Why attend Startup Weekend?
We are now on the 3rd year of organising Techstars Startup Weekend (TSW) here in Maldives and the most pressing question to anyone who has not experienced TSW is — what could you do in 54 hours? or most importantly what is TSW? Is it another hackathon or a startup bootcamp? Do I take part in this?
In TSW — group of likeminded people come together over a course of weekend — who are developers, hustlers, business manager, aspiring entrepreneurs, startup enthusiasts, marketers, graphic designers etc — to pitch fresh ideas for setting a new startup companies, form teams among themselves, and work over the next 54 hours in developing a working prototype and do a kickass presentation to the judges at the end of 54 hours.
Basically its 3 day crash course on an entrepreneurial journey, where you experience first hand — the highs, the lows, the stress and pressure of making a minimum viable product & putting your startup up and running.
But why should you really attend? After all weekends are for your relaxation and personal time. Well let me give you 5 quick reasons why this 54 hours could be best time you have ever decided to spend on yourself and that is if you are planning to be an entrepreneur or a start a business of your own.
1. Finding Like Minded People
The moment you walk into a Startup Weekend, you are entering a room where you might know few, might be familiar to some and the rest would be new faces. But the place is filled with buzzing people, who are there to share their ideas, their experience and to work on finding a solution for a pressing problem. And this is where you could possibly get your next best friend, a co-founder, a mentor or perhaps a team with whom you can work on your idea. And foremost, you would meet smart people like you with similar dreams and passions.
2. A lifetime of Network
The main USP of TSW is the community it creates. It’s not just the like minded people you meet here, rather its people who are going through the similar experiences as you, those who are trying to make the leap, those who have already made the leap and a community who will be there for you when you need them during your entreprenuerial journey. This network is where you get an open access to multiple other such events happenings of similar nature around you, opening a new spectrum of knowledge and also the support you need for your startup life.
3. Idea validation
Often times we believe that our business idea is the most unique or most sellable idea and has a means of making into the next big thing. What TSW does most smartly at it’s very best is letting everyone pitch their ideas, while selecting the best ideas (normally its 10 per TSW) out of all the ideas that get pitched during day 1, forming teams among all the participants and letting them further validate their ideas (by applying lean methodology) and work towards winning the top 3 of TSW. The whole process gives a validation on how good the idea was & pivoting as the teams goes on to do the final pitch on Day 3.
4. Strategise and Organized with Expert Mentors
Every startup weekend brings together seasoned mentors and coaches, who are specialised in various fields — so that over the next 54 hours, while the teams work on moving from just a simple business idea to developing their prototype, they get the right mentorship and advice from various fields like business development, marketing, financial feasibilities, taxation, digital marketing, legal, product design and brand development. Now if you think about, where would you get access to these many mentors at one place?
5. The Final Touchdown
At the end of 54 hours, it’s not just about winning the top 3 positions, but what you take back home — the learning, the network and the fact that you are now ready to make the leap into entrepreneurship is what makes Startup Weekend so awesome. The experience you had, that would remain with you and that would help you further if you are serious about starting a new business, thats what Startup Weekend is all about. The end of 54hours is the starting phase for many of the participants — Startup Life.
Well if this 5 reasons doesn't excite you, I am not quite sure what would, coz I am buzzing for the next TSW, which is happening from 15–17th November 2019
For more information visit www.swmaldives.mv
For more information visit www.swmaldives.mv
