For anyone even slightly interested in startups and what goes on behind the scenes, Startup Weekend is a perfect opportunity to start. Put simply on the group's website, "Startup Weekend is a global network of passionate leaders and entrepreneurs on a mission to inspire, educate, and empower individuals, teams, and communities." Most events span the course of a weekend (54 hours), will cost you around $75-$125 (roughly the same amount you've been saving for that vintage Crossfire set on Amazon), and can range from usually 60-120 participants. Additionly, a host of speakers, panelists and coaches (often from the local startup community) will show up to support and guide those who attend. I attended my first Startup Weekend earlier this year out at Notre Dame, and quickly realized how the majority of those eventful 54 hours can boil down to how you handle ten very exciting yet critical minutes.
After the intial meet and greet, most startup weekends give attendees the opportunity to make a pitch, a strict 30 second timeframe to explain their idea. Make sure to applaud and support these people for putting themselves out there and, but if you want to help yourself get the most from the rest of the weekend, take the opportunity to critically assess each and every pitch from the viewpoint of a potential investor. Instead of being distracted by the loudest person with a slick mission statement for the "next big app" you should be asking yourself the kinds of important questions investors are always asking startups:
| "what is the problem your solving?" "who is this for? what's the market?" | "where is the unique or different element?" "how is this idea going to make money?" |
These few minutes of thoughtful evaluation will pay major dividends, for once you make your votes and select your teams, you have a whirlwind of creating, testing, learning, prototyping, and pivoting ahead of you. Don't put off these boring yet important questions and think the answers will appear Saturday afternoon, they rarely do. Find an idea that has these basic concepts covered and build from there with your fellow team members. Don't get me wrong, the true value of Startup Weekend is the learning and building process that takes place with others over the next few days, but it can't hurt to pick a winning horse to get yourself a little head start.
If you even feel yourself even somewhat considering attending a Startup Weekend, I'd say skip the usual weekend routine of watching Chopped re-runs or getting mastering the every country in Europe Sporcle test and try it out. You can't really use the excuse about having trouble finding one because these things are literally everywhere. The weekend gives those whose attend a great opportunity to see what happens when programmers, designers, and businesspeople come together for a weekend and build out some really great ideas.
Share your thoughts or experiences with Startup Weekend in the comments section below
If you even feel yourself even somewhat considering attending a Startup Weekend, I'd say skip the usual weekend routine of watching Chopped re-runs or getting mastering the every country in Europe Sporcle test and try it out. You can't really use the excuse about having trouble finding one because these things are literally everywhere. The weekend gives those whose attend a great opportunity to see what happens when programmers, designers, and businesspeople come together for a weekend and build out some really great ideas.
Share your thoughts or experiences with Startup Weekend in the comments section below
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