Startup Weekend Women’s Edition: Lessons Learnt from 54 Hours of Creative Heaven. Two reviews of the recent Startup Weekend Women's Edition, by Lachimi Tiwari and Sarah Martin. Lachimi: I worked in start-ups years ago, but I wanted to learn what it was all about today. I came across an article in The NextWomen about Startup Weekend Women’s Edition and I signed up for it. Part of the drive to encourage more women into startups, the event took place from 14th – 16th September 2012 With an interesting format, the weekend was about giving you 54 hours to pitch, team up, build a product and present it to a panel of judges!
The event aimed to give us the experience of how it would feel to be working in a startup. There were a good sprinkling of non-techies and developers but only a few designers - and we had over 60% women, which was amazing! Excited, nervous and apprehensive, initially I was wary – this was not going to be a conference. Almost everyone pitched an idea. I found myself gravitating towards the ideas that I would like to work with. Lessons Learnt... 1. 2. 3. 4. EDU Sponsor Info. Startup Weekend. SWEET is Startup Weekend’s newest community effort that starts with you, the multi-talented and passionate person who loves entrepreneurship and changing lives as much as we do. We’ve known for a long time that Startup Weekend attracts skilled and passionate people, we see it at every event in every city we go to.
But, we think it shouldn’t stop at events. Depending on your city, there might be long periods of time between Startup Weekends and just because there isn’t one coming up, doesn’t mean the mission or the movement should stop. We’ve heard that many of you want to volunteer, but don’t necessarily have the time, resources, or desire to Organize an entire event. We hear you, and with SWEET, you don’t have to. Within SWEET there are a ton of different, concrete . Help teams and your community in way that makes sense for you Join a global network of passionate people like yourself Lay the foundation for a self supporting startup ecosystem in your city Love for your city </b></b>*} Coaches, Speaker, and Judges. Why are Coaches important? Time and time again, Coaches are described by attendees as one of the most valuable features of the weekend! The one-on-one advice given to teams, can be invaluable and a key factor in their growth as a startup.Coaches themselves enjoy working with teams because it’s a chance to share their knowledge and help other aspiring entrepreneurs, and it’s not uncommon for a coach to become a mentor/advisor (or investor) of a Startup Weekend team and/or advocate of the Startup Weekend community.
Who makes a good Coach? Experienced entrepreneurs – These are the best type of Coaches! Organizer’s Tip: Make sure Coaches understand that they are not being asked to represent their company or organization: all Coaches should participate as individuals. Problems can arise when Coaches are clearly promoting their organization/product rather than giving ‘unbiased’ advice. Goals for Coaches Coach “Don’ts” For general messaging guidelines, please see the “Messaging” section. What Happens After Startup Weekend? Accelerate? Incubate? Expanding the Entrepreneur Class. The world needs more entrepreneurs: They make innovation real and advance what Brink Lindsey, of the Kauffman Foundation, has called the “frontier economy.”
If their ranks are too thin, it is a failure of society—particularly because the knowledge and skills of a successful entrepreneur can be taught. Indeed, in the recent rise of formal education in entrepreneurship we see these superheroes of creative destruction finally being given their due. The number of U.S. schoolchildren exposed to entrepreneurship as a career choice has grown rapidly. At least 600,000 college students take a class in entrepreneurship every year. Ten years ago their number was negligible. The problem is that we have nothing to show for it. If the resources devoted to teaching entrepreneurship have increased, but business start-ups have fallen by a third (from a longtime average of 600,000), one might even think that formal education in entrepreneurship is working against us. SWsea. Europe’s Hope: Entrepreneurs.
The news out of Europe only seems to get worse. Each government bond auction and economic data release piles on the bad news, exacerbated by a series of summits that overpromise and under-deliver. Meanwhile, the policy debate is stuck between those who blame government profligacy and those who point to underlying structural problems that plague European economies. These problems include rigid labor markets, dramatic trade imbalances among countries, and, in many places, stagnant industrial production.
Hope, however, springs eternal, and Europe might look for so-called “green shoots” in an organization called Startup Weekend. Startup Weekend is almost exactly what it sounds like: A 54-hour event during which people compete to form teams and test ideas. What happens after Startup Weekend varies over time and place, but the flurry of activity over the 54 hours is not transitory. Many teams continue to pursue their business idea after the event. This is probably half right. Should Your Startup Apply To An Accelerator?