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My idea for a startup weekend was such a hard-tech/software problem that lost out to a couple of social weekend apps. While a lot of people got behind my idea a

My idea for a startup weekend was such a hard-tech/software problem that lost out to a couple of social weekend apps. While a lot of people got behind my idea and we put together a strong presentation, the lack of a finished app sank us. How do you compete with something launched on mobile in a weekend when your at power points and mocks?

chillacy 10y ago
The judging criteria for Startup Weekend is 3 parts: Business Model, Customer Validation, Execution: http://www.techstars.com/content/community/startup-weekend-judging-criteria/ http://www.techstars.com/content/community/startup-weekend-j... If your mocks were sufficient for gathering user feedback, that may be okay. I've certainly seen groups with no written software place in the top 3, off of designer mocks alone.
- tedmiston 10y ago
  Another point on judging criteria is that it varies widely based on who your judges are too. Those categories are pretty broad with plenty of room for interpretation intentionally. If the judging panel is less technical, you'll have to sell your idea differently. I've seen cool tech hackathon projects fail because of bad presentations, either because they're ineffective or they just didn't practice. It's kind of less than ideal that you're judged for the whole weekend based on how well you can sell in a 2-minute pitch, but then again it's not all that different from the real startup world.
sAuronas 10y ago
Edit: I guess with the premise being "startup [in a] weekend", I shouldn't have expected my idea to win even with the team I picked up. Perhaps a startup month would work?
tedmiston 10y ago
I've been an organizer of several hackathons and participated in Startup Weekend. The judging guidelines vary across organizers, theme, and city. In general, Startup Weekend events focus on business model generation and customer validation, with building an actual product following. And remember, it's a weekend: the "winners" typically don't turn the project into an actual startup. I think of like in school, you can learn because you want to know things or you can learn to the test because you want the mark to move on. Would you rather build something hard or build something more likely to win? From my experience, it's not the same apps that do both. I also don't think one approach is necessarily better than the other, just personal preference, plus also depends on the team dynamic you end up with. For example, I wouldn't try to solve a hard tech problem on a team with mostly non-tech people because their expectations can be unrealistic. But if my team is 3 experienced startup engineers that can iterate, well why the hell not?

chillacy 10y ago

The judging criteria for Startup Weekend is 3 parts: Business Model, Customer Validation, Execution: http://www.techstars.com/content/community/startup-weekend-judging-criteria/ http://www.techstars.com/content/community/startup-weekend-j... If your mocks were sufficient for gathering user feedback, that may be okay. I've certainly seen groups with no written software place in the top 3, off of designer mocks alone.

tedmiston 10y ago
Another point on judging criteria is that it varies widely based on who your judges are too. Those categories are pretty broad with plenty of room for interpretation intentionally. If the judging panel is less technical, you'll have to sell your idea differently. I've seen cool tech hackathon projects fail because of bad presentations, either because they're ineffective or they just didn't practice. It's kind of less than ideal that you're judged for the whole weekend based on how well you can sell in a 2-minute pitch, but then again it's not all that different from the real startup world.

sAuronas 10y ago

Edit: I guess with the premise being "startup [in a] weekend", I shouldn't have expected my idea to win even with the team I picked up. Perhaps a startup month would work?

tedmiston 10y ago

I've been an organizer of several hackathons and participated in Startup Weekend. The judging guidelines vary across organizers, theme, and city. In general, Startup Weekend events focus on business model generation and customer validation, with building an actual product following. And remember, it's a weekend: the "winners" typically don't turn the project into an actual startup. I think of like in school, you can learn because you want to know things or you can learn to the test because you want the mark to move on. Would you rather build something hard or build something more likely to win? From my experience, it's not the same apps that do both. I also don't think one approach is necessarily better than the other, just personal preference, plus also depends on the team dynamic you end up with. For example, I wouldn't try to solve a hard tech problem on a team with mostly non-tech people because their expectations can be unrealistic. But if my team is 3 experienced startup engineers that can iterate, well why the hell not?