In 54 hours, Aviv Hadar and his team created an online menu-building application for restaurants and a corresponding business during Bend’s first Startup Weekend in mid-November.

Since then, the startup — Perfect Menu — has incorporated and added board members and shareholders. It also has customers in 17 countries.

“The experience was phenomenal. I think everyone should go through it,” Hadar said, referring to Startup Weekend.

Starting Friday, Central Oregon entrepreneurs will have another opportunity.

The next Bend Startup Weekend, scheduled to be held Friday-Sunday at the offices of online-marketing company G5, will be the city’s second, and one of many more to come, organizers hope.

The Tech Alliance of Central Oregon has decided to hold the event in Bend twice a year, said Jim Boeddeker,chairman of the board at Tech Alliance.

“We’re trying to make it part of the Bend startup ecosystem,” Boeddeker said. “It’s a great way for companies to get traction on their ideas.”

Bend’s Startup Weekend is one of more than 1,000 across the globe. The program is an affiliate of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City, Mo., nonprofit dedicated to entrepreneurship.

Each weekend follows a similar template, but has a different “personality” because of the variety of participants and business ideas, Boeddeker said.

Attendees range from students and young entrepreneurs, to people who have been thinking about an idea for years. Their business concepts also vary, from technology, to retail and recreation companies.

On the first day, up to 100 participants share their business ideas. The ideas are voted on, and about 20 are selected. Teams of entrepreneurs spend the weekend developing business concepts, and present them to a panel of judges on Sunday.

Boeddeker said he believes Startup Weekend will join with business incubator FoundersPad and the Bend Venture Conference to attract startups, helping them progress from concepts to successful businesses.

Hadar of Perfect Menu said his customer base has more than doubled since November, prompting his now four-person team to develop a new version to keep up with demand. He expects the new version to launch in June.

While Hadar attributes the birth of his company to Bend Startup Weekend, he gave one piece of advice: “As an entrepreneur, you’re going to hear like 15 people, mentors and advisers, telling you what you should do. At the end of the day, it’s really up to the individual entrepreneur and their vision … You have to follow your gut and follow your instincts.”

On the Web

To learn more visit http://bend.startupweekend.org/