Take a tip from Startup Weekend

I am not sure what to make of the idea of Startup Weekend. The old-fashioned part of me thinks that a business needs to be carefully planned and agonised over. It needs weeks of research, where problems can be chewed over and hopefully resolved BEFORE your business begins.

But I do appreciate that Startup Weekend is designed to bring an idea to life, rather than creating an entire living, breathing entity.

I also love the idea as a procrastination killer – too many people see starting a business as too hard and this concept does show that it can be done very quickly in certain circumstances.

Those “certain circumstances” are something that start-up entrepreneurs can learn from.

The Startup Weekend concept works because lots of people are involved – entrepreneurs with lots of ideas, officials to guide the weekend, judges and investors to pick winners at the end of the process.

It is this sort of hyper-network that allows an entrepreneur to test their idea, get feedback, develop the idea some more and then put it to the market, in a small way anyway. You might spot a business partner or an employee, all in the space of a few days.

It is these circumstances that entrepreneurs should seek out – circumstances that allow their idea to be discussed, experimented with and even judged.

These circumstances certainly exist in a Startup Weekend environment, but they may also exist at networking events, within start-up incubators and inside start-up hubs.

Collaboration and networks are huge competitive advantages, so seek them out.

Get it done – today!