My Thoughts on a Startup Weekend for RTP...

First of all, I want to be absolutely clear that I mean no disrespect to Andrew Hyde, the man behind the original Startup Weekend.  I think it was a visionary idea and the inspired debate alone makes it worthy of a tip o' the hat.

One of the things I have always disliked about the internet is how easily it enables anonymous and highly negative criticism.  If you have something to say about someone, stand up and attach your name, or a real handle (one you consistently use in many venues) and be prepared to defend your opinion.

It is certainly NOT my intention to sling mud at Andrew's idea.  As I've said, he had a visionary idea that is worthy of praise.  The event's ability to bring together the Colorado startup scene was impressive.  While I'm sure there were moments that were tough for everyone, it is quite clear that the process had an enormous positive impact on the region and the community.

I am very convinced that the process is brilliant and adds huge value.  However, I am equally uncertain that the goal is the best way to drive the process.

The pros, as I see them, are:

#1 (by a mile):  Building/consolidating/unifying/expanding the startup community.  Not only did this event network the existing startup-minded folks, it lured in newbies that were on the fence about the whole startup experience.

#2:  Getting folks that would otherwise not interact to work together e.g.  programmers and evil marketing people like me

#3:  Pushing hard for a solid goal in a short period of time.  My only issue with events like BarCamp is that the free-form structure deliberately doesn't lend itself to achieving a particular goal, which leaves me wanting more...

#4:  The ability to gain first hand experience of the ups and downs of a startup while only risking a weekend.

However, there are some fairly major cons, some of which other local folks like Dugald have already discussed.  I'll skip past some of the more obvious issues, and go straight to the big ones from my perspective:

#1:  This was a weekend adventure.  I believe most of the attendees had real jobs, many of them in startups.  The passion that it takes to commit to a startup is huge, and once you are drinking the coolaid, it is very hard to leave.  I think the essence of being "in" a startup is best captured by the first few lines of Casabianca (disclaimer: I had no idea what the name of this poem was until about 5 minutes ago -- I'm am not that culturally edjumacated...)  

  The boy stood on the burning deck  
  Whence all but he had fled;  
  The flame that lit the battle's wreck  
  Shone round him o'er the dead.

The best and brightest in a failing startup are often there until the bitter end.  The whole damn boat can be on fire and sinking rapidly and still they will hang on.  Committing a weekend to something is unlikely to persuade these folks to leave their current startup for a new idea.  In other words, you're building something around a team that won't stay around.  The ones that will stay on are more likely to be the less experienced, further tipping the odds against success.

#2:  In most startups, there is some kind of core idea around which everything coalesces.  There is usually one primary owner of the idea, who has managed to get other people to believe.  The idea expands, changes and evolves, but there is always a core of 1-3 people that define "the path" and keep everyone on it.  This core, and the people that guard it, is the greatest strength (and weakness) of any startup. 

In the case of disruptorMonkey, I had the original seed of an idea back in May/June 2006, sat on it for a few months, then pitched it to Andre and it grew from there.  Logan joined in October, the idea grew, changed and became more concrete.  We are in sync with the vision of what we are building and why. I just don't see how you reach that in one weekend with 70 people.  It's like being a recent hire at Google -- you and 69 other people all arrive one day and are just trying to figure out what makes things tick.

#3:  Products take time to build, test and finesse, even the simplest ones.  Almost no-one wants to build a crappy product (I am biting my tongue here for a change, so bear with me), but a weekend is just not enough time to really make a full product.  More than a weekend is going to be a commitment problem for many people, and as per note #1, the folks that can commit may not be the best experienced for the task at hand. 

#4:  The structure.  As I understand it, 50% of the equity was split between all attendees and 50% held in reserve for those that got the job done.  I completely understand the logic here, but it is a messy structure that would probably scare an investor (if the company sought funding at a later date).

Part of not just slinging mud is to make some suggestions, so here are mine:

#1:  Hack for Humanity:  think of the essence of Habitat for Humanity, but instead of building a house, we're building a product.  It doesn't have to be quite as morally lofty as Habitat, but the end result should be a useful product or service, and should probably end up as an open source project so others can carry the torch.  There would be an initial weekend, where a problem gets identified, teams put together and work is begun, but the project would actually take place over a period of weeks.

#2:  xCombinator (with apologies to Paul Graham):  Think X-Prize meets yCombinator.  Teams come together in a friendly but competitive way to build something on a fixed schedule.  Each team has to build something soup to nuts, and be able to pitch it, by the deadline.  A panel of worthies chooses a winner, who wins the prize (ideally a big fat wad of cash or a full beer truck).

#3:  Pitch 'n' Bitch:  Anyone gets to come and pitch an idea or product (BarCamp style) to everyone that shows up.  The audience gets to pile on, dissecting each idea.  The winning pitch gets free therapy to recover from the beat-down.

#4:  Startup Hackathon:  A traditional hackathon but with the aim of building something that is a product plus a plan -- so multiple mini-Startup Weekend teams competing over a fixed period of time.

I'll give it some more thought and see what I come up with.  Feel free to jump all over me in the comments...

Comments

[Andrew Hyde]

I kept waiting for the bad comments, but you just brought up some great and valid points. I strongly believe if you showed up for a weekend and saw the way it works, you would be a fan.

To respond to your comments on major cons:

#1 Almost a month after the weekend, we have a core group of 10 still working nights and weekends on it. Surprisingly, it has turned into a fairly typical nights and weekends startup. Founders beta started today, evolving the product responding to normal startup feedback.

#2 You could also argue walking into a new startup your experience would help form their idea quickly. Now x 70. Collaboration can be a great thing.

#3 VoSnap has been in private Beta for the last month tuning, tweaking and working out UI issues to finally release to the public. If it can't happen in a weekend, the crew that takes it on will have to do this, or sink pretty quick.

#4 We had the guidance of some great lawyers and VC's in the structure of the weekend, and 50% of founders stock isn't a scary model.

Great suggestions for things it can turn into.

The Toronto started out as a 'Hack for Humanity' and the community took it elsewhere (for now). In the end, every weekend gets to choose their project, in a frictionless democratic process. I am hosting an event next year in Denver that is this same idea, sponsored by an accessibility awareness group.

Great post, can I talk you into a weekend?

[Erica]

The key to this visionary idea is that it's spreading and helping to unite communities all over the United States.

I remember before we had our first BarCamp in Houston - people thought we didn't have much of a tech community. It was definitely a shock to find out that there were hundreds of people dying to make connections and collaborate with like minded individuals.

We just started planning for the Houston StartupWeekend in September - and already communities of people are finding one another for the first time. Ideas and connections are being made.

Sure - we'd love to come out of our Houston Startup Weekend with a working product and hit it big - but I'd be just as happy to see a new community come together - fed by passion, excitement, & drive. StartupWeekend really is a launching point for Startup Communities.

[DisMonkey]

@ Andrew: Thanks so much for your comment. I'll be curious to see what kind of response I get from the locals here in RTP -- the BarCampRDU session I hosted was well attended but the community is definitely smaller than the CO scene.

We'll see what the post stirs up!

@Erica: Good luck with the event in Houston!

[Sean Cier]

I stumbled on the RTP Bar Camp a week too late to attend, but if somebody organized an RTP Startup Weekend (no, I'm not volunteering either), I'd be there -- if only to meet and throw ideas around with what sounds like it'd be a pretty interesting cross-section of the local startup and tech communities, and to gain more exposure to the issues related to startups, all in the context of what would no doubt be a fascinating challenge.