Comments on: Startup Weekend San Francisco In Full Swing

By: Grid7 - Build something. BIGGER. - Podcast #30 - Startup Weekend

Grid7 - Build something. BIGGER. - Podcast #30 - Startup Weekend — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:40:46 +0000

[...] seeing the process first-hand. Check out pictures and read the story that just hit the homepage of Tech Crunch. The company we started is launching as we speak. Grid7 Podcast #30 - Startup Weekend [...]

By: bilgi yarışması

bilgi yarışması — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 14:13:12 +0000

i agree #35

By: Victoria Pickering

Victoria Pickering — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 20:59:54 +0000

Perhaps because I am one of the oldest attendees of startup weekend (I went to the D.C. one), I take a longer-term view on assessing the ROI generated by the process. Yes, the companies formed at startup weekends may or may not lead to much direct revenue. But in D.C. we spent 2+ months coming up with and sharing ideas before the weekend, and both that and the intense energy of the weekend have forged connections and possibilities that are likely to generate very substantial ROI’s from new ventures in this area over the next few years.
As to the quality of the people attending, many of them are A-list, and most of the others are aiming to become A-list in the near future. I think the people who don’t participate in processes like this will find themselves later on surprised at what they have missed.

By: Tyler Willis

Tyler Willis — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 19:01:29 +0000

Thanks for covering us Mike, I just had an entertaining read through the comments. I was involved in the weekend and loved it. I’ve never had an opportunity to be part of such a fast-forming community.

I’ve approached this with the open mind of going on an adventure and participating in an experiment. I was extremely pleased with the quality of folks I met and the opportunities meeting them will likely lead to. I think this format has a lot of value both to entrepreneurial schools and also large companies who want to inject some randomness and energy into a project.

Tyler

By: I Am Not Posting To Spam My Blog

I Am Not Posting To Spam My Blog — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:33:02 +0000

…isn’t as good as a bunch of school kids.

(Last post got cut off because I tried to use a ‘less than’ sign. Odd bug.)

By: I Am Not Posting To Spam My Blog

I Am Not Posting To Spam My Blog — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:31:53 +0000

It’s all very well saying “Well it’s not meant to make money, it’s just an event”, but Young Enterprise groups all over the UK do a similar thing - they come together in order to form a small business, and they have to come up with an idea for it themselves. Many of them manage to make at least some profit. And the entrepreneurs are all aged 16-18.

So there’s the challenge to HelpHookup. Make at least some money, or Web 2.0

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:48:08 +0000

Well, as one of the members of this interesting experiment, I can say that is was worth it. I spend most of my time running the dev group, and despite the normal issues of platform, framework, schema, etc.. I watch a bunch of really talented programmers learn how to build, destroy, rebuild again. A few came away will new skills and others with insights into approaches to solving problems. As the weekend flew by, I would ask around if people ‘thought this was fun’, and each person who stayed the full 2.5 days, I got a non hesitant YES!
As I write this I am VERY tired from what seems like non stop action since the beginning. Even if NOTHING came out of this effort, I met some great people, watched human drama, disappointment, elation and bonding happen in fast foreword. All I can say is; what a rush.

By: fewquid

fewquid — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 06:01:56 +0000

@37/Anewday: WTF is wrong with you?

Startup Weekends take NO money from anywhere. It’s sweat equity from a group of willing volunteers. If you pulled your head out of your ass and read a little before speaking, you’d know that.

But then reading and thinking is probably something you consider bullshit too…

Maybe when you’re done with your current Billion Dollar idea, you can move out of your Mom’s basement and get enough daytime schooling to not be such a gargantuan crap-spraying iTool all of the time.

p.s. I’m sure your Mom would appreciate the change too.

By: Steve Ballmer

Steve Ballmer — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 05:39:25 +0000

Nobody impressed me, c’mon people, I have 2 Billion to spend before the end of the quarter!

By: www.CARversation.com

www.CARversation.com — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:12:56 +0000

i agree #37

By: Anewday

Anewday — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 03:08:44 +0000

Great! Let’s see all the bullshit ideas, the re inventing the wheel, money sucking start ups.

By: co.labr8.com

co.labr8.com — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:46:09 +0000

Sounds like a great time. Good luck with the launch!

By: jad

jad — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:29:29 +0000

What a fun weekend, great group, great minds, all in one weekend!

By: Richard

Richard — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:06:07 +0000

Seems like this blog is capturing the spirit of this event excluding the always dependable nay-sayers (full disclosure, I am a participant).

The unique chance to throw 130+ random folks together, vet an idea and bring it to life in 54 hours is simply astonishing - in fact, I would challenge any MBA program to emulate this platform for their students, you learn a ton - my single biggest take away is that at the end of the day is that any company is only as good as the people in it - ideas, market places, market share, etc., toss it all out the window if you can’t work together - this demonstrated that not only is that possible, but you can really achieve amazing things with a bunch of strangers…that alone is profound and illustrative of the modern entrepreneur.

Read anything by Tim Sanders to get a great perspective on this.

By: Waleed

Waleed — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:48:50 +0000

I agree with Will (#30). When I came here, I didn’t really expect to build a real startup. I came for the community and the experience and to have a fun weekend. However, now that I met so many great people here, and that I see the thing coming to live, I’m very optimistic that it could be a great product.

By: George Yam

George Yam — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:48:16 +0000

I was actually one the 132 that attended on Friday. I couldn’t attend the rest of the weekend but I was fortunate enough to at least experience the events of the first night. The amount of energy and talent, the differing personalities all working together towards a single goal made for a very interesting experience. I could care less about my share of the company. That’s not the main point. It was the connections I made that night that are what’s most valuable to me. I can definitely see myself working with some of the people I met that night in future projects. Kudos to Andrew for putting SW together and good luck to the team of HelpHookup.com!

By: Chris R.

Chris R. — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:44:03 +0000

“any discussion about legal and bizdev in a 2 day old startup just cracks me up, but commenters say it with zombie like sincerity, drinking the kool-aid all the way to the bottom I guess”

http://sf.startupweekend.com/

“In the lawyer’s corner, some members of Marketing, Dev, BizDev and Creative have been hashing out privacy policies, incorporation considerations, not-for-profit status, and licensing agreements.”

“As it stands, we’re incorporating a C-Corp, owned by Startup Weekend LLC and an LLC controlled by this weekend’s founders. Additionally, a separate not-for-profit company will be instantiated with tax-exempt forms ready to go for a manager to-be-determined.”

Yeah, it’s a little something the rest of us call reading.

By: Will

Will — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:39:46 +0000

@Micah,
OH SNAP, way to drop some knowledge on this crowd. I could not agree more with you, and as a member of SW DC, the value I got out of the event had nothing to do with money, it was all about the community, which is the foundation that Andrew has instilled in this process, and has shined through in each and every weekend.
I encourage anyone who is thinking of bashing this to take some time and check out the event when it comes to your city (and what I mean is just don’t show up Friday night and bail after an hour, stick it out through Saturday). After that, if you still feel the same way, the by all means say what you think. Until then, try to be a good web citizen and keep it quiet.

By: TJCrew

TJCrew — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:36:47 +0000

Absolutely awesome idea, and all the people complaining of course don’t have to show up. A lot more goes into building something than simply the roi for each developers time.

HOWEVER…cool logo that doesn’t really fit and…well…a bad name if you’re not helping people have sexual relations with others

Cool though, look forward to seeing the results

By: Drew

Drew — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:23:28 +0000

Great idea. I’d like to offer to be the first partnership to this new company. They plan hook up volunteers with good causes, we already hook up donors and charities.

Let’s work together.

Drew McManus
President and Co-Founder
Bring Light, Inc.
http://www.bringlight.com

By: We’ve been TechCrunched « HelpHookup’s

We’ve been TechCrunched « HelpHookup’s — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:09:13 +0000

[...] http://www.techcrunch.com/2007.....ull-swing/ [...]

By: damon

damon — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:09:07 +0000

any discussion about legal and bizdev in a 2 day old startup just cracks me up, but commenters say it with zombie like sincerity, drinking the kool-aid all the way to the bottom I guess

By: Chris R.

Chris R. — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:45:21 +0000

I think what Mike is suggesting is similar to Linux installfests or the homebrew computer clubs of the 70’s.

“If you’re at the event, please tell us how it’s going. Any fights yet? Squabbles over equity? When will the site launch? Tell us all the drama.”

How does this work? You show up and you instantly start slicing equity pie???
What capital drives the equity?

BTW, in reference to my last comment, I actually started working here after school at 16
http://www.gorbel.com/ I was in data entry at the headquarters. It was so long ago.

By: What's Hot Today.com

What's Hot Today.com — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:44:19 +0000

Looks like a good project to be a part of.

http://www.whatshottoday.com

By: Chris R.

Chris R. — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:40:18 +0000

“Yes, it’s unlikely any of these startups will be a commercial success, but the opportunity to spend time with people who share your interests, make new friends, etc., is well worth the time”

I come from the go to the office and do your job no matter what, boss top down hierarchy world. Corporate America burned that into me at a young age. I do see why you would like that though.