Building a Startup in Brampton in 54 Hours
9 Lessons Learned from Startup Weekend Peel 2017
Two weekends ago, I competed in my first Startup Weekend. I laughed, got invited to investor meetings, won 3rd place, got hit on, and made some new friends. Here’s what I learned.
1. Take a Deep Breath and Go For It
Getting up in front of strangers and talking about something you care about is scary. It’s even scarier when the crowd is full of people smarter and older than you. Trust me, they’re there to support and encourage you. The only thing scarier than pitching your random idea is going to bed at the end of the weekend with regrets.
2. Your Team is More Important Than the Idea
“Your squad is only as strong as your weakest mandem.” Friday night is the credential flex expo. Walk away from anyone peacocking their Schulich undergrad degree. Sure, be certain that your team is competent, but focus more on the energy between you. After all, you will be spending the next 54 hours together.
3. Begin Working Backwards
Visualize the final demo day. What will you be talking about and showing? The judges will be basing their decisions off your MVP, product validation, and design. Make these areas your priority and forget anything you can’t fit into a 5-minute pitch.
4. Not Every Good Idea is Worth Your Time
The mentors and coaches are esteemed business leaders that’ll give you great ideas for your product. Don’t listen to them.
We spent the weekend building an app called Maia– a product that utilizes machine learning to increase your productivity while helping you achieve a greater work-life balance.
Maia was aimed at high-performing individuals with a lot on their plate (eg. the coaches and mentors). Every coach that visited our team had tons of ideas for the direction we could take Maia in. Unfortunately, the scope of SW doesn’t allow for the exploration of 101 possibilities. Your time is limited and you can’t afford to waste that resource. Make quick decisions.
5. Refine your MVP to Solve ONE Problem Well
This ties into my point above. It’s tempting to present the cure for hunger to judges– avoid that. The wider your pitch/product is, the thinner it becomes and the easier it is to poke holes in. Solve one problem and solve it well.
6. Take Some Breaks
Startup Weekend is intense. Being cooped up in one room for an entire weekend is a surefire way to stifle any creativity. Go on a walk with your team. Leave the war-room. Like Agent Coulson from Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D said, when you walk away from a problem for a moment, the subconscious keeps playing with it and eventually finds a solution.
7. A Polished Pitch Should Be Your Top Priority
This was definitely where we lacked. Even though the judges were, thankfully, clear on our product and the need for it, our pitch was left on the back-burner and left more to be desired. Your delivery could make or break you. Doesn’t matter if you do in fact have a cure for hunger if you get clapped off stage.
8. Ask Yourself Hard Questions
Ali and I spent a lot of time building out the business model, marketing plan, and mastering Excel formulas we’ve never heard of before. Yeah, we should have definitely spent that time perfecting our pitch, but our paranoia of blanking out during the Q&A overshadowed that need. We were ready for any and every question we could have been asked.
9. Talk to the Judges
Obvi. The actual Q&A is mad short for both the judges and yourself. Even if you end up winning your SW, there might have been one judge on the panel that didn’t agree with the consensus. Ask them what sucked about your pitch, it might make all the difference for the future of your startup.
In Conclusion
Man, Startup Weekend was so fulfilling. The fact that we took this tiny little idea on Friday night and fleshed it out into a viable business all in the span of 54 hours…Such a demanding sprint.
If you’ve ever wanted to start a business, Startup Weekend is definitely a great way to see if you’ve got what it takes. You’ll experience the full range of emotions that comes with founding a company all within the span of 2.5 days. Even if you are running a company already, bring your team out to a Startup Weekend anyway! Consider it a professional development exercise.
Remember when the whole block’d get shout out? This my version of a shout-out track.
Shout out to my incredible team. Alina, Ali, and Shashaank. I got so much more respect for all of you after SW. Y’all hustled hard and smashed it. Special thank you to Edwin F(or the Win)rondozo for being a delightful facilitator, Umair Shaikh for the being our №1 fan, and Sam Gupta for keeping it 💯. Congratulations to 1st and 2nd place winners goReno and Nat’s Robotics– you guys deserved it. Last but certainly not least, huge thank you to all the organizers, coaches, mentors, and the City of Brampton.
See you at Startup Weekend Peel 2018.
Like what you read? Find more content like this and a ton more on entrepreneurship, branding, and leadership on my blog at astawa.ca
