
16 new services launched in 48 hours in Estonia - jkaljundi
http://garage48.org/blogger/garage48-tallinn-results-april-2010
======
wheels
I'll be honest. I find these things retarded. It'd be like sailing across the
Bering Strait and announcing that'd you'd crossed the Pacific.

Something thrown together in 48 hours is not a startup; it's a website. It
might be able to turn into a startup over time, and I think that would be a
far more interesting statistic: how many of these "startups" are doing
anything after 3 months?

~~~
ohashi
I will tell you in 3 months. I was actually one of the organizers for this
group of events (startup weekend and associated events were done all over the
nordics last weekend and the weekend before) and I honestly don't think it's
really about actually getting a startup going so much as the experience and
meeting people. I do know from talking with the Startup Weekend guys in the
states (Clint) that some of these actually do turn into _real_ startups and
get funded and launch but many don't. I don't think that's a problem at all, I
know from my personal experience (Lund, Sweden) that is was very heavy with
university students who probably weren't considering or thinking about
startups at all. The event helps people become aware of the opportunities,
network and meet a lot of people who might be interested in doing something.
One of the things that makes it easiest (my opinion) is other people
interested in starting up and knowing the right people in your region to
actually get help (legal, business, investors, feedback, everything else).
These types of events give that opportunity to people who might have never
even thought about it otherwise. If a startup is born from the event, AWESOME.
If not, what else was gained? I think quite a bit.

~~~
jkaljundi
In Tallinn we also had a great mix of people, from high school and university
students to experienced professional people. Even 2 of the Skype founders, who
have written core part of that product and made hundreds of millions in exits,
were in the teams, developing Garage48 software products. Not so much to
create new fantastic businesses, but to hack, have fun and meet people.

Interesting fact: On quick count 14 present and former Skype staff contributed
to 6 of total 16 Garage48 teams. Skype has had a great effect on Estonian
startup and development culture.

~~~
ohashi
That's pretty awesome, glad to hear such a great group of people got together.
We had Peter Sunde the first day give a talk and he stayed for the pitches
asking questions and giving feedback which was pretty fun to listen to.

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gojomo
The site's own headline has the decency to call these "services" rather than
"startups". Oh, that the submission-headline would be as honest!

~~~
jkaljundi
Thanks for the suggestion, changed the title of the submission. Absolutely
agree, that for now most of these are just quick projects, that might grow
into real companies. Ideas are cheap, execution is what matters. These were ad
hoc projects, people who met first time on Friday, many of them students. The
focus was also not on businesses, but products and services, some of them non-
commercial - why not. Events like these have also the goal of getting contacts
and new friends and give people motivation. In that Garage48 succeeded, so
many people said they are now considering doing a startup, something they
never before had thought of.

~~~
gojomo
Thank you! (Many of the initial comments were reacting to the word 'startup'
rather than the interesting services created, so I think this wording will get
more of the right kind of attention/reaction.)

~~~
jkaljundi
True, sorry! We actually do most of our communications locally in Estonian and
use different terms, which get lost in translation :)

------
jrw89
My favourite: "Seenele - map based Facebook application to find places to get
mushrooms."

~~~
jkaljundi
They said there are huge opportunities for growth. They can expand into
berries. Or fishing. The pitch and jury questions section was funny as hell.
That counts.

Seriously though, as a small 4-person team they developed an impressive mobile
+ Facebook mapping / events / social application that can be tried out in many
revenue-generating businesses. What they need to do is experiment, iterate,
get mentored and find their way. There are so many opportunities where they
can grow. Using mushrooms as an example does not mean that's what they
actually want to do for the rest of their lives :)

------
jkaljundi
I believe this quote from Paul Graham is relevant here: "Don't be discouraged
if what you produce initially is something other people dismiss as a toy. In
fact, that's a good sign. That's probably why everyone else has been
overlooking the idea. The first microcomputers were dismissed as toys. And the
first planes, and the first cars. At this point, when someone comes to us with
something that users like but that we could envision forum trolls dismissing
as a toy, it makes us especially likely to invest."
<http://www.paulgraham.com/organic.html>

------
tewks
Sign of a startup bubble?

~~~
tomjen3
No. There are plenty signs but this isn't one of them.

If they were valued at several million, then yes.

~~~
jkaljundi
Fun projects for mushroom fans or tracking how much parliament members attend
the sessions are definitely not signs of a bubble :-)

One of the projects on the other hand made a lot of fun out of funding/exit
bubble, making it their key theme: their only goal was to exit by next Friday.
The first thing they did was list themselves for sale on an auction site. One
of the VC's on the jury actually made a 50 cents bet on them, raising it from
previous 40 cents ;) Having fun is important, not all things are dead serious.

------
andr
What is the success rate of startup weekend startups?

~~~
jkaljundi
If 2-3 of the 16 projects would turn into real businesses, we would be
extremely happy. If at least half of them continue as websites or free
software, that would be great as well.

Let's also not forget, that if the people are great and team works well, many
of the startups find themselves doing something completely different in 1-2
years time. You just have to get started and experiment.

