Kansas City Startup Weekend

Making the Most of Startup Weekend (by Ayush)

A past post from Ayush Agarwal with Madrona Ventures who is a true Startup Weekend veteran. This a copy of tips Ayush wrote before the last Seattle Startup Weekend. (link to original post)

Here are some thoughts on how to make the most of Startup Weekend. Here are three tips:

1. Experiment: Startup Weekend is an outstanding laboratory. You get to pitch, you get to evaluate pitches, you get to recruit, you get to be recruited, you are constantly on both sides of the table, and in 54 hours you see so many phases of a startup. Also, because it is a laboratory, try something new. If you have always worked on Ruby try Python. If you have never worked with Gina, join her team instead of working with Jesse whom you already know. You are in a risk free environment. Take a chance!

2. Think fast success: People talk about fast failure. I find success to be much more inspiring. How can you succeed? If you have a complex idea, scratch it. If you are having a hard time recruiting people to your team, go join a team. It’s ok! It is important to keep making and enabling progress. Every hour ask yourself the question: how many I contributing to success? Pick an idea that you think you can execute to (almost) finish. Leave enough time to put lipstick on the pig. Set very specific milestones. Experimenting might seem in inherently in conflict with fast success. Perhaps it is. But, experimenting and shooting for success are both completely aligned with learning. Successes, even small ones, keep the adrenaline going.

3. Give it your all: Yes, it is just a weekend project, but it is not just any weekend project. Startup Weekend is giving you a chance to rise above the noise level and have an audience. It is giving you a chance to succeed or fail. Fail, but fail with class. You are also getting a chance to work along side very motivated and very intelligent people. Many people whom I worked with at past Startup Weekends have become good friends. That was to a large extent because of the fact that we saw each other through a lot of hard work, and because we had a lot of fun doing it. You will be amazed by how much you’ve learned in just 54 hours.

REGISTRATION IS OPEN

Posted by Startup Weekend Crew

This week the ticket prices and venue have been finalized by the Startup Weekend KC Organizers. General Admission tickets are priced at $30 each. This year the event will take place at the beautiful offices of Infegy at Briar Cliff. Hope to see you there!

http://kcstartupweekend2.eventbrite.com/

What happened at the last Startup Weekend KC?

Posted by Startup Weekend Crew

In first place:

Activism2Go.com is a smart phone application that allows political campaign volunteers to place campaign phone calls anytime, anywhere from their phone, complete with script and data collection. Uses can expand into any industry that needs phone banking. Status: Phone application works, but isn’t yet available through the website.

In second place:

Second place: The goal of CovalentBonding.net is to connect researchers to each other, drastically reducing the amount of time between scientific breakthroughs and dissemination of information. Status: Site is up and working, but will always be available on an invitation-only basis to qualified users.

In third place:

Annotify.com is a web-based annotation tool that makes an exact copy of any webpage, letting you draw, highlight text and make notes on it. Social features allow your followers to see exactly what on a page interests you and why. Status: The site is accepting signups for launch notification. Annotation and social features are functional on a development server.

And seven other fabulous concepts, in no particular order:

MyConcerts.fm allows your to connect your Twitter account with your Last.fm account to get tweets when your favorite bands are coming to town. Status: Works great (and looks beautiful).

StashMate.com helps you keep track of what you own, particularly for moving. Use the site to tag what items are in what boxes. Status: Works great.

TreadEx.org enables bicycle couriering. It allows cyclists to check in on the site when they’re available, thus allowing businesses to contact them for pickups and deliveries. Status: Works great (especially when more cyclists join in!).

RareBrew.com is an online tea-lover’s community and shop designed to connect visitors with local and international tea experts and online reviews of tea from around the world. The site even offers a Tea of the Month delivery service for exploring new teas. Status: Works great, complete with a budding community.

TopChirp.com gives Digg-like rankings to tweets. Status: Works great.

Eussi.com is to magazines as hulu.com is to TV. The concept is to aggregate complete back issues of magazines in one place, while also enhancing the searchability of the issues through enhanced tagging and indexing. Status: Working demo but no online presence yet.