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From the Techstars FAQ: "Whether or not you continue to work on the idea with some or all of your team is completely up to you. Approximately 25% of Techstars S

From the Techstars FAQ: "Whether or not you continue to work on the idea with some or all of your team is completely up to you. Approximately 25% of Techstars Startup Weekend participants continue working on their idea with all of their team". She also gave him one of the 3 tickets, he just wouldn't be presenting the project in a booth and wouldn't continue working on the project.

nickelcitymario 9y ago
This bit of the FAQ seems to encourage the very issue that led to this conflict... "How do teams address the issue of Intellectual Property/ownership?" "As with any startup, the team decides. Techstars Startup Weekend doesn’t support or take part in the signing of any legal documents at the events themselves, and while Mentors with legal backgrounds are often present and able to give general advice, they are not permitted to give specific legal counsel. While it doesn’t hurt to be clear about your individual expectations from the start, we’ve found that teams who don’t spend time addressing this issue until it actually matters (i.e., there is a tangible product to have ownership of) are much more productive and successful than those who do." ... By not addressing the exact nature of the agreement; by not making it clear that the expectation was that Mark was volunteering and thus giving away his talent; by not making it clear that he was expected to simply help and then go away when no longer wanted; by doing not doing these things up front, Mark was left to make his own assumptions. So bad on Mark, and bad on the author, IMHO. No wonder this ended badly. And more to the point, bad on Techstars for encouraging this.
- amaranthine 9y ago
  I agree, there's a lot of policy grey area which potentially leads to issues like these. I'm discussing with Techstars, and they'll hopefully be closing these loopholes moving forward. This was my first hackathon. I was a bit naive and didn't know what conversations to have at the start. I didn't go into the weekend intending to start a startup or win. I also wish the event organizers had at least mentioned expectation-setting, because it was just... BOOM! And we're off! At the end of the weekend I definitely had a conversation with Mark about needing to determine next steps. I was quite clear that I wasn't sure the project would be continuing.
coreyp_1 9y ago
This doesn't address the issue of IP (code ownership, licensing, etc.). She gave him 33% of something he arguably had 50% access to (the 3 tickets), and she took 100% of the booth presence. Oh, and she took 100% control of the project. She was only 50% of the winning team. Math is hard for some people... maybe she has problems with it, too, and thinks that yelling "harassment" will make the math problems go away. Unfortunately, that's not how the world works. I have no doubt that the "25%" statistic is because most of those are the people who didn't win and everyone abandoned the project.

nickelcitymario 9y ago

This bit of the FAQ seems to encourage the very issue that led to this conflict... "How do teams address the issue of Intellectual Property/ownership?" "As with any startup, the team decides. Techstars Startup Weekend doesn’t support or take part in the signing of any legal documents at the events themselves, and while Mentors with legal backgrounds are often present and able to give general advice, they are not permitted to give specific legal counsel. While it doesn’t hurt to be clear about your individual expectations from the start, we’ve found that teams who don’t spend time addressing this issue until it actually matters (i.e., there is a tangible product to have ownership of) are much more productive and successful than those who do." ... By not addressing the exact nature of the agreement; by not making it clear that the expectation was that Mark was volunteering and thus giving away his talent; by not making it clear that he was expected to simply help and then go away when no longer wanted; by doing not doing these things up front, Mark was left to make his own assumptions. So bad on Mark, and bad on the author, IMHO. No wonder this ended badly. And more to the point, bad on Techstars for encouraging this.

amaranthine 9y ago
I agree, there's a lot of policy grey area which potentially leads to issues like these. I'm discussing with Techstars, and they'll hopefully be closing these loopholes moving forward. This was my first hackathon. I was a bit naive and didn't know what conversations to have at the start. I didn't go into the weekend intending to start a startup or win. I also wish the event organizers had at least mentioned expectation-setting, because it was just... BOOM! And we're off! At the end of the weekend I definitely had a conversation with Mark about needing to determine next steps. I was quite clear that I wasn't sure the project would be continuing.

coreyp_1 9y ago

This doesn't address the issue of IP (code ownership, licensing, etc.). She gave him 33% of something he arguably had 50% access to (the 3 tickets), and she took 100% of the booth presence. Oh, and she took 100% control of the project. She was only 50% of the winning team. Math is hard for some people... maybe she has problems with it, too, and thinks that yelling "harassment" will make the math problems go away. Unfortunately, that's not how the world works. I have no doubt that the "25%" statistic is because most of those are the people who didn't win and everyone abandoned the project.