BuildWeek //02 Jacksonville: Kickoff

Night one of BuildWeek. Show up solo or with your squad, find teammates, pick a track, and start planning. Free.

Official registration: sign up as a builder at buildweek.net or RSVP on Meetup. RSVP here on Runiuni too so you get reminders, the chat, and the schedule in your calendar.

All BuildWeek sessions live on the group page: The Code Alliance Incubator.

BuildWeek //02 Jacksonville · Oct 19–26, 2026 · Free. Dream it. Build it. Prove it.

A startup competition, not a hackathon. Hardware, software, AI, hybrid: all allowed. If it doesn't run, it doesn't count.

The week

Kickoff: Mon Oct 19, 5:30–7:30 PM at Code Alliance HQ. Meet the community, find a team or bring one, pick a track. Experts on standby.
Planning Nights: Mon–Thu evenings from 5 PM, 10 hours max. One milestone a night: lock in your concept, name and logo, the problem and the customer, your build plan. Shared digital sandbox, so progress is visible.
Ship Weekend: Fri Oct 23, 5 PM → Sun Oct 25, 11:59 PM. Saturday is a full build day. Submit proof: a working build, a public link, a short Loom. No decks. Technical experts on call all weekend.
Proof Night: Mon Oct 26, 6–8 PM. Public. Every team demos live, judges name the winners.

Three ways to compete

Bring your idea. An invention, a product, something you've been wanting to build and can demo.
Community Mission Track. Build for Kady Yellow, Jacksonville's VP of Placemaking. She has turned underused public spaces into places people love across roughly fifteen cities, but the process lives in her head. Build the technology layer that lets any city run her playbook: application intake, place profiles, onboarding, activation checklists, stewardship. The winning Mission Track build goes to full commercial buildout by Duval Software, and the winning team stays on as product owners.
Enhancement. Already have something? Meaningfully modify an existing physical or software product and demo it on Proof Night.

Support

Experts on standby at kickoff, technical experts on call all weekend, mentors, AI tooling, and a room full of momentum. Teammate matching at kickoff.

Who should come

Software engineers, designers, and product people tired of side projects that never ship. Students from UNF, FSCJ, and anywhere else. Founders with an idea and no team. Operators who understand a customer and want a technical co-founder. Solo, duo, or squad. Come with a team or find one at kickoff.

Judging

Real product, real business, real momentum. Does it run? Is there a real user? Would a stranger use it again tomorrow?

Where

Code Alliance HQ, 1250 Shetter Ave STE 4, Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250.

This is the second BuildWeek. The first ran in Gainesville in April 2026 with UF's Warrington College of Business: ten teams competed, and two are still operating as startups today.

— Lucas Wyman, Founder, Duval Software