

How to launch a tech company in one weekend (CNN on Atlanta Startup Weekend 2) - ivey
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/biztech/11/24/startup.weekend/index.html

======
ajju
Over the past year, it has been quite an experience to see the entrepreneurial
community in Atlanta band together and do great things like ASW2, Startup
Riot, Startup Gauntlet and ATL Show and Tell just to name a few.

ATL is no Bay Area but it isn't "hosed" either, pg's opinions not withstanding
:) [See Atlanta can compete: <http://blog.weatherby.net/2007/10/atlanta-can-
com.html>]

In addition to the 100+ people who participated in ASW2, a lot of credit goes
to the guys who helped organize it, sponsored it and worked to make sure it
got attention in the media. Lance Weatherby (news.yc user lanceweatherby) and
Georgia Tech / ATDC where it was hosted deserve a special mention.

~~~
ivankirigin
What about investors? Getting tech people to meetup and collaborate seems much
easier than convincing people that are unaccustomed to purchase certain asset
categories to do so.

------
omarchowdhury
I wish not to disrupt the mood of the population on HN, but a question.

When will the majority of tech entrepreneurs begin to build products and
services targeted at more than, say, a few hundred people?

It seems most of the tech startups are heralded by tech websites, and the only
people using the services, are... you guessed it: other tech people. Such a
limited base of customers!

Lastly, why are there so many derivative based startups, who piggy back and
rely on another service? Are the dollars going to be realized when you cash
out by being acquired by a company that wants to add you as a feature?

I just want to know.

~~~
patio11
I think the problem with startups isn't that they target a few hundred people.
They probably target a couple hundred thousand people. The problem is that it
is invariably THE SAME people... and that the people they target do not pay
money for the things that startups sell. To the extent that startups sell
anything. Because they realize they can't. Because their target does not pay
money for software or services. (They'll pay for some technology -- iPods, for
example. But they won't buy what startups are selling. Sorry. They also won't
buy anything from anyone who runs ads on the Internet, which is why "We get a
billion eyeballs and then we MONETIZE!" is going to be a tough row to hoe the
next few years.)

I have a teeny tiny software business. 95% of my customers are female. The
average age is, making an estimate, north of 35. I deal with a lot of @aol and
@roadrunner email addresses. Despite the abject disbelief I get when I tell my
software writing buddies the story, it really is possible to sell software to
folks who do not know what RSS is and do not care that their websites
validate.

So why do I feel like I'm one of the only guys trying to do it?

~~~
omarchowdhury
Thanks for your response.

I think most startups are not really startups. They are more like elementary
school science projects, where all the kids show off to other kids what they
are doing.

~~~
flashgordon
actually the last startup weekend in Sydney by Silicon Beach, had 3 startups:

utag - <http://www.ut.ag/> TrafficHawk - <http://www.traffichawk.com.au/> and
LinkViz - <http://www.linkviz.com/>

showed nice rankings on alexis (cant recall the numbers).

~~~
andrewhyde
That was a similar event, but was not Startup Weekend.

------
PStamatiou
Grats on the companies mentioned:

<http://twitpay.me> (OP's project) and <http://skribit.com> (my project)

~~~
pstinnett
Congrats Paul. It'd be interested to see if/when your user count spikes due to
this article.

------
JoelSutherland
For the few Startup Weekend projects that have been successful, how has equity
been divided?

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Which have been successful?

~~~
lanceweatherby
How do you define success?

~~~
fallentimes
For the purpose of this conversation, let's define it as one or more of the
following:

Recurring profits/issue dividends/get acquired

Unless someone has better metrics; success is hard to define.

~~~
ajju
I think for a startup weekend type event you have to define success as any
company that follows through after the weekend and gets a non trivial amount
of users.

Profits, in general, take years and may not be the best way to define success
for startups (at least young ones). Profits _should_ be the goal however.

Getting acquired is a good measure but this too, typically, takes years.

Issuing dividends...is just too far into the future for most startups.

~~~
fallentimes
Oh ok - I didn't really know how long startup weekends have been going for. So
now we have to define what a non-trivial amount of users/traffic is :).

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Probably the most important thing is growth.

------
mixmax
As anyone that has ever started a company can tell you the hard part is not
spending a weekend building a cool prototype - anyone can do that. There's a
long way to a sustainable company.

"How to build a basic product in one weekend" would probably be more
appropriate.

~~~
andrewhyde
And test out potential cofounders. That is the real value.

------
smahend
Congrats twitpay!!

------
theklub
Can you really call this a company just yet?

~~~
ivey
Yes.

