Startup Weekend

Startup Weekend—the organization behind 54-hour events where developers, designers, marketers, and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and create startups—has spawned both a global initiative in entrepreneurship as well as numerous successful startups. Startup Weekend, the book, contains best practices, lessons learned, and empowering examples derived from the organization's experiences for individuals and small organizations to follow as they launch businesses. Each of the key beliefs outlined has been tested by Startup Weekend and has yielded powerful results.

The principles described in each chapter will give any business idea a greater chance for success.

• Chapter topics include trust and empowerment, flexible organizational structures, the power of experiential education, action-based networking, and much more
• Describes consequences for startup development as entrepreneurs and founders begin doing much more, even faster
• Profiles successful Startup Weekend companies, including two powerful examples: Memolane, an application that captures a user's online life in one timeline making it easy for users to travel back in time and relive memories; and Foodspotting, a mobile and desktop app that allows users to find and share the foods they love

Apply these simple actionable principles to launch your own startup revolution.

Foreword Carl Schramm and Steve Blank xi

Preface xxi

Acknowledgments xxv

Introduction: Why Starting Up Is All about Trust and Empowerment 1

Marc Nager and Clint Nelsen 3

How Trust Led Us to the Greatest Adventure of Our Lives 7

Franck Nouyrigat 9

How We Empower People to Get the Most Out of Startup Weekend 13

Why You Have to Have Trust to Be a Successful Entrepreneur 15

1. No Talk, All Action: Action-Based Networking 21

You Must Join a Team 26

Breaking Down Barriers 31

Taking Advantage of High-Energy, Low-Risk Settings 34

Get Out of Your Bubble 38

If Not an Actual Startup, at Least Always Build Relationships 43

Diversity of Backgrounds Is Key 45

How Do You Keep the Momentum Going? 47

2. Good Ideas Need Great Teams: Pitch for Talent Not for Funding 51

The Magic of 60 Seconds 54

Deliver a Solution with One Sentence 57

Build a Team 60

What You Need—Talent and Energy 61

3. Experiential Education: Step Outside Your Comfort Zone While Working Together as a Team 67

The Importance of Context, Deadlines, and Instant Feedback 71

Braindump 74

So You Have a Viable Idea—Now What? 77

Learning by Doing 79

Risk Mitigation 81

Allocating Tasks 83

Recognizing Failure 86

The Three Main Criteria 90

4. The Startup Business Model: Adapt, Stay Lean, and Reiterate 95

The Customer Development Revolution 102

Getting Lean, Staying Agile, Preparing to Pivot 107

Communication Is Key 112

Stick with the Basics 115

The Missing Pieces of the Entrepreneur’s Curriculum 118

5. Mapping the Startup Ecosystem and Subversive Reconstruction 121

The Entrepreneurship Leap 124

The Cofounder Leap 126

The Startup Leap 130

The Funded Leap 133

The Scaling Leap 135

External Growth Leap 136

Leaping More Often 137

The Future of Startup Weekend 140

The Startup Foundation 141

Conclusion 143

Viva la Revolution 145

The Entrepreneur Culture 149

Your Next Iteration 150

Further Readings 153

Index 159

"This book is a powerful and valuable lesson in what can be achieved if you put the right people in the same room, with the intent of achieving a single goal."
—Will Roney, Bookworm.73, January 2012

MARC NAGER, CLINT NELSEN, and FRANCK NOUYRIGAT are the Co-Directors of Startup Weekend, a nonprofit with the mission to educate entrepreneurs, strengthen communities, and launch startups. Startup Weekend holds weekend events where developers, designers, marketers, product managers, and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and create startups in 54 hours. Startup Weekend began in June 2007, and the core team has grown to nine full-time and three part-time employees, along with a network of more than 120 Startup Weekend volunteer facilitators and organizers who plan and lead Startup Weekend events around the world. For more information, please visit www.startupweekend.org.

WHAT CAN YOU ACCOMPLISH IN ONE WEEKEND?

Maybe you could clean out your garage or paint a room in your house. Or how about launch a business? Startup Weekend—the organization behind 54-hour events where developers, designers, marketers, and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and create startups—has spawned a global initiative in entrepreneurship. In one weekend, participants get total immersion in entrepreneurial culture and in some cases, come away with a successful venture.

Through an emphasis on action-based networking, participants in Startup Weekend events get to see people's skills in action and experience a low-risk way to build business relationships. They receive an experiential education with the benefit of context, deadlines, and instant feedback. Startup Weekend, the book, contains best practices, lessons learned, and empowering examples derived from these events for individuals and small organizations to follow as they launch businesses. Get crucial, step-by-step advice for getting past the idea to implementation, such as:

• Learn to pitch for talent—in 60 seconds, what is your vision and who do you need to fulfill it?
• Get a primer on flexible organizational structures
• Learn to produce a minimal viable product that moves your business to market faster
• Understand the consequences for startup development as entrepreneurs and founders begin doing much more, even faster
• Adopt the Startup business model: Listen, adapt, and stay lean

Each of the key beliefs outlined has been tested by Startup Weekend and has yielded powerful results. With a firm understanding of the art of the startup, you can use these insights to launch your own startup revolution.