Startup Weekend | An Insider’s Perspective
I first heard of Startup Weekend almost exactly one a year ago. It seemed like a cool idea; get a bunch of driven and exciting people together, give them 54 hours to build a company/project, and then allow them the chance to present it to their peers and investors. But once I was able to actually experience it, I realized it was so much more.
Los Angles Startup Weekend took place over President’s Weekend at the ever-amazing Coloft in Santa Monica. For those who haven’t checked out Coloft and what they have to offer, I highly recommend it. The weekend began almost as a typical meetup — a bunch of people at Coloft hanging out and conversing about startup ideas, munching on some pizza, and overhearing presentations. Then the action really begins.
What’s really cool about Startup Weekend is that if you’ve always had that really sweet idea but never knew how to execute it or make it, here you’re given the chance. We got through about 20 or so pitches and then were given the chance to vote on those we think are the best, narrowing the field to 10-12 ideas. After that, people picked which of the following companies they wanted to play a part in pitching:
- Zaarly: A buyer’s market where everything has a price.
- Hottie Spotter: A place for guys to find ladies.
- Scene Swag: See a scene, buy some swag.
- GrubKlub: Food as a means to an end.
- Eventify.Me: Turn your home into income-generating space.
- Cork Hub: We sell exclusive wines for the best deals, with a twist.
- RedLyne: Better contracts faster.
- MinBoxed: Combat your inbox.
- Find Your Mickey: Connecting personal trainers with clients (now called Trainer + Me).
- GoAct.co: Drive action for your cause.
I was fortune enough to be approached by some very awesome people and brought onto the event venue listing company, Eventify Me. Little did I know I would be jumping on a non-stop train for the next 50 hours.
As with all groups that Friday night, we all took time to get to know each other and then it was game on: starting with laying out the business model and what the product actually was, then figuring out who would be put on which tasks. At this point, ideas are flowing, the energy is high, and everyone is jacked to be there. As the night continues on, you start reaching the point of asking yourself do I go home, go out, or keep rocking this newfound idea? As hard as it was to peel myself away, I decided to call it a night and get some sleep to start fresh again in the morning.
Saturday. Arrived bright and early Saturday morning to the sweet smell of coffee and bagels, and yes, good fresh bagels do have a smell. That bakery smell is just what you want to get the day going. As I arrived I noticed people all over Coloft already in full swing by 8:30-9am. My team and I dive right in as well. Within the hour we’re all eyeballs-deep into programming, wire framing, and strategizing of all sorts. Before we knew it, it was time for lunch.
[TIP] Those who do wire framing at Startup Weekend: there’s a AMAZING secret tool that was more than helpful – Post-it Easel Pad. Normally I’d hold onto such a secret, but they are just too awesome not to share.
After a quick lunch, it was right back to work. But not before taking a few minuets to catch up with friends and meet new ones. Events like this are so great for an entrepreneur: you get to work on something awesome and exciting, network, and talk all about business. Work continued throughout the afternoon and into the evening. As we journeyed through the evening you could start to see the pressures of making a complete company/product taking their toll on someone groups. Nevertheless, everyone had their heads in the game. After about 12 hours of work and fun it was time to call it a night, go home and rest up.
Sunday. The day to make a statement with your product. Crunch time. The last hurrah. I remember everyone feeling good about where we were and what we had to be finish, but there was still a deadline that we didn’t want to tempt. Throughout the day various startup people, such as angel investor and Founder of Betterworks Paige Craig, stopped to check in and hear about the startups. As time wound down and “Eye of the Tiger” motivated you more and more each time it was played, you just couldn’t stop working. Around 3pm I remember hearing a rumor that Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore were going to be stopping in. My first thought was “Okay, it’s LA, that happens.” (I’m from Michigan. Eminem doesn’t just drop in somewhere.) My mind went back to the CSS styling issue I was beating down to fix.
Sure enough, not too much later, they stopped in, which for me just added another level of excitement and pressure, because another rumor was that Ashton would be a judge later in the that evening, and sure enough, that one was true as well. They ended up going around the room and chatting with everyone about their ideas and startups. Great people. They stayed a little longer and then headed out, but would later return for the judging.
5pm Sunday. Computers off. I thought it would’ve been hilarious had they just pulled the plug on the routers as well. It was quitting time.
Everyone came away from his or her computer screens and things returned back to that early Friday atmosphere. After enjoying a wonderful dinner we jumped right into the investor pitches. I must say we had one hell of a judges panel. They provided a great amount of feedback and showed great interest in all the companies.
Judges and Organizers — left to right (Sean Percival, Scott Sangster, Allen Morgan, Tyler Koblasa, Avesta Rasouli, Ashton Kutcher, Jeff Scheinrock) {PIC: http://startupweekend.org/2011/02/22/lasw_wrapup/}
Our group ended up going right smack in the middle (5th). We started our presentation off with a bang. Everything was going great, investors were interested, and the audience was in awe. Then, we got to our demo. Little did we know that moments before, Jason Calacanis of Mahalo sent this tweet out that ended up crashing our site:
“@jason I think eventify.me is the best startup idea so far at #lasw – well designed http://eventify.me/”
We were more than ecstatic that Jason showed so much excitement for our idea and product. We took it as a badge of honor. Jason: if you’re reading this, thank you again for sending that tweet.
As the pitches wound down, it was came time for Zaarly’s presentation. They gave a phenomenal presentation and showed off why they were worthy of a one-million-dollar investment [http://bit.ly/fhLBt3]. Afterwards, while waiting for the judges to make their decisions on who won, we all engaged in some more food eating and conversing about the weekend and how much fun it had been.
Maybe it was the food, the coffee, or weekend excitement running through me, but it seemed like 30 minuets flew by and the judges finally emerged from the voting room with the results.
- 1st Place – Zaarly
- $1000 cash, 1 x TechCoast Angels Fast pitch tickets, One Month at Coloft for entire company, NerdyShirts package
- 2nd Place – Eventify Me
- $500 cash, 1 x TechCoast Angels Fast pitch tickets, Two Weeks at Coloft for entire company and steak knives
- 3rd Place – GrubKlub
- $500 cash
- Most Complete Product (MCP) – Zaarly
- “Launch Conference” package
- Cleanest Presentation – Hottie Spotter
- Winner of Idealab – Mint floor cleaner
And with that we were all most done for the weekend. At Coloft there’s a certain quote that everyone knows and lives by very well, “Coffee is for closers.” It couldn’t have been truer that weekend. And before we all departed, we all tuned in to the large projection screen and watched that amazing performance by Alec Baldwin reminding us again that, indeed, coffee is for closers.
Startup Weekend–a weekend I’ll never forget and an experience like no other. It’s exciting to see the power of an idea and how it can bring strangers’ minds together to build something no one thought was possible before. If you haven’t done Startup Weekend before, do it. Words only give you a taste of the experience. You truly don’t fully understand the excitement and high that comes off such a weekend. It’s worth every hour and every dollar. And remember, coffee is for closers.
DISCLAIMER: I’m the Co-Founder of Eventify Me and Trainer + Me (formally Find Your Mickey).
