Odd Ends isn’t a normal blog. In fact, it’s not a blog at all. However, since I don’t have anywhere else to put this post, here it is.
I spent a day decompressing after the three days of Startup Weekend Ann Arbor, and now I have to write down my thoughts so maybe they’ll stop roiling around in my head and I’ll be able to get some uninterrupted sleep.
First, let’s go over what worked well.
The space was amazing. McKinley was incredibly generous. I think the scruffiness and the basementiness of the space helped to give a sense of verisimilitude to the idea that we were part of high-energy low-rent startups.
Meeting people. Most of the people there knew only a few (if any) of the others before Friday. I often overheard people saying how surprised and pleased they were to meet such talented folks.
The food was generally tasty and plentiful, and there were plenty of opportunities for eating healthy food as well as junk. (All kudos go to Laura — I merely assisted on the Costco run.)
Now onto what worked less well.
Logistical support. Hire staff or develop a larger pool of event volunteers. I didn’t participate like I thought I would — though if I had, I wouldn’t have had the vantage point to be able to observe the proceedings and make this post. I’m not complaining (not anymore
), just suggesting.WiFi. Yes, we had access, but it was spotty at times which encouraged some teams to disperse to other venues. Don’t hold people hostage, but don’t give them reasons to go away for long periods either — it disrupts the energy in the main venue.
Scheduling. Startup Weekend is not an Open Space event. It has some similarities, like self-selected interest groups, but that’s about where it ends. It wasn’t until the day of the event that we learned that there was actually supposed to be some structure (expressed in the form of “Well usually we…”) to the weekend, with status reports and final presentations.
If you’re reading this as a future SW organizer, take this little piece of advice and make a schedule. Even as simple as “Saturday: 9am start/status, noon lunch, 4pm status, 11pm leave” (or whatever your plans are, and you do have them even if it’s figuring out when you’re going to eat).
Also on the status reports — the only topic should be bottlenecks, where a team leader says “We need (accounting, legal, coding, whatever) help” followed by somebody offering a few minutes of assistance. Next!
Group formation. We had so many pitches (34 for 90ish people!) that it was hard to get groups to coalesce. (Another area where the “Well usually we…” came too late to be of any use.) A significant proportion of the people who came had one particular idea that they wanted to work on (and they only wanted to work on that idea). A similar proportion had businesses already started and wanted “free” help. A third group (happily, the majority) of people came without any real idea of what/how/where they would contribute, but took the “startup” part to heart. I think it was this last group that had the most fun and got the most out of the weekend.
Future SW organizer: set a minimum group size (and/or maximum number of projects). Larger groups have a better chance of surviving without some of the players for a while. Discourage projects/companies that are already started (these “idea” pitches often start with “I’ve been working on this for a while…”). Emphasize the point of the event is creating new companies.
Project choices. It’s a two and a half day event. Companies involved in making physical objects are unlikely to be successful as a Startup Weekend project, simply because it’s hard to find out manufacturing costs within a few hours (unless you have been working on the idea for a while, which you shouldn’t be doing — see above).
Managing expectations. Many people came with the idea that they were going to be walked through the starting of a company — how to make a business plan, how to do market research, etc. Startup Weekend (the company) assumes there are people with that experience already coming to the event who will be willing to share their knowledge so others will be learning by doing. This needs to be spelled out very clearly at every possible opportunity.
Lest you think upon reading this that the whole weekend stunk, let me assure you that it didn’t. The people who came to Startup Weekend Ann Arbor and stayed (I think we had about 50 at the bitter end, not including the people who had to leave early on Sunday) impressed me with their drive, stamina and enthusiasm for their projects and companies. Of the six projects that were most fully formed by the close on Sunday, three companies really fit the “Startup Weekend” idea and launched from scratch. Two were close but didn’t quite make it to launch, and the other one seemed to me to be a recharacterization of an existing business.
Three new companies that didn’t exist before June 21, except maybe as a random thought in someone’s head, are now out there in the world (at least in beta ). And that is awesome.
[updated to add] I forgot to mention Laura’s hard work and nearly single-handed effort to bring the weekend off successfully. Any criticisms you might think you see here are not directed at her, but are observations of the Startup Weekend process. She earned that gin