees will check in, network, pitch their ideas, vote for the top pitches, form teams, and begin to work, Startup Weekend Spokane’s website says. Work will continue throughout Saturday, with team coach meetings starting in the afternoon. Sunday will top off the weekend with more coach meetings, product presentations, and judging and awards, it says.

Most of the envisioned startups are technology- or software application-based, but consumers-product companies will have opportunities as well, says Sutherland.

Companies created in past Startup Weekends include iCPooch, Beardbrand, and Spiceologist. 

Sutherland says the modern way to launch startups, at least in the technology, revolves around the lean methodology, which involves creating a minimally viable product and seeing if it survives.

“You get feedback and modify that product based on people’s feedback,” Sutherland says. “That way, you don’t burn six months of business planning and thousands of dollars of product development before the customer actually sees it.”