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Startup Weekend CEO Marc Nager

This week on the GeekWire radio show we speak to Startup Weekend CEO Marc Nager who is building a global empire of 54-hour entrepreneurial bootcamps.

The Seattle non-profit organization, backed by the Kauffman Foundation and others, has hosted Startup Weekends in 113 countries and 325 cities.

It plans to hold more than 800 events this year, including upcoming 54-hour entrepreneurial marathons in Brazzaville, Congo; Hamburg, Germany and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

“More than anything, it’s about going through that process of how do I take the first steps to start a company, and almost more than that, who are the other people that I could do it with,” says Nager in explaining the educational components of Startup Weekend.

Weekly news segment topics:

1.) Google versus Microsoft: “This week it just felt like the gloves came completely off. You half expected to see Larry Page and Steve Ballmer going at it in a steel cage,” notes GeekWire’s Todd Bishop. Related storiesMicrosoft builds Google Chat into Outlook.com webmail in new bid for switchersGoogle objects to Microsoft’s YouTube app for Windows Phone, demands removalInternal Microsoft video lampoons Google Chrome… What Google’s Larry Page really said about Microsoft.

2.) The next-generation of the Xbox will be unveiled in Redmond on Tuesday. “I hesitate to even call it a console,” says Bishop.  Related storiesThe next Xbox: Why this launch is so critical for MicrosoftMicrosoft: Global video-game market hits $65 billion, and consoles still lead the way

natgeo-citiesApp of the Week:  City Guides by National Geographic for iPhone and iPad. (And another great app recommendation from Marc Nager: Hotel Tonight).

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