North Carolina Startup Blog written by Marc DeWalle

4 Weekends ( #startup #startups )

September 4, 2009

Although I knew early in the summer that I would have less time to blog the rest of the year, I guess I didn’t quite realize how quickly I was getting involved into several new (and a few old) projects.  I’m not complaining, they are fun and time well $pent, but they do suck up time.  And  it means I have less time for blogging.

In the first year of the NC StartUp Blog I was very focused on building content and I was posting three or more times per week.  It was all part of establishing the blog and the network (Springstage) that its part of.  Now that we have a fairly regular following and have had some good StartUp events, its time to switch gears a bit.  I need to get some other things on the rails and they take time and commitment.  So posting will go down to about once a week, with posts being more opinion and less news and reviews.  We’ll still do the StartUp Drinks and probably some other events, although not monthly.

Last week on Thursday we had the last StartUp Drinks of the summer (at Brian Russell’s CCC).  It was a smaller gathering than before, probably due to several competing events and the fact that it was still summer vacation for many.  Besides the usual and necessary catching up and meeting and greeting, we had some good discussions.  I presented some slides about a concept I have been working on for a “StartUp Weekend on steroids”, which I gave the tentative name “4 Weekends”.  It is based on my observations that StartUp Weekends are good at some things, not so good at others.  Specifically,

  1. SUW teams are not selected; instead they are formed largely by chance.
  2. SUW’s allow very little time for planning (not surprising if you’re starting a business in 50 hours).
  3. SUW teams are typically lead with “management by committee” (kinda like the government).
  4. Sunday night is like a cliff when everyone goes back to their businesses, jobs, lives, etc and the startup tends to get abandoned.

So to give StartUp Weekend teams a better chance at creating a business that is sustainable, I came up with the concept of spreading the startup activities over 4 consecutive weekends and injecting some structure, process and requirements.  At the meeting last week we kicked some ideas around and it might look something like this:

Weekend 1:  Select a product or service and create a team.  Teams are limited to 5, with functional roles divided (finance, product, sales, customer experience) and a CEO role in place so decisions can be made.  Team members put a symbolic amount (say $100 or $1000) in and commit to stick it out (SUW teams typically have a 20-30% AWOL rate by Sunday afternoon).

Weekend 2:  Create your business plan through a series of white-board sessions that tackle the key areas (business model, market place, resources, pricing, customer experience).  Present your plan using the Kawasaki 10-20-30 rule.

Weekend 3:  Build your prototype (this is usually the activity that takes up nearly all of the 50 hours of a SUW).  Solicit a few outsiders to break it.

Weekend 4:  Present your business to an audience that includes entrepreneurs, bankers, VC’s, and subject-matter experts.  Ask if they would invest.  Then present your plan for taking the business forward beyond the 4 Weekends.  If not everyone on your team is committed, form a new team (quitters loose their money).

Although nothing guarantees business success, I believe the “4 Weekends” concept would drastically improve your chances of success over a SUW.  If you really want a business, not just start one for a weekend, you need to maximize your chances of being sustainable.

This concept needs work and I will give it several more passes to improve it over the next few months.  Although I was originally ambitious and hoped to run this in October, I have pushed that to early next year.  If you have ideas or comments, or would like to be part of this (as an organizer or participant), send me an email or leave a comment below.

Oh, and Nathaniel Talbott gave an abridged version of his Lean Startup Primer which led to a great discussion.  Some of the lean startup principles would fit very well into the 4 Weekends concept and we might include some of it.

Have a great weekend!

Written by Marc DeWalle · Filed Under Blog, Personal, Start-Up Weekends, Startups · Comments

Recent North Carolina Startup Blog Posts

View more stories from North Carolina Startup Blog

Top SpringStage Stories

The Shark Tank Blog

August 31, 2009 | Texas Startup Blog

Or that is the new name a couple of you suggested for this blog.  Sorry, not going to happen.  However, I do have another Shark Tank post this mo…

Comments (3)

Deleting Comments? Why?

August 31, 2009 | Texas Startup Blog

Tim Kane from Growthology, a blog created by the Kauffman Foundation, had a post titled, "Regulating Venture Capitalists? The Right Case and the Wr…

Comments (3)

Texas Increases Small Business Margin...

August 27, 2009 | Texas Startup Blog

Great news if you have less than $1,000,000 in revenues - you are exempt from the Margin Tax.  Lawrence Newman has the scoop: "In 2009, the Tex…

Comments (0)

Hard work, smarts and being a nice...

August 27, 2009 | San Antonio Startup Blog

Erik Darmstter has a simple business proposition.  Hire his firm and he will help you increase sales, hence the name, Sales by 5.  Hanging out at…

Comments (0)

Socap09: first day

September 2, 2009 | National Startup Blog

One year later, it feels good to be back at Socap, and it is great to catch up on the Social Capital Markets conversation. My first impression i…

Comments (0)

TweetSaver.com Launched

September 1, 2009 | Fort Worth Startup Blog

I haven't posted much recently because I've been head down working on getting a new app out the door. I'm happy to announce that we (Squeejee) …

Comments (2)