Can you really define a “typical startup”? In that vein, can you really define a “typical Startup Weekend”? Probably and hopefully not, but it’s always good to have a rough idea of how the weekends tend to play out.
Note that times and actually just about everything is subject to change. This is just a rough idea.
Friday Night
6-630pm Doors Open. Arrive, Register, Networking, etc.
630/7ish pm - Kick-off and pitches. The organizers and facilitator will introduce themselves, talk a little bit about Startup Weekend in general and introduce the sponsors.
- Everyone who wants to has 1 minute to pitch their idea to the group. The timer is strictly enforced. There are no limits on number of pitches and you can pitch twice, once everyone is through round 1.
After the Pitches - After pitches, the groups naturally organize. If you like something you heard, go talk to the pitcher. If you pitched, try to mobilize a team. The final number of teams is up the group, though it’s important to try to cover roles on each: biz dev, designers, UI, developers, etc.
-Refine your concept and decide how you’ll attack things.
- Then, it’s go go go, until you decide to call it quits or, all night.
Saturday
The organizers will let you know when the facilities are open again (if there isn’t 24 hour access). Get there early as there will be breakfast and plenty of CAFFEINE. (guessing 8 or 9am)
Saturday is a work day. Solidify ideas as early as possible and keep chuggin.
1130AMish - Checkin - We’ll as a rep from each group to meet with the organizers and facilitator to give an overview of what the group is doing, where they are and where they see themselves going.
12pm - Lunch!
7pmish - GUT CHECK - basic prototyping and surrounding business development efforts (financial modeling, site, PR, martketing plan, etc)
Resta the night - keep working, grab a drink, or both.
Sunday
The organizers will let you know when the facilities are open again (if there isn’t 24 hour access). Get there early as there will be breakfast and plenty of CAFFEINE. (guessing 8 or 9am)
1130AMish - Checkin - We’ll as a rep from each group to meet with the organizers and facilitator to give an overview of what the group is doing, where they are and where they see themselves going.
12pm - Lunch!
3pmish - Nearly sink-or-swim time for those looking for a weekend launch.
6pm - Presenations by each team. Nothing formal. What’s your idea? What worked? What didn’t? What could be better? More Importantly… ARE YOU LAUNCHING?
8pmish - Close
Remeber: This is a startup atmosphere. Just beacause a team forms Friday night around an idea doesn’t mean that team is intact Sunday or that the idea that was pitched is the business. Teams can form, break apart… rogue teams can mobilize. We’re just looking for great things Sunday!
2 responses so far ↓
1 Weekend Details // Apr 1, 2009 at 6:56 am
[...] We’ve got a good group going - about 40 signed up so far. We’ll work out details and how things will best work while we are there in terms of schedule, but you can find a rough agenda here: http://chicago.startupweekend.com/?p=38. [...]
2 Ted Gibbs // Apr 2, 2009 at 12:57 pm
I like the idea of people coming together to brianstorm about their rough ideas for startups. I would also find it helpful to have a support system of people who have different talents than I do. However, I would like to know about your pitch process. Do you expect that each person who registers will bring a unique idea? Is each team expected to include people who had “bad” ideas? It is not my idea of a productive work environment to have my idea voted off by my “teammates”. Especially, If I make an effort to set aside a whole weekend for creating my own startup.
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