This post was written by Robert Haines, the co-organizer of Startup Weekend Phoenix and partnerships curator at AZTC member Axosoft.

Startups and entrepreneurs here in Arizona have more options today than ever before. It’s often easy to lose track of all the different entrepreneurial programs and initiatives around town. Many of us are aware of the larger, more visible players like ASU’s programs, co-working spaces like CO+HOOTS, startup incubators/accelerators like SEED SPOT and big prize-money challenges like the ACA’s Innovation Challenge.

There are many others that are lesser known, but just as valuable to our startup community. The old maxim of “it takes a village” definitely rings true here in Arizona because each has a special place in our local startup ecosystem. 

One event that I am particularly excited about is Startup Weekend Phoenix (Nov. 20-22) hosted by Coplex at their space in Tempe, AZ.

Why am I so excited? Because Startup Weekend is a launch platform. Entrepreneurial-minded creatives, visionaries, technologists and business people come together for a 54-hour event that (quite literally) has the potential to be the most important weekend of these participant’s lives.

Participants begin by pitching those burning ideas that have been pulling at them, right there on the back of their minds; bold ideas that need to see the light of day — and then they get to work on creating these ideas for real.

After pitches, they form teams and work with a diverse group of advisors/mentors ranging from legal support to back-end development. Upon completion of our marathon 54-hour program, our teams will undergo a judging round and winners will be chosen and awarded some great prizes, ranging from free office space to free business tools/services.

Sign up today for Startup Weekend Phoenix. It’s time to take those burning ideas and GET TO WORK on making them happen!

You could even be the next Divshot, a startup created at Kansas City Startup Weekend, which was later acquired by Google.