Startup Weekend: How to Take a Company From Concept to Creation in 54 Hours (6 page)

What makes the Startup Weekend network so powerful? Danielle explains, “You don't stay in the network unless you actually
get stuff done
. It's pretty awesome to have that kind of access to smart people who [are actually accomplishing something].” In fact, she says, “I imagine [that] if my company got really big someday, [Startup Weekend] would be the most efficient way for me to hire people.” The Startup Weekend brand has become synonymous with people who are willing to do the work. When people approach others they have met at our events, they trust that the work will get done.

That spirit of trust and community also pervades many of the innovations that come out of the weekends. For example, at a Startup Weekend in Brazil, someone suggested a mobile application that listed the Saõ Paulo bus schedules. We, too, were a little surprised to find that there were no schedules posted at the bus stops. People stand 20 yards behind the bus to see what number it is; then they sprint to the stop to make it onboard when it arrives. This is obviously a weakness in local government and infrastructure, but one that became solvable when a group of willing and able participants got together. In addition to posting schedules in a way that is accessible by mobile phone, the participants also worked to develop a network of people who would make sure that the buses have numbers on them, and that the schedules were correct.

These Startup Weekend participants are building on the trusting relationships they have developed and trying to bring that level of trust—a real working relationship—into their larger communities. After the recent devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, folks at a Startup Weekend in Cambridge, England, set up a humanitarian website for the victims to find cherished lost belongings. While local relief efforts saved lives and addressed immediate needs, the team at Cambridge developed a tool for a later stage when victims want to find lost belongings that have sentimental value.
BelongingsFinder.org
(in Japanese:
Monosagashi.org
) will help to restore identity by enabling people to photograph, upload, and search details of lost belongings. This free-of-charge application can be used by relief organizations, individuals, governments, and local communities.

One of the founders, a University of Cambridge student named Stefano Orowitsch, wrote to us that there was “no way I could have ignored Friday's news during this year's Startup Weekend. I immediately decided to team up with some of the world's best software engineers and mentors at Cambridge Startup Weekend.” Indeed, by the end of the weekend, Orowitsch's team had developed
BelongingsFinder.org
. He wanted to “create hope for victims who lost their belongings.” Users of the site are able to upload pictures of any object they find to a database via a mobile app, while others are able to search for missing objects on the website. Additionally, the whole service is being provided free of charge.

We read recently about something called the Legatum Prosperity Index—a global study that looks at the business climates in a variety of countries. We were not surprised to find that a country's ability to foster a climate of entrepreneurship has a significant effect on that country's overall well-being. An atmosphere of trust is at the heart of both.

It can be scary trying to be an entrepreneur. But we need to help people come together and move beyond that feeling. All you need are the right people and the right resources to begin creating solutions. Our philosophy is all about building trust in a community so that we can create the newest, greatest, and most innovative businesses imaginable.

Startup Weekend Co-directors in Seattle (L–R): Nouyrigat, Nelsen, and Nager.

Chapter 1

No Talk, All Action

Action-Based Networking

Let's say you're new to a city and you want to start dating. Where do you go to begin? Do you walk into a bar, sit down, and just hope that Mr. or Ms. Right will plop themselves down next to you and strike up a conversation? Probably not. After all, you could be there for years. And, let's face it—you might be drunk by the time your true love showed up anyway. Any number of people may come in while you're waiting, but you won't know anything about them and they won't know anything about you. So, aside from the assumptions you can make about the way they dress or what they're drinking, you'd be starting from scratch. Even after a brief conversation, you still probably won't know a lot more. These kinds of interactions are, almost by definition, superficial.

For years, advice columnists have told us that if we want to meet people, we should go
do something
. If we join a running club, we'll meet people with whom we at least have running in common. If we volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, we'll find people who are interested in public service and maybe like working with their hands. If we join a book club . . . well, you get the idea.

The advice that's traditionally been given to lonely hearts is even truer for budding entrepreneurs. You cannot simply wait for the right people to walk into your life or even walk into your office. You have to go out and
do
something to find them. And you have to do something
with
them in order to find out if you've got the right match.

So what are the options? A lot of people try business school. In fact, record numbers of individuals are applying to MBA programs these days. And no wonder; business school allows you to work with other students on projects and see where their talents lie, what interests them, how they work under pressure, and so on. You can stay up late into the night preparing for classes. People's true colors come out. And when you graduate, you have a built-in alumni network to draw on for your later career.

But business school is a big investment. Moreover, getting an MBA takes a lot of time—and time is one thing that entrepreneurs don't have. If you have an idea for a company now—or if what really gets you going in the morning is putting a startup idea in motion—then having to wait around to complete the business school cycle is not for you. Given the need to take the GMAT and undergo the application process, it will most likely be more than a year before you can even get in.

Finally, when it comes to meeting the right people with the right skills for what you want to do right now, business school might not cut it. You may have had good, smart people in your graduating class 10 years ago, but have they kept up? Are they the best developers or the best marketers today? Really, who knows what—and who—they know?

We have also been told that networking in an MBA program is not all it's cracked up to be. Candidates are expected to attend networking events as part of the MBA program. However, most of these events, though technically “professional,” are centered on golf tournaments, picnics, or barbecues. At almost all of them, the emphasis is on talking rather than learning or doing. The more casual events stress the importance of listening to more experienced people talk about their life stories and best practices (many of which are not even relevant today). It can be a very didactic, top-down approach to information sharing.

One Startup Weekend participant told us that while she certainly made some good connections at these B-school events, “most were lost opportunities in the sense that it was extremely difficult to actually witness the capabilities and skills of the people I was supposed to be meeting. I found a few good mentors, but was continually frustrated by how hard it was to get to know fellow MBA candidates.” She said that the networking events were either designed to resemble cocktail hours—situations where “you only skim the surface with new people or stick to people you already know.”

None of this is meant to knock business school. It is still a place where you may gain important skills for your career. However, it's simply to say that getting an advanced degree may not be the most efficient route for meeting startup cofounders.

So what about networking on your own—attending functions at a company where you already work, or seeking out other people in your area who might be interested in entrepreneurship?

This can certainly be a helpful career move; there's no telling whom you will find by putting out some feelers at local business or social events. But that's exactly the problem: There's no telling whom you will find. Think about what you would say to someone you just met about your own business credentials. Would you recite your resume? Find the perfect anecdote to illustrate your skills? Can you drop the name of the right mutual acquaintance? Maybe—maybe not. Maybe you will bond over the fact that your brother went to the same college as this person's sister. But sooner or later, it becomes a lot like trying to find dates on a barstool. What can you find out about the other person and what can he or she find out about you?

Now, think about the business cards you collect at other networking events. Can you even remember which person was which by the time you get home?

Making the right impression on other people at a golf tournament can be an important skill. But it's not important for everyone. For someone in public relations, it's a vital part of the job. But what difference would this make for a developer or a designer or an engineer? As one veteran of a number of startups in the Seattle area likes to say, “Tech folks are not natural networkers.” And we don't think they should have to be.

What other people ultimately care about—and really,
should
care about—is the quality of your work. But you can't whip out your laptop (or even your iPad) and, while holding your white wine in one hand and balancing your hors d'oeuvres on your knee, proceed to show someone how you work.

For that, you need to apply the action-based networking principles of Startup Weekend.

You
Must
Join a Team

We at Startup Weekend don't have much in the way of wine or those fancy little quiches. However, by the end of the weekend you will truly understand the skill sets of the people around you—and they will understand yours.

From the easy registration method to the informal Friday night dinner, attendees are expected to talk to one another; and since the only thing they have in common (up until that point) is an interest in entrepreneurship, it is easy to learn about their peers' dreams, ideas, strengths, and weaknesses. When you know that you are supposed to join a team with strangers and work together all weekend, the pressure is on to get to know everyone in the room and to find out what sort of talents surround you.

Friday night is especially intense, because it's when the team creation happens. Yet, even the long working days of Saturday and Sunday provide ample opportunities to create, build, collaborate, explore, and brainstorm—not only with the members of one's team, but also with other attendees.

One Startup Weekend participant recalls an event in Vancouver, British Columbia, where teams were required to check in every so often with the entire group. She recounts, “Although it was hard to stop frantically working on our own projects, I loved hearing about what other teams were building and their calls for help. It was so empowering to see [the] brilliant developers, designers, marketers, and project managers that we had in the room . . . it gave me a great excuse to walk up to someone new at Saturday dinner and ask them more about their graphic design experiences.”