I’ve had a few people ask about agendas and schedules and what to expect and whether they need to attend for the entire weekend, etc., so here goes:
The dates are June 20 - 22 and the official start time is 6:00pm on Friday. We’ll go until 11:00pm, or later if we’re up to it. Saturday, we’ll reconvene at 9:00am and again, go as long into the evening as we want to. Sunday, we’ll go 9am til about 9pm or so.
There is no agenda, per se. This isn’t a series of classes or speakers, it’s a bunch of people rolling up their sleeves and creating companies with the help of a facilitator. We’ll be pooling our talents, using our expertise and making the most of working as teams. Friday night will be ‘pitch night’ where we talk about ideas and vote on which ones to move forward with. Saturday and Sunday are work days, and in the evening on Sunday, teams will report on their projects to the group at large.
We’d love to have you there for the whole weekend, but we understand that your kid has a soccer game or you need to host your mother-in-law for dinner or whatever other commitments you might have. You’re not required to be there every minute. Come for as much as you can! Friday night will likely be important for choosing a team to be on, and if at all possible, please be on hand, but the rest of the weekend is free-form. Do what you need to do.
What you can expect to get from the weekend is not just ownership in a company you help found (which is pretty cool in its own right), but you will come away with new relationships with interesting, energetic, talented people and a new set of skills - both of which you will be able to use in the future. This event is as much about building a startup-friendly community as it is about building companies.
And if you have any questions, please comment here or contact me directly. I look forward to seeing you all June 20!
14 responses so far ↓
1 Bill Tozier // May 31, 2008 at 6:33 am
Probably should say “June 20″ explicitly as many times as possible, especially in ΒΆ2. Never know how people are coming to this page!
2 Laura // May 31, 2008 at 7:15 am
Thanks, Tozier - amended as noted!
3 Notional Slurry » links for 2008-06-01 // Jun 1, 2008 at 1:32 am
[...] What to expect at Startup Weekend (tags: startups startup-weekend Ann-Arbor local entrepreneurs business-culture development) [...]
4 Laura Hale // Jun 4, 2008 at 9:15 am
Are people creating companies from scratch at this thing? Or if you’ve got the start of a a project that you want to take to the next level, you should bring your pitch with you?
5 Alvin // Jun 4, 2008 at 10:21 am
Laura, nice post. Thinking I might link to it from the Columbus Startup Weekend site.
6 John Minni // Jun 4, 2008 at 4:49 pm
1. I am going!
2. Is there a template to use if you have an idea?
3. I am guessing it might not be wise to talk about ideas on a blog that can be accessed by anyone. No chance of having an ID and Password section so registered members can chat?
If I am off base please put me back on!
7 Mark Smithivas // Jun 5, 2008 at 11:24 pm
John,
There are plenty of ways we could do this. We could establish a pbwiki, basecamp, or other password protected site that only registered members can access. I’d love to see some pre-discussion begin online before the actual day of arrives.
OK, I went ahead and did it:
http://a2sw.pbwiki.com/
It’s private for now until I can figure out how to get the list of attendees…
8 Laura // Jun 6, 2008 at 8:44 am
Ok folks, Mark has generously taken the time to set up a wiki for us. If you want to be part of the conversation over there, please register for Startup Weekend at http://startupweekendannarbor.eventbrite.com and we’ll get you set up with a login at the protected wiki site.
We’re looking forward to seeing you all there!
9 Laura // Jun 6, 2008 at 8:46 am
@Laura Hale
Yes - please bring your ideas and projects in whatever state they may be! We’ll be learning to launch startups by launching startups, so ideas, inventions, thoughts, etc. are a vital part of making this process a success.
I look forward to hearing yours, and if you want to chat about it before the fact, Mark Smithivas has set up a password-protected wiki for attendees.
10 Farms // Jun 10, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Um…I registered for the Ann Arbor Startup weekend…will that password be emailed to me? I can’t seem to find it if it was.
11 What happens after Startup Weekend? // Jun 10, 2008 at 2:53 pm
[...] you’ve been reading along here, you already know what to expect at Startup Weekend. We’ll be building and launching companies in one exciting marathon weekend, and learning a [...]
12 a2oldie // Jun 13, 2008 at 8:35 am
So, I have to ante up to read the wiki? I have an idea for a non-tech, low-tech company, is that relevant? Or is this all about the soft and the hard?
13 Andriy // Jun 13, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Laura,
I don’t have a startup idea yet.
At the same time I am very excited about working together and learning from energetic business oriented people.
What I could contribute is knowledge about biotechnology and problem solving skills I accumulated during my PhD career.
Do you think there is a room for someone like me at the Startup Weekend?
14 Laura // Jun 16, 2008 at 7:40 am
@Farms - if you haven’t received a wiki password yet, please let me know and we’ll get you one.
@a2oldie - the wiki is for people who will be attending to start talking about ideas for companies. Based on the nature of startups and people’s desire to at least have a rudimentary protection for their ideas, we’ve made it private. But you should definitely come along - non-tech, low-tech is totally appropriate!
@Andriy - oh yes, very much so - please do come along! We’d love to have you.
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