Athens StartupWeekend 2012 – 30 days to go
Do you have the next innovative disruptive idea that will take the world by storm? Then you’ve got to come to StartupWeekend for an intensive 54hr programme of activities including coding, design, top class mentoring and loads of fun attached. You’ll meet cool people and form teams that will help you turn your idea into reality.
We’ll meet in Athens at the the Microsoft Innovation Center on 10 February at 17:00. We’re privileged to have Deborah Rippol, European co-ordinator of the StartupWeekend organisation coming to facilitate this year’s event.
Here’s more about Deborah:
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Deborah leads the European branch of Startup Weekend. She coordinates all the European events and empowers organizers in their mission to inspire and educate individuals, teams and communities. She lives in London where she is setting up the European headquarters of Startup Weekend in the heart of Silicon Roundabout. |
This is the 4th StartupWeekend happening in Athens and it’s set to be the greatest ever. Register now because tickets are going fast!!
See you there!
Startup Weekend Athens – Wkend Agenda
Here is an indicative schedule for the coming weekend:
Friday, February 10th, 5pm- 10 pm
- 5:00 pm Doors open @ the MIC! Registration
- 6:00 Event officially begins. Official kick-off and welcome
- 7:00 Pitches start
Pitches are 60-seconds each. Pitch your best idea first, because we may not have a chance for second or third pitches
- 8:30 Pitches conclude. More time for networking & some finger food from GALAXY CATERING
- 9:00 Teams begin to self-form
- 10:00 Teams solidify
- 11:00 Break off to a bar or coffee shop to continue the discussion or begin work
Saturday, February 11th 9am-10pm
This day is all about building, developing, designing, writing, creating, etc.
- 9:00 am Coffee
- 10:00 By now, teams should have prototype(s) on paper, decided on a working title, and created technical plans. Start getting servers live, buying domains, creating user flows, etc.
- 11am-4pm GUEST Advisors to help with Coding, Development & Design Needs
- 12:30 Lunch by GALAXY CATERING
- 1:00 More coding, business plan development
- 4pm-7pm GUEST Advisors to help with Business Plan formulation & Marketing Questions
- 7:30 DOMINO’s Pizza
- 8:00 Test KINECT! Or you can always continue working
- 11:00 End of Day!
Sunday, February 12th, 9am- 10pm
- 9:00 Coffee
- 11:00 Teams should have a live splash page up with an email capture and a simple blog
- 12am-4pm VCs, Legal & Accounting Advisors- Ask them about the next steps to form your company
- 12:30 Lunch by GALAXY CATERING
- 7:00 More Pizza from DOMINO’s
- 7:30 pm: Final presentations begin
We will ask you to present your company and your idea to a panel of judges. You have 3 minutes to show that your company is the best, and how you will eventually take the world by storm with your idea and product.
- 8:30-ish Panel votes. Awards.
We Will Rock You!
Startup Weekend Athens made it onto website of MTV.gr today!
Don’t forget to spread the word, and support our winning team #WebSkrib in the #startupbattle that is going on world-wide at the moment to help celebrate Global Entrepreneur Week!
10 Post-Event Pieces of Advice to the teams of Athens Startup Weekend 2010
As the weekend of the 3d Athens Startup Weekend is over here are some thoughts that could help the teams in the next couple of months:
1. Committees mean nothing. We are not smarter than you guys in the teams. We may be more experienced in some areas but getting more experience sometimes gets us more opinionated on what can or cannot work in the business, which can be of course totally wrong. Getting in the “favorite 3 teams of Athens SUW” doesn’t necessarily mean that you can have a more successful startup than the other teams. So, stick to your idea and team if you believe in it and try to find as much help as possible to make it work – we are all here to help you.
2. Fall in love with your idea. Hate it. And fall in love again.
When you have an idea, it is common that you fall in love with it. You try to defend it and you close your ears to the feedback as you see it as criticism and show-stopper. Be open to other people’s feedback – get rid of the “always no-sayers” and of the “always yes-sayers” and find the persons who can provide you with a clear view of your strengths and weaknesses. Ask them what they believe you should change to improve your weaknesses.
3. Have an alpha version live in 14 days.
Push hard in the first couple of weeks to create a web site that works, get some users (usually friends) on your platform and start improving. Yes, this will be just 10% of your total vision. Yes, this will not leave your users satisfied. But it will keep the spirit up and the team together and increase the possibilities to continue with the project.
4. Get help.
Make a list of the things you need to have a solid beta version. Connections, business plan, a skilled web designer, somebody to program an extra mobile application, a place to work, free tools, costs of online advertisement, users to test it – you name it. And use the power of the network and the people you met to help you with each one of these.
5. Learn to pitch.
Explaining your idea and why it can be successful in 60 seconds is a really tough job. But if you want to proceed with your project, you will be start pitching all the time: to your friends, to people you need help from, or even to VCs. Spend some time to search for information and do rehearsals. Do a lot of pitches to people who have different backgrounds, a lot or no technical skills. Get their feedback and improve.
6. Think Global
Don’t limit your idea to the Greek market. Use Greece as a test-bed if this is necessary for your product but always have a plan on how you can create a technology platform and a business model that can expand to other markets. Otherwise, go straight for the global playground.
7. Learn the Acronyms
When trying to discuss the business model or business plan of the idea, you always gain credibility when you can “speak the language”. Learn what’s behind terms such as “ROI”, “Break-even Point”, “Valuation”, “Exit strategy” and many others that are frequently used in these discussions. Don’t be afraid – they have fancy names but very simple meanings and ideas behind them.
8. Find the best representative for your team
Having the idea and being the most technical person, doesn’t mean that you should be the one who represents the team in the future. Decide collectively on who has the ability to become the best representative of the whole team. Who has the best people skills, presentation competencies, leadership attributes and a fair understanding of technical and business issues. Get this person out to ask for help, meet people, do presentations in events etc.
9. Create a clear action plan for the next 30 days.
Put some deadlines on the work that has to be done. Who does what by when. Who follows up with the tasks of all the team members. Get commitment from the members. Set up weekly or more frequent team meetings to get people together.
10. Have fun as a team
Startups are not only about making money. It’s a lot about working with highly energized people, doing innovative things and having fun. Celebrate your small successes as you hit your action plan. Get together as a team and do something fun. This will increase the team’s morale, improve the level of commitment and your chances to stick longer to your project.
That’s all for now. I hate clichés so I will just say that I was privileged to have been with all of you in the past couple of days and I will be more than happy if I can support anyhow the teams to succeed.
Startup Weekend Athens- The Pictures
Click on the link below for pictures of the weekend
