Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Startup Weekend is an organized event where people get together to imagine, build and launch a business in one weekend!  I first read about it last year on the Monday directly following the weekend.  It was the first one here in my town and has since gone global to many cities.  Maybe they have one where you live so check it out.

It looks like a lot of fun, a good way to learn and meet new people.  It starts tomorrow night and ends Sunday evening.  If anyone wants to know how it goes, I`ll check back here with an update.

I wonder what business we`ll make?

Sounds like intense fun, Steve.  Not enough interest yet in my city but I`ve put in my vote!   It`ll be interesting to hear what business your city developes this weekend.  Please do let us know : ) 

Thanks for the link; sounds like a great weekend and I`m looking forward your update

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Chris Miller, a simple taco maker:
The Tiger Taco home in the U.S.A.
Tiger Tacos in Australia
Tiger Tacos in the United Kingdom

I thought I`d give an update in the middle of Startup Weekend here.  There are 9 different companies in the works among all the participants.  It`s exciting and intense!

I`m working with a team on MoldRush.com, a site to track the lifecycle of injection molds from transport to the factory to its eventual retirement.  The problem being solved is to keep manufacturers up to date of their molds so there won`t be any surprises when an old mold retires and a new one needs to be paid for.  This is often a cost that manufacturers have a tough time preparing for.  The online software will also log scheduled maintenance, major repairs and transportation to other factories.

(I came up with the name, logo and tagline.  I`m working with a lot of smart tech people so I`m sort of the creative department.)

We thought of the idea last night (Friday) and will have a functioning site with an implemented business model by tomorrow night (Sunday)!!!  Do you think we can make the deadline?

Find out more about the other businesses or watch video footage or live coverage here.

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Chris Miller, a simple taco maker:
The Tiger Taco home in the U.S.A.
Tiger Tacos in Australia
Tiger Tacos in the United Kingdom

So how did it go? Let`s hear about it..............


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Take each day, mold it and make it yours.......

http://www.solutionshealthnwellness.com

Well, Startup Weekend was a blast!  Did we launch Mold Rush in time?

The weekend had very little structure to it which was really cool, though sometimes a bit confusing.  We were free to start/join any groups we wished.  At first, there were a lot more businesses forming but the initial discussions put some ideas in the waste bin.  The challenge for most of us wasn`t thinking up ideas, rather finding something that could possibly be done in a single weekend.

Almost all of the businesses were web based because it`s easier to launch something quick, especially given that there were a lot of developers there.  (Note: not only a fun weekend but a great way to meet developers if you need people for your biz.)  And most of these businesses fit into the social networking category - Facebook, iPhone, web apps to help people keep in touch or have fun doing so.

I was drawn to the injection mold tracking group because the initial pitch to all the attendees was that it was the "least sexy idea of the weekend" which seemed challenging for someone like me who is so design-oriented.  I wondered if I could make it sexy, give it a brand presence.  I had to debate some of the others who saw the web application as a basic spreadsheet style interface.  I don`t blame them because the world of manufacturing software (not that I`ve ever used any) is very cut-and-dry.  But I came up with a fun name, Mold Rush, gave it a visual style, a creative tagline and wrote some lighthearted marketing copy for the home page.  It really charged our team!

And many people in other businesses started watching our progress.  While there were people of all age groups, much of the crowd was 20-30 something web developer guys.  They were the ones populating the social networking businesses, and tracking injection molds made no connection with them at all.  But when we had a logo, some mocked up page designs that were as slick as cool blog, we became cool.  :)

Another thing that drew me to the Mold Rush team was that it addressed a real problem that our "CEO" experienced in the real world as a manufacturer.  His solution seemed simple in theory and execution.  It seemed possible in a weekend.  So was it?

Yes and no.  We didn`t actually launch the site by Sunday evening.  We had all of our basic pages mocked up and built in the front end.  And the majority of the databases were built in the back end.  We ran out of time before we could begin bridging them and tweaking the details.  So the site itself never made it.

But here is what else we did.  We had figured out a working business structure.  We had done market research on competition, figured out our advantages and so forth.  (Injection mold manufacturing is a 10.9 billion dollar industry in the U.S. alone.)  We planned a pricing structure to monetize our business through a subscription fee based on number of molds tracked.  We thought through scalability and came up with a marketing plan.  So it wasn`t just building a website.  We were indeed building a business.

In fact, all but one company didn`t make it to launch.  (Hitsurance had a working prototype on Sunday night and it looks like they added some style since then.)  One of the reasons for this is that for some dumb reason, the weekend was planned during Easter.  Many people never came in on Sunday or they came in later in the afternoon.  This is understandable for those who preferred to celebrate but it took its toll on productivity.  Some of the business teams plan to continue their development.

But the first purpose of the weekend was not to really launch a business, rather to have fun and build a community.  To most of us, it was an experiment in working with others in a new environment.  People got to step out of their normal roles.  One guy who was a developer told me he barely wanted to touch a computer and instead work with others to learn some business development skills.  Heck, I jumped aboard the business that I knew the least about.

So what now of MoldRush.com?  Well, we all have day jobs and aren`t really planning on following through.  Most of us have our own other startups in the works and two of our team are also working on MBAs.  So Mold Rush takes a back burner and will hold a special place in our entrepreneurial hearts.  At the time of this posting, we have a splash page up.  I believe there is a plan with some of our developers to at least post the home page content to explain a bit more about it, so that may be up in a few days.

It was a great weekend and a lot of fun.  I met some cool people and had a chance to do new things.  I recommend Startup Weekend if it`s coming to your city.  You can even vote for your city on the site.

Have any questions about anything or any of the other businesses?  Ask me!

Holy cow, did I write all that?!!!

Great report - sounds like you really had a good time. I will see if it will be either in my town or an area near me......... Thanks for sharing.


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Take each day, mold it and make it yours.......

http://www.solutionshealthnwellness.com

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Chris Miller, a simple taco maker:
The Tiger Taco home in the U.S.A.
Tiger Tacos in Australia
Tiger Tacos in the United Kingdom