Startup Weekend DC – Impressive Innovation or Complete Chaos
There is something amazing happening in the Washington, D.C. area and it is spreading like wildfire – we are finally buying into what we’ve been selling; a social network. The Washington, D.C. web design and development community is coming together strong and now it seems that with a pinch of entrepreneurial spirit could be a result for amazing things. Startup Weekend is coming to D.C. October 26th through 28th and will prove to be extremely impressive or chaotically dysfunctional – either way this “experiment” will be worth watching for all and an experience for those lucky enough to have tickets; myself included.
Startup Weekend has been loosely defined as “… an idea, an experiment, a chance to gather the tech community and create a company over one jam packed weekend.” Those already business savvy know that “creating a company” is something that can be done in minutes. I don’t think the definition above is the actual intention though – I’d be willing to bet most participating could care less about the developing of a “company” more so than a “product or service” – the focus from the idea wiki seems to be on building a “web2.0 application” more so than building a company. I am also willing to bet there will be no talk of revenue, expenses, start-up costs or even legitimacy of the licenses used to work on this experiment. If it did take off to be the next big thing – I bet Adobe would be curious as to how many legitimate licenses were used; I am willing to bet some are even property of larger corporations in the D.C. metro area. So, the focus is on a product or service, now what?
The amazing thing about Startup Weekend is the passion and talent that comes together in one room for one mission. However, with talent comes egos and with passion comes tension. Those with talent assume they know best and those with passion must be heard –how does a room of the most talented and passionate designers and developers get anything done without someone playing “god”? As of right now, 65 people have tickets – lets assume half show-up and no one from the waiting list jumps on board (highly unlikely); is 35 people “too many cooks in the kitchen”? Can you have too much talent in one room? Is that a good problem to have or a good thing that causes a bad problem?
I am curious, is startup weekend going to be a prime example of impressive innovation or complete chaos? It feels as though the entire D.C. tech community is watching – I want to believe they are watching for a success story but am fearful they are watching like you watch a bad accident. I am watching for the success story! I am watching for on that Monday the entire country to be talking about what happened in Washington D.C. over the weekend.
- September 25th, 2007
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Martin, nice post! You raise some big questions and concerns. Startup Weekend is a great idea and I look forward to what becomes of it. If anything, new relationships will be made and I’m sure some good stuff will unfold.
There are some obvious concerns ad I am sort of crossing my fingers hoping someone somewhere is thinking of all of these (or assuming they’ve been asked and answered at previous Startup Weekends).
I do agree, regardless of what happens, or what doesn’t happen for that matter, the event will be a great one. Anytime you can get that much talent in one room something good is bound to come of it.
I am really surprised more staffing agencies haven’t jumped on board as sponsors — your prime demographic concentrated in one room for an entire weekend and you can’t find value in that?
Sounds interesting. Can’t wait to find out if they succeed or just go at each others throats in absolute chaos. I really like the statement “…with talent comes egos and with passion comes tension.” Hit the nail on the head there.
I also agree with the sponsoring - I just got back from a conference here in Aus, and the major sponsor was a recruitment agency.
@Katrina,
Thanks for the comment. We, nclud decided to be a sponsor simply because we love community based events. Anything that brings this community together is a great success in my book — however, as you said it, the going at each others throats in absolute chaos is a very good possibility.
I am working with a few other folks on planning the DC Startup Weekend (the other folks are doing more of the planning than I am, to be honest) and we have been talking a lot about the size of the group and what to do about it.
On the one hand, we’d love to have as many people as possible participate because we think it will be a lot of fun. On the other hand, if we really want to produce something in one short weekend then having 100+ people might be unrealistic.
I know some guys who participated in the recent Rails Rumble and it was a bit of an eye opener because these were very small teams (the ones I knew were a team of 1 and a team of 3) working for just a weekend but they produced some pretty great things.
Regardless of how things go I’m fairly sure that Startup Weekend will be interesting!
Andy, glad to hear you are helping with planning and also good to hear that some of my concerns are obvious to those planning as well (makes me a bit more comfortable about the whole thing).
I heard about the Rails Rumble and heard some good things. I look forward to Startup Weekend DC — it will prove a learning experience for me on a personal level for sure.