Startup Weekend

The founderShack team loves startupweekend–the people, the energy, the comaderie, and the resources. That’s why we keep coming back. The women 2.0 startupweekend was the second startup weekend for the FounderShack team. We met and formed founderShack at our first one in April 09. We are one of the two intact teams from the April StartupWeekend (the other one being @adamsblock).

We’ve learned a lot about how to leverage StartupWeekend to develop business ideas and teams for long term health and viability. Here are a few of the top learnings that we’d like to share with you:

• Think long-term–once you meet potential founders and get to know them a bit the next step should be to discuss the minimal number of steps that would allow you to test the viability of your startup and serve as a motivator to the team in the next few months. Many times this does not include having a working prototype ready for Sunday evening. In fact we feel that teams that rush to develop a prototype for Sunday night tend to loose steam and disband after the weekend. Motivation and interpersonal trust suffer from the go-go-go attitude
• Take advantage of the weekend for customer research–Remember your customers know better, especially those attending startup weekend. Go around their tables, talk to them. You’d be surprised at how open they are to giving you feedback. Leave your feeling of “I’m right” and “I know better” at your table. Talk to people, establish rapport, engage them. You might be surprised at what you learn.
• Learn from investors, serial entrepreneurs, panelists and anyone else with some startup experience–Some may wonder if these people are actually there? The answer is yes. If you can’t find them ask the weekend organizers and they will be happy to point these folks out to you. One of the key benefits, should you avail it, of startup weekend is the community building and access to resources. It would be hard for you to find as receptive and approachable group of people elsewhere.
• Practice concise clear public speaking before, during, and after the event–I tweeted from the @founderShack account the ideas from the lightening pitches as well as the final presentations. Despite my best intentions I am sure there were some ideas I butchered. Make it easy for me and others who help promote your startup and ideas, by making your pitches simple and obvious. Remember the intent of the pitches is not to show people how much you have thought about the idea (you don’t have time for this due to format restrictions) instead it is to pique their interest. If you get interest after the pitch you can explore if those interested are a good fit as partners, investors, etc. This may mean that during the weekend’s prep work you might want to focus on the final presentation more than a working prototype.

And for those of you who have attended StartupWeekend before, tell all your friends about StartupWeekend and the process. Many don’t know about how great this event can be. Others have misconceptions about the weekend format forcing you to work on one idea only. Also plug the event at non-techie or artsy crowds. Ludmil recently plugged it to the head of graduate studies at CCA (the SF local art school). The more folks you talk to about the weekend and the more misconceptions you will clear the richer the community and its resources will become.

That’s it from us. We hope this was helpful and wish you lots of luck with your startup ideas and future startupweekends. Let us know if we can be of help. @FounderShack is eharmony for founders. We give you the environment to find founders and ideas that are compatible with your interests and personality. Curious about what we offer? Sign up for beta at www.founderShack.com. The founderShack team (Themios, Ludmil, and Sana aka @traffichoney)