Free Startup Weekend: How to Take a Company From Concept to Creation in 54 Hours by Marc Nager, Clint Nelsen, Franck Nouyrigat Page A

75 people pitching ideas to them in single a day, but they certainly have a lot over the course of a week—particularly when you count all of the people who find out what they do and want to chew off their ears over drinks or at a birthday party. But your audience, at both Startup Weekend and elsewhere, is not comprised of just investors. It's made of customers as well! Think about how many products and services bombard us with their advertising every day, every hour, and every minute via e-mail, texts, tweets, phone calls, television ads, billboards, and even signs on the sides of buses. You need a name to distinguish your product from the rest.
    All of this advice about the substance of your pitch is good to understand. It is necessary, as they say, but not sufficient—because you need enthusiasm, too. Even if you are the last person in line to describe your product—and sometimes, you will be—you have to convey as much passion and energy as though it were the beginning of the day. By attending Startup Weekend, you are trying to get people to give up the next two days of their lives to work with you. You are asking for even more commitment in the real world. For this reason, you have to be committed to the idea yourself, as well as inspire the commitment of others.

     
    Many Startup Weekend participants tell us that it takes them a few tries to get the hang of it ; that is, they have to come to a few events before they really master the pitch. But even if you're really not that enthusiastic about your idea, there's no harm in trying it out. Some people we talk to have a list of ideas for startup ventures a mile long and just pick one at random when they arrive on Friday night. But when you're done with your own pitch, you want to watch for other people who have real passion. Those people have that vital first ingredient— energy —required to make a successful startup team. While you shouldn't be afraid to get up and offer your idea, you don't want to be too proud to put it on the back burner if you hear something that sounds more promising.
    Build a Team
    With a firm understanding of action-based networking and the art of the pitch, you can move on to the next phase of starting up a business: building a team. We ask everyone to make sure they tell us exactly whom they need in order to build their product at the end of their pitch. In part, that means assessing your own skills and figuring out what you are lacking. Are you a developer who really needs some design expertise, or a designer lacking any sense of business development? Now is the time to acknowledge where your idea needs some help and expertise.
    But maybe you also want to see what other domains are like—in other words, try on another hat. Maybe you're very good at coding but you'd really like to see if you're ready to work on the business end. You'd want to get other developers to join your team so you're not the only one doing that specific task; this will free you up to work on other aspects of the project. It's a good way of building new skills that you might not be able to hone during your day job because the risks are too high. You might find out that you are good at something else; or you might realize you're terrible at it. The crucial thing to keep in mind is that you have nothing to lose. In much the same way that we put our products through multiple iterations, it's important to put ourselves through them. That's what entrepreneurs do.
    Sean Kean, a former flight attendant who has been doing computer coding for 20 years, came to his first Startup Weekend looking to expand his horizons a bit. He has now tried the business end of things, and says that Startup Weekend allowed him to figure out the answer to the questions: “Where am I most valuable? Where can I be most effective?” Lately, he spends most of his time talking to investors and customers, and very little