I’ve attended a few tech-related events in the past year, and I thought it would be fun to share recaps and talk about my experience at each one, starting with the first…
I attended my first ever startup-related event, Charlotte Startup Weekend (CSW) 2013, at the beginning of this year. The hook was catchy – launch a startup in 54 hours (one weekend), from idea to product…or as close as possible. People could come with ideas, and I definitely had plenty of ideas. This was my first CSW, so I’m no expert, but I’ll do my best to recap my experience and offer some tips and information.
How Startup Weekend Works
The event lasts three days and roughly 54 hours, though this can vary from team to team. You pitch your idea (if you want to – it’s optional) Friday night, and everyone votes on all the pitches. Depending on the number of attendees, a select number of ideas are selected to continue through the weekend. Everyone joins one of the selected ideas to form teams, and each team works together to bring that idea to life over the weekend. The weekend ends with a presentation of the results on Sunday night for final voting by a committee of judges, typically formed of local leaders and/or entrepreneurs. The winning teams get various prizes, including entry to local accelerators, financial backing, and other great (usually) startup-related prizes.
Friday Pitch Night
Pitch night, which was on Friday, was nerve-wracking for me. I was attending an event where I didn’t really know anyone, and I was thinking of pitching an idea in front of a room of really smart people, many of whom had attended CSW before. Did I mention I have stage fright? Yup. I nervously ate what pizza I could, met some cool people, and ran into my friend Katie who was there pitching an idea, too.
I had a lot of ideas, but I decided to pitch what I haphazardly called “Rescue Profiles.” (tip: make sure you come up with a name for your idea. Something memorable. It will be used for people to cast their vote on your idea.)
I had been following several animal rescue organizations on Facebook and making donations where possible, but the process was lacking. Once you made a donation, there wasn’t a good way to keep track of the animal you’d helped. My idea was partially inspired by a particular dog I’d helped named Kevin. A rescue organization posted that if they didn’t raise enough money by a certain time, Kevin wasn’t going to live. I donated money, but I had a near impossible time figuring out if the money had made a difference. Was Kevin okay? Was he going to make it? Did they raise enough money? Where was he? I was able to track him down and contact the organization to find out that he was okay and was being transferred to another rescue organization, but that’s where I lost track.
I wanted to create a site where profiles could be created for each animal to share information about the animal, track fundraising, and post updates along the way, especially post-fundraising. I wanted the site to be tailored to rescue organizations that made the process easy and affordable.
I almost didn’t pitch, but I told myself to do it for the animals. If I could muster up the courage to talk for 60 seconds and it became something that helped more animals live, it would be worth it. So, I made my pitch just as I’d practiced, and it went pretty well. But, ultimately, it was not one of the ideas selected.
However, my friend Katie’s idea was selected. She pitched an idea called “Plate Share” where people could round up their restaurant checks to the nearest dollar and donate that money to help end hunger. I loved the idea and happily joined her team.
I wasn’t sure where I’d fit in on the team since the CSW sign-up page was categorized into two primary buckets: designer or developer. Professionally, I have experience as a quality assurance analyst, business analyst, and project manager. I’ve written little code for work and was in the process of hopping back onto the Code Bicycle. I’ve used Photoshop and Illustrator for past projects, but I definitely wouldn’t call myself a designer. Since my experience leaned towards the developer side, I purchased that ticket, but when it got time to start working, I wondered, “What am I going to do?”
Much to my happiness, I was actually one of the first people who had something to do. Our group had a nice mix of backgrounds and included: Katie, Dan, Justin, Arthur, Philip, Dimitrios, Cy, Donna, and Bitsy. Many were developers or designers, but there were others who didn’t fit into one of the two primary CSW buckets, just like me. I quickly paired up with Dan who had a similar skill set to me. Our mission: design the phone app and web site. Some of the up front work was completed Friday night after the pitch, but much crossed over into Saturday.
Saturday Team Work
My experience gathering requirements and doing UI designs came immediately into play since we had to sketch out the UIs for both the app and web site so the developers and designers had something to create. Meanwhile, the developers started working on base architecture and discussed which programming languages and frameworks to use, and the designers began working on the Plate Share logo and other branding. Everybody popped in and out of what they were doing to come offer feedback as Dan and I drew out the mock-ups. The team was off to a great start!
{Don’t mind my messy handwriting! lol}
I’d say the process was relatively agile. As soon as sketches were done, they were passed over to the developers and designers who worked fast and furious to bring the drawings to life, but we made adjustments here and there. The design process went into Saturday and was where things started to slow down for me mock-up-wise.
With the hand-drawn mockups complete, I turned my attention to getting food-related photos for the computer mock-ups, which I had plenty of on my laptop thanks to my food blog. I found this gem (above), which became one of the primary Plate Share photos for the mock-ups. The photo was taken when I went to brunch with some of my favorite food friends at 5 Church (click to view post). The photo was great since it was a picture of someone taking a picture of food, and one key parts of the app was that when you did a donation, you could snap a photo of your food and share it via social media.
Cy and Justin worked quickly on the graphic design to-dos. I believe Cy created the Plate Share logo and worked on the web site mock-up…
… while Justin cranked out the very first mobile app design. Those guys have some serious graphic design skills! Their designs looked so good!
Once the computer designs were complete, they were passed to the developers who worked hard to put them online with real code behind them. I spent some time hanging out with the developers to see how they were building things. They were so nice and encouraging, some even asking if I wanted to program some of the site!
{More planning and design…woohoo!}
Sunday Final Presentation
As the developers worked, part of the team broke off to work on the Sunday pitch. Public speaking isn’t my forte, so I stuck with the developers as the pitch team worked very hard to create the perfect presentation and practiced diligently until it was time to present. I thought all their hard work paid off as the presentation went very well. Unfortunately, Plate Share didn’t win, but I was so happy to have been part of the team. I had a great time working with everyone, and I really enjoyed the event, overall.
Overall Thoughts
Charlotte Startup Weekend was very well-organized and went so smoothly. I had a great time working with my team, and it even reminded me of working on school projects in the computer lab back in the day, which I’ve been missing lately. The event was full of excitement and learning, and I can’t wait to go to my next one and even possibly attend one in another city!
There are Startup Weekend events all over the world, so if you’re interested in attending one yourself, checkout startupweekend.org to find the closest one for you. The event typically runs over 3 days – Friday night, all day Saturday, and most of the day Sunday. Be ready for a long but very fun weekend! I definitely recommend researching before you attend. You can find pitches on YouTube and many sites with posts/articles with useful tips and feedback a quick google search away.
*Tip*: In fact, my friend Scott wrote a wonderful guest post for CSW with many great tips. His article is a great primer for anyone new to startup weekend and even has tips those who have attended before could use. Click here to view Scott’s how-to post on CSW.
Lessons Learned
- Prepare before the event – Even if you don’t have any startup friends, run your pitch by some people (friends, family, or (hint) potential customers) and get their feedback. Research prior pitches that won and observe what made theirs successful. Practice your pitch. Know what you want to say and why. Be clear and concise. You’ll only get 60 seconds to win the room over.
- Don’t be afraid to share your skills – Startup Weekend isn’t just for developers and designers, though if you fall into one of those categories, you’ll definitely find work. There were people at the event I attended with all kinds of backgrounds, and they all found ways to pitch in and add value. Let your team know what you’re good at and what you like to do, and you’re sure to fit in.
- Talk to the mentors – There are many talented mentors who are around to help. So long as it doesn’t negatively impact the team, make some time to chat with them. They’re there for everyone, not just the pitch winners.
- Do your research – Make sure you do market research prior to the Sunday presentation. In fact, if you do it early (Friday or Saturday morning), it will help guide your work over the weekend. If you don’t do it at all, you’ll likely have a judge call you out on it.
- Have fun – Startup Weekend is about more than just launching a successful startup. The event is energizing, and if you keep your ears open, you’ll learn a ton. Put yourself out there, and make new friends and contacts. You never know what you’ll learn or who you’ll meet. Don’t take things too seriously. Enjoy the experience!
Post-Event Update
Since CSW, Plate Share has really grown up and is a fully working app on Android with the iPhone app coming soon! Woohoo! Katie decided to remove the space in the name, so you’ll see it called “PlateShare” now. You can get more information on PlateShare on their official website plateshare.org or on the PlateShare Facebook page or twitter account.
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Thanks for reading! If you read this post and see me at an event, please do say hello!
Have you been to Startup Weekend before? What tips do you have to share?
Note: I’m not planning to post every day on this blog, but I’m hoping to squeeze in a quick recap for all of the tech events I attended this year before the end of the year! So, I’ll be posting pretty frequently for the next couple days, if things go as planned. Here we go!
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