Techstars Startup Weekend Women Dublin is an annual conference that encourages women to pitch ideas and participate in a series of workshops to start up their own businesses.

Originally founded in 2022, Techstars Startup Weekend Women Dublin is an event based around pitching ideas, forming teams, participating in workshops, and launching startup companies. It is about turning ideas into reality. Although the event is aimed at women, the atmosphere over the weekend is welcoming and inclusive, from those just starting out to seasoned entrepreneurs.  

The winning team of this year’s event was a business venture called Flavour Fusion, which is an opportunity for people to connect and offer a restaurant service from their place of residence. In second place, Pregnancy Support, which is a support structure for women in relation to fertility, prenatal and postnatal care. In third place was the team, Legacy, which is a project encouraging biodiversity within the farm industry. The team Sunire also got an honourable mention, this a product that is light-weight and used for UV protection. 

This year’s conference ran between 21^st of March to the 23^rd of March 2025. It had a series of 12 mentors aiding throughout the process. The conference had a total of 63 attendees. The weekend began with the participants having the opportunity to stand up and pitch their initial ideas. Twenty people took that opportunity and pitched their own business concepts. This gave the rest of the participants the chance to associate themselves with the idea they favoured the most, forming nine groups. 

The event was originally founded by a woman called Leyla Karaha, with the intention of giving women an environment to participate in tech startup conventions. Karaha stepped down from her leader position in 2025, passing the position of team leader on to Caitlin Hafer. 

“We want to support you all taking your ideas forward after this weekend,” said Caitlin Hafer, one of the organisers of the event. 

“I want the judges to have a hard time deciding who to pick.” 

The ideas presented varied from apps based on prenatal and postnatal care for women, psychotherapy and mental health counselling apps, a project based on encouraging biodiversity within the farm industry, an app supporting asylum seekers while they adjust to life in Ireland and many more.  

After the teams are finalised that is when the real work begins. The teams are working hard refining their business models, customer validation strategies and product concepts. The rubric set out by the judges included problem research, validation, innovation, business applications and presentation quality. Following the weekend the teams created pitches which they presented to a panel of five judges. 

“Being the voice of the devil’s advocate can be best for the product overall,” said Caitlin Hafer in relation to the judging process. 

The conference provided a supportive and inclusive environment for people to present and discuss their ideas and dreams. People had many opportunities to network with people with similar backgrounds, alternative backgrounds (business, tech, marketing, and design), goals and connect on LinkedIn to embark on future business opportunities.  

“That’s a very potent experience, when you provide an environment for people to open up about their dreams and passions and to feel supported in that,” said Margaret, one of the participants of the event. 

“The most important thing about this weekend is we need more women leaders,” said Miren Maialen Samper, an organiser who has been working for the event for the past four years.

Following the pitching process in front of the judges, the teams had the opportunity to win a variety of prizes. Some of these prizes included a mentoring opportunity with Furthr, Figma training with Jenna Farrell from Scopey, tickets for Dublin Tech Summit, tickets for TechFoundHer summit, SaaStock tickets and webinar access to AwakenHub.

Events like this aim to incentivise more women into entrepreneurial positions, it encourages a more diverse work force, which is important especially in STEM fields. By creating a more inclusive space with new mindsets and alternative ideas, the hope is it will have a positive impact and drive real-world social change.