http://www.pinskylaw.ca/Resources/resources.htm

By the way, which year did you graduated? I was class 2002 West Lafatyette.

Another thing I noticed from the pictures is that there seemed to be more space, sunlight and room to move around than in Boulder. In Boulder I got the sense I could lean over and talk to anyone on any team at any time. It was a crucial part of the learning experience for me. The fluidity between teams, being able to talk and be heard, listen and learn, was what I most appreciated about it. Egos, for the most part, were left at the door. And thank God, b/c I don’t think there would have been enough room for 50+ egos!

The other thing that was huge for me, an element that I found to be missing from the Toronto Startup Weekend blog, was the constant commentary on the weekend. David Cohen rocked out more than 100 posts during SUW Boulder. It kept us informed (when we were doing something else and missed a meeting, for instance) and it kept the outside world engaged. One of the most important things about SUW, IMHO, is that people that can’t attend are able to watch/read about/listen to those of us participating. So a sort of synergy emerges between those present and those observing.

Well, I plan to be at SUW Houston & Boston, so would love to see you at one of those, if not both. Again, appreciate your “analysis” of the weekend as you experienced it. Well done!

i bet you that new york turns out to be quite different from boulder and toronto, and it will take 8-10 weekends for a “best practice” to emerge.

each startup weekend company will off course suffer from at least one of the two major startup killers, and will have to overcome it. a poisonous team is one of the major killers, and having 100 people involved makes this a near certainty that it will have to overcome. further, since the original idea is almost never right (another reason not to reward it so substantially) the product launched at the end of the weekend will often suffer from the ubiquitous “lack of market” problem until the “team” (which is likely to spin out of control as we’ve seen both in boulder and toronto) figures out how to morph the idea into something that makes more sense.

i’ll be shocked if startup weekend companies make it big beyond the natural rate of randomness for these reasons.

i think one has to look at startup weekend as an experience that you can learn from. we learn far more from failures than from successes, and there certainly there is no way to fail faster than in a weekend. so it’s a hugely valuable experience for all who engage in it.

You and I have not had the pleasure to meet, but I did want to comment on something I am beginning to see in all the StartupWeekend posts and comments: Boulder was lucky.

Why?

1) Nobody knew what we were getting into (no expectations). Even Andrew commented that he thought it would be 10 people he knew, and they would all end up at the bars the first night.

2) We had all the correct elements: Three investor types, several entrepreneurs, many doers, many thinkers, a large amount of people that knew only how to drive to success. (even when success was undefined).

3) No pre-conceived structure. Since the feeling was lets see what happens, there was no structure. Even the 7 minute meetings were decided on at the event. How we voted was decided at the event. What groups we would break into was decided at the event. Yoga was decided at the event. Kicking me in the balls was decided at the event.

4) The only process we had was Think then Do. No time for analysis, just think and do.

What did that get us? A fun weekend had by most (Brill, there were 50 people there on Saturday easily, and 30-40 on Sunday, and we were in the building until 2am each night. In fact, on Monday am, people went to another office to continue working.) but no product launch.

Would a bit more structure have been nice. Probably. Will every SW suffer from not being the first, probably.

But what seems to have gone wrong with SWTO, was the expectations set prior (or not set) the event changed at or during the event. Or communication and feedback loops stank.

They do have a open beta (Brill, thats twice you havent posted the link to beta.lobbythem.com), and it seems to work. Its about at the same point VoSnap was after the weekend, and I applaud their decision (which was the opposite of ours) to allow the world to see all their warts.

But, at the end of the day, what is the measure of a successful startupweekend? Probably that a company was formed and a product was launched. The day, weeks, and years after the weekend will prove out the best model for the weekend. SWTO’ers focus on your company. Make it work. Launch it. And be proud of it.

Steve, out of everything that startupweekend has to offer, both positive and negative, those last four words are the only ones that matter.

Come to DC, it will be nice to meet you in person.

The key to a Great StartupWeekend is fun! And lots of it – it’s Speed Dating for Startups – it’s not how to spend your weekend reliving Office Space. By the way, does anyone have that Red Stapler I’ve been looking for???

The 11th hour document, not to mention organization leading up to the weekend, actually dissuaded a LOT of folks from coming out (myself included).

It’s unfortunate, it’s a great idea just horribly executed and very unlike many of the events the Toronto community typically runs up here.