Test your startup idea in free workshop

A series of free workshops are being held around Auckland inviting wannabe entrepreneurs to test their startup idea and see if it will fly.

Steve Corbett, CEO of the Massey University ecentre, says the workshops are intended to help people evaluate their ideas, and decide whether or not there is a market for them.

"The concept of solving a real market problem is simple, but is often overlooked," Corbett says. 

"Entrepreneurs will often mistakenly spend months or even years developing a product without having proven whether they are solving an actual problem for which there are paying customers."

For ideas with potential, the ecentre offers various programmes to help get start-ups off the ground, such as the 12-week Sprint programme.

"Incubators such as the ecentre are a great first point of contact," Corbett says.

"Incubators help entrepreneurs to develop their capabilities, fast track their businesss and overall de-risk the process, especially if you are not quite sure whether your idea is worth pursuing."

The ecentre will host four workshops around Auckland during February; go here for locations and dates.