Techstars Startup Weekends are a global phenomenon, thousands of people give up their weekends to explore their business ideas, connect with others or learn a new skill. Whether you are a business mogul, a complete newbie exploring, a specialist or a Startup Weekend veteran, there is a place for you here.
For the uninitiated, here is a quick rundown of a typical Startup Weekend:
- Friday evening, participants gather to pitch business ideas, form teams, and plan.
- Saturday, teams validate their business ideas, design business models, develop a minimum viable product (MVP) or prototype, and work on their 5min pitch for Sunday night.
- Sunday, teams continue validating, modelling and designing their business idea, work on their 5min pitch, which is delivered that night to a panel of judges.
Participants are not alone on this journey, they are supported by a team of volunteers who keep participants fuelled and motivated, and mentors who offer various advice, knowledge, experiences and connections; together they provide an atmosphere of creativity, vibrancy and excitement.
During my time as a mature student at University, my student instinct for free food drove me to attend the PASIFIKA Startup pre-event evening. After the icebreaker activities and discussions, everyone’s creative juices were flowing, and I was struck with my own idea; a grocery shopping app that compares the cheapest prices between stores. I was ready to attend the full Startup Weekend in Porirua, pitch my idea, form a team, create a prototype, develop a business plan, find an investor, create a business, pay off my student loan, and become a millionaire. Easy!
Hosted by Eteuati Ete, of the Laughing Samoans, and Dave Mosk, Startup Weekend legend, the PASIFIKA Startup Weekend was filled with enthusiastic and positive people. After the initial icebreaker activities, the 1 min pitches began; I delivered my pitch and created a poster of my idea and began networking. Each person was given 5 sticky dots to vote on an idea, I received A LOT of votes and managed to form a small team of four others. We worked on the problem our idea would solve, planned how we would validate, and discussed how we would present a mock-up of the app.
Only two others returned Saturday morning, so we decided to divide and conquer; one person would focus on surveying, one person on the business model and one person on a mock-up of the app. We researched social enterprises and aligned our business model to reflect this, we pushed two things; creating a digital community and supporting low-income families to make positive choices. It was a long haul of a day and we changed plans constantly.
Sunday brought all new pressures as we worked on our 5min pitches alongside other tasks; in the end we had surveyed 55 people, developed a business and product roll out plan, and created a mock-up within our 5min pitch. We did not place but felt confident with our work. The winning team was an inspiring program to raise the deaf community presence; businesses would complete a sign language programme, become a certified sign friendly business, and recommended to the deaf community through an app.
The following week I reached out to my team mates, both gave their support but were moving on with their own projects. Several weeks later the organisers held a reunion, offering teams an opportunity to return and give an update. There I connected with Pacific Business Trust, who mentored me through the next few months of development.
It has been nearly two years since the PASIFIKA Startup Weekend, and within the last few months significant leaps have occurred;
- May, have registered Pūtahi Innovations Limited;
- June, local software developers LittleMonkey have developed a wire-frame prototype;
- July, raising Pūtahi Innovations Limited presence;
- August, planning PledgeMe Crowdfunding campaign;
- September, will launch PledgeMe Crowdfunding Campaign;
- October and November, develop and launch full working prototype;
- December, fully functioning free version.
After some reflection I have asked myself one question; would I recommend a Startup Weekend? My answer is, Yes, but with conditions:
- If you’re interested in the business world but have no clue, Yes! You will learn so much that you will need a few weeks to unpack everything.
- If you have a business idea that needs fleshing it out, have no idea where to start or wish to see if it is viable, Yes! But you need to be flexible with your idea, and ready to join another team if your idea doesn’t make it through. Many didn’t show up the following day because of this.
- If you have a skill in business, software development or design, Yes definitely! The general comments from the few developers were positive, they were able to flex their creative muscle within a different space and enjoyed the challenge.
Like I said at the start, there is a place for everyone at a Startup Weekend and many are themed like the PASIFIKA Weekend. There is always one around the corner somewhere, its just a matter of giving it a go!
