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created a successful startup. Looking back, Eric said that “a lot of energy was unleashed” when the two of them worked together.
Alexa Andrsejewski said she had a similar experience of finding a wide array of people at Startup Weekend. “I was a user-experience consultant,” she says, “and I looked around at my network and realized that everyone I knew was also a user-experience person, which meant that all the people she knew could only fill one of the roles at Foodspotting. Alexa didn't know any investors or developers; as she half-jokes, “They go to developer camps, and things like that.” One of the reasons she came to Startup Weekend was for “cross-pollination.” Though Foodspotting didn't win the competition that weekend, one of the judges offered to give her team $5,000 after the competition was over—and subsequently provided a lot of advice about getting further funding.
How Do You Keep the Momentum Going?
One question we constantly ask ourselves is how to make Startup Weekend's atmosphere last in a community, even after the weekend is over. We don't think it's a coincidence that many of our participants are developing applications and programs that help people stay in touch and put like-minded people in contact with each other. The trend toward coworking spaces is an important development. The idea of people doing projects alongside each other, in person and in real time, will continue to encourage the kind of contact and action-based networking that begins at Startup Weekend.
When Tyler Koblasa noticed that something called “Coloft” opened up in Los Angeles, he suggested doing a Startup Weekend event there. “People know that they're going to be around this community and can find what they're looking for.” Coworking spaces, he says, “are a critical component of catalyzing Startup Weekend because it becomes not just about those three days. It's about everything leading up to the event and what happens afterward.” Tyler has even started sponsoring a monthly event there where people pay $10 to come work on a project from 7 PM to 2 AM for one evening with other attendees. “We want to [establish both] a feeder to Startup Weekend, and a support network afterward.”
Action-based networking is an intensely local phenomenon. Not only do you need to be able to see people and talk to them; you need to be with them for hours, if not days, at a time. But that kind of local networking can also be expanded. There are people who come from out of town for our events and people who meet their cofounders and investors and colleagues through our extensive national and international network. You can take the knowledge you gain from other people at Startup Weekends and transform something local into something global.
For the past couple of years, a number of Startup Weekend team members have gone to the South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival in Austin, Texas. SXSW is not just a good place for us to meet energetic, independent-minded people. It's also an excellent model for Startup Weekend. If you think about it, people who make music or produce art or movies may attend cocktail parties or go to film school together. However, an event like SXSW or the Sundance Festival truly shows them what they are capable of doing. People come to those events with the knowledge that they will be able to see talent in action. The effects of South by Southwest reverberate for the rest of the year in both the United States and in the global music industry.
As unique and intense as the Startup Weekend experience is, we also think it has broader, long-term implications. As people take the lessons of Startup Weekend and apply them in their own communities and spread them throughout a variety of places and industries, we hope they will become an integral part of an entrepreneurial revolution.
Chapter 2
Good Ideas Need Great Teams
Pitch for Talent Not for
Alexa Andrsejewski said she had a similar experience of finding a wide array of people at Startup Weekend. “I was a user-experience consultant,” she says, “and I looked around at my network and realized that everyone I knew was also a user-experience person, which meant that all the people she knew could only fill one of the roles at Foodspotting. Alexa didn't know any investors or developers; as she half-jokes, “They go to developer camps, and things like that.” One of the reasons she came to Startup Weekend was for “cross-pollination.” Though Foodspotting didn't win the competition that weekend, one of the judges offered to give her team $5,000 after the competition was over—and subsequently provided a lot of advice about getting further funding.
How Do You Keep the Momentum Going?
One question we constantly ask ourselves is how to make Startup Weekend's atmosphere last in a community, even after the weekend is over. We don't think it's a coincidence that many of our participants are developing applications and programs that help people stay in touch and put like-minded people in contact with each other. The trend toward coworking spaces is an important development. The idea of people doing projects alongside each other, in person and in real time, will continue to encourage the kind of contact and action-based networking that begins at Startup Weekend.
When Tyler Koblasa noticed that something called “Coloft” opened up in Los Angeles, he suggested doing a Startup Weekend event there. “People know that they're going to be around this community and can find what they're looking for.” Coworking spaces, he says, “are a critical component of catalyzing Startup Weekend because it becomes not just about those three days. It's about everything leading up to the event and what happens afterward.” Tyler has even started sponsoring a monthly event there where people pay $10 to come work on a project from 7 PM to 2 AM for one evening with other attendees. “We want to [establish both] a feeder to Startup Weekend, and a support network afterward.”
Action-based networking is an intensely local phenomenon. Not only do you need to be able to see people and talk to them; you need to be with them for hours, if not days, at a time. But that kind of local networking can also be expanded. There are people who come from out of town for our events and people who meet their cofounders and investors and colleagues through our extensive national and international network. You can take the knowledge you gain from other people at Startup Weekends and transform something local into something global.
For the past couple of years, a number of Startup Weekend team members have gone to the South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival in Austin, Texas. SXSW is not just a good place for us to meet energetic, independent-minded people. It's also an excellent model for Startup Weekend. If you think about it, people who make music or produce art or movies may attend cocktail parties or go to film school together. However, an event like SXSW or the Sundance Festival truly shows them what they are capable of doing. People come to those events with the knowledge that they will be able to see talent in action. The effects of South by Southwest reverberate for the rest of the year in both the United States and in the global music industry.
As unique and intense as the Startup Weekend experience is, we also think it has broader, long-term implications. As people take the lessons of Startup Weekend and apply them in their own communities and spread them throughout a variety of places and industries, we hope they will become an integral part of an entrepreneurial revolution.
Chapter 2
Good Ideas Need Great Teams
Pitch for Talent Not for
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