

Ask HN: How to be productive during a 48h startup weekend? - mixu

In about a month, I am attending a startup weekend (= 48hr weekend hackathon where teams go from idea to product). Any tips on how to get more done during the weekend / how to prepare for the weekend?<p>I am looking forward to all tips (e.g. networking and all that), however it would be particularly interesting to hear about how I (as a programmer) can prepare and have the right tools/libraries ready...
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kaisdavisOR
I'm not a programmer, but after a few technical and non-technical project
hackathons, I've come away with three pieces of advice:

* Clear communication with your team (if you're working as a team): Have a system for communicating without interruption so you aren't sacrificing productivity for better communication.

* Pomodoro, Pomodoro, Pomodoro: Work in sprints. I favor pomodoro sprints, but whatever works for you. Small time sprints helps avoid burnout and focuses you on the piece of the problem at hand (I need to make X do Y) instead of the whole frickin' thing.

* Set a clear MVP for the 48hours: You've got 48 hours, that's great. But you've also _only_ got 48 hours. You can build something cool, but try to hone down to something that's functional, communicates your idea, and doesn't have bloat. Ask yourself, if you had half as much time, would you include this feature? Be merciless and work to build something awesome that you can get finished.

Good luck! Share whatever you build!

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derrida
What are these things? How do you go to a 'hackathon' if your not a
programmer? What do you do? Make it look pretty?

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kaisdavisOR
Great question, derrida. The projects were launching MVPs of projects over a
weekend as part of a larger group or just a few friends working together. I've
worked on:

* Copywriting - for a landing page, app, email responses * Setting up the CMS / working on HTML & CSS for the project * Integrating online tools into the project (Wufoo, Mailchimp, Google Analytics, Get Clicky, Get Satisfaction) * Marketing - Designing and implementing a process for attracting new users and having them sign up

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imp
I was a developer in a startup weekend last month, and our team did really
well. What helped us the most was that all the developers were familiar with
the framework and VCS we were using (Django and git). None of us wasted any
time installing anything or reading the how-to docs for beginners. We hit the
ground running and wrote the most code of any group by far.

To prepare, make sure you're familiar with at least one popular framework so
that you can join a team that's using it. Also, learn git and/or hg if you
haven't yet.

If you're lucky (like I was), one of the teams using your framework will also
have a good idea.

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oregonspanish
I've done two. Won one. I'm not a programmer, so I won't speak to that part. I
created an account just to share this.

1\. Arrive with a pitch. Figure something out that will keep you excited for
an entire weekend. Transmit that excitement in your pitch. The excitement
beats a good idea.

2\. Ruthlessly recruit. Find your talent before the pitches start and win them
over. Nearly everyone has some pet project they'd rather work on, so you may
need to listen to theirs' first and let them dismiss it as a crazy idea. Tell
them you think it is genius and try to relate it to a part of your project.
This wins recruits.

3\. Cull. Fire the non-essential team members by taking them over to another
group and introducing them to the group. Then run. This may seem cruel, but it
will save you from bloat and slowness.

3\. Refocus every 90 minutes. If you have a small, smart team, the duties will
shake out quickly. But pull everyone back together for 5 minutes every 90 to
give updates and to refocus. This is a modified pomodoro and will keep
everyone from going down rabbit trails or checking out of the project. You
have to lead.

4\. Brag. For the final pitch, share your failures and successes brazenly.
Show off your team's skills and openly address gaps in skill or knowledge. You
will be approached afterwards if someone loves your enthusiasm but sees where
they could fill in a gap. Show your product, holes and all. It gets you honest
feedback faster and will carry you through to full execution if you listen.
Good luck.

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kgutteridge
Be really focused in what you intend to deliver and every 2 hours remind
yourself what you were setting out to build rather than letting feature creep
set in, its not a lot of time so simple ideas executed well will most likely
do better

Get plenty of rest before hand

Quite often worth taking an electrical extension with you, incase power runs
short

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templaedhel
Off topic, but where? I am always looking for these to attend, but only know
of TC disrupt, and a few in Canada.

