Analysis: How useful is Blitzweekend or StartupWeekends for Tech Communities? Answer: a lot (15)
There’s an “analysis” on TechCrunch on the StartupWeekend series, and the general conclusion is that it failed.
Since we’ve done Blitzweekend and there are discussions on holding another one, I have to take issue.
I don’t think StartupWeekends (or Blitzweekend) claimed at one point or another to build companies for every team that participates, in the same way that Y combinator, TechStars or Bolidea ambitions to.
They should be seen as a educational opportunity, and an opportunity to jump-start a new idea and team, get up to speed with what you’ve got to know when launching a new technology project, etc.
If at one point, a quarter of the participating teams got actually to get investment $ and/or launch a product, then that’s really more than everyone should expect.
We’ve had students, “9-to-5ers”, people in existing companies and startups, entrepreneurs, open-minded people who were curious in trying things out at Blitzweekend, and who would have never the opportunity to try out otherwise what would be the atmospehere and intensity when creating a product. That’s what Blitzweekend has to offer, and for the best and most motivated of them, it will be the first step for a company. Our role in this was to create the most favourable environment and support ecosystem for them to flourish and if possible, orient in the right direction.
Also, another interesting post related to this is John Stokes at Montrealstartup “Seedcamp mentoring“. There’s one interesting line co-opetition, which is also what one of first objectives.
So I have to conclude that TechCrunch doesn’t know what they are talking about or they haven’t actually participated in any StartupWeekend event at all, and it’s sad since they have titled the post “Analysis”
PS: And there’s StartupDrinks this afternoon from 5.30pm at Brutopia.
I’m actually all in favor of Startup Weekends, as I explain at the end of the post. I specifically note that the analysis shouldn’t be seen as a SW fail, quite the contrary.
So what’s your beef?
As I said, I’m taking issue since we’ve organized a similar event. and highlighting running & successful companies isn’t really a metric to judge this event.
It’s like judging tech startups by measuring the number of pitches they’ve done in conferences. it’s completely unrelated and uninformed.
The guys who did the analysis don’t point out that Startup Weekends are about much more than whether the projects live on or not, I did, which to me means we are actually on the same page here.
And I’m organizing a Startup Weekend in Belgium, where I live, and I’ve been involved in similar initiatives all across Europe, so I do know what I’m talking about imho.
As I wrote, measuring the number of active projects isn’t a good measure
One good thing would be to highlight what participants and members are up to now. Have they launched a startup? Have they started an open source project? Are they organizing conferences or barcamps? Have they joined an existing tech startup? Did they become a consultant for entrepreneurs? Those are the things I’d look into, amongst other criterias
I think Techcrunch is right on the money… Their analysis is for “StartupWeekend” which *does* somewhat ambition to launch successful startup *on the weekend* with their pitch “Start projects, Start Companies” ?
As they say these events are for “connections they make at the event or simply for the thrill of making something that works in a short period of time”
I think that’s fair, I don’t know about Blitzweekend but viewing it as an educational opportunity is the right way to pitch it. I think no one would argue that these type of events are beneficial to the community and technical entrepreneurs. If you ask me, the pitch “start a company” is would some hype/marketing fluff to attract ambitious entrepreneurs.
which is a bit wrong imho, and not the ideal way to present it.
Blitzweekend was presented differently
You mention that you are involved in organizing Startup Weekend Belgium and other initiatives across Europe so you obviously can rally behind the intent of Startup Weekend. I assume that the message you posted was simply mis-read.
Perhaps you should have titled your article “How Far Do Projects Launched At Startup Weekends Travel? (It Doesn’t Matter)” If that was your point. Also adding the word “analysis” at the beginning of your title kind of suggests it is your analysis, and “not very far” suggests that your opinion is the “projects” do not lead anywhere.
Again you obviously wouldn’t be putting in the effort to get your community organized around such initiatives if you thought they did not lead anywhere “far” =). We are excited to see if Belgium and other cities you are involved in can help us bring the 10% success number up!
In this case, I agree that the metric for success was unfair. Their website clearly states that it’s primarily a community building event, one where you can start projects and start companies. To me this means that it’s an event to keep up people’s enthusiasm and if the actual project fails, so be it, start another. It’s also important for the seriousness of the event to add the start companies bit because obviously (10%) of the time, you can build a business out of it. This helps the image a lot and keeps people focused.
Overall, I would put this in the linkbait bucket. It’s off-target and if they really wanted to write a good article they would’ve done some legwork themselves and added something to the “analysis”.
Now you need to define what is success to your eyes.
In the case of the BlitzWeekend, we wanted to bring 2 groups together: the IT crowd and the tie and suit crowd. I think it worked and both groups found out that there is life beyond their own walls.
I spoke to a few participants many months later and some of them were still working on their idea.
So what if the success rate is only 10%? I find it damn good considering that startup life *IS* hard by definition and that most fail. Besides, isn’t “failure is ok” part of what Silicon Valley embrases after all?
With the entry barriers being at an all time low, this is what we need: a place to ignite fires.
TechCrunch don’t know what they are talking about http://tinyurl.com/crjox9
[mtw] TechCrunch don’t know what they are talking about: There’s an “analysis” on TechCru.. http://tinyurl.com/crjox9
A different point of view RT @mtw TechCrunch don’t know what they are talking about http://tinyurl.com/crjox9
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