On Building skillbit
January 27, 2008 | by Andrew HydeThe Seattle Startup Weekend got off to a rough start. Perhaps a bit too large of a group, for the facilitation technique that usually works very well for Startup Weekend somewhat backfired, creating a very tense and awkward meeting for Friday night.
The ideas pitched during the idea selection phase of Startup Weekend events usually fall into one group: ‘lets do this niche need, and do it well.’ Skribit is a great example of this, so is VoSnap. Simple, targeted, not replacing anything existing. After much debate, discussion, some finger pointing and raised voices, the Seattle team chose a CarPool idea, with a unique to Startup Weekend idea of recreating something that is already out there. The competition was sized up and the team thought we could do what so many others have failed at doing, creating an engaging, lightweight and fun application for arranging rides to CarPools.
The problem was huge, the competition was doing everything we could think of under the sun, and doing it well. We realized that we were creating a problem to solve, not solving a problem that users would be ecstatic to support. That is a huge problem. At 10pm we scraped the idea and chose one of the finalists. Failed fast.
About 15 minutes later the team chose skillbit, a site where businesses can set up a network that employees can use to share their skills, and learn more about their coworkers.
Some groups split off and decided to do their own projects at the bars, some left entirely and some decided to give this idea one more day to see how it worked out.
Startups are hard. Really hard. If this is a simulation of the first year of a startup, we had a fight with the founders, some stayed, some left, and the project moved forward.
Sitting on Saturday night, my main thought was ‘what a difference 24 hours makes.‘ On Friday night I thought we were in for a long weekend, but I was quickly proved wrong. We have an amazing team working together in a way I would never have guessed on Friday night.
19 working hours in, and I’ve met some really incredible people, about whom I will blog about in short at the conclusion of the weekend. I’ve also had the opportunity to execute skillbit’s web site, from start to finish. This process included:
- Coordination with the UX and design teams;
- Keyword research;
- Web site architecture;
- Writing content for the web pages and splash pages;
- Writing tag lines;
- Working with incredible people who share my passion for Web 2.0
This is a problem that a few of us are working on this morning— making sure that participants know that this isn’t always an easy process. Just like a startup, major problems can arise. Personalities don’t mesh, decisions you don’t agree with are made and the direction of the company can swing away from your vision. It is how you react and build from them that shows who you are and what you can do. Starting a company isn’t teddy bears and lollipops; it is one of the toughest things you can do. 2 parts passion, 3 parts talent, 1 part luck— hit the red button on a blender and see how everything reacts. Welcome to the life of a startup, harsh, glamorous and somehow envied.
Things turned around, and did so in impressive fashion.
Anthony Stevens wrote a great post on what it is like to work on a Startup Weekend project, and points out some of the subtleties that make the weekend so special:
Off on the other side of the room, we got updates from business development, design, and other groups periodically throughout the day. There’s apparently such a thing as a “doorstep pitch”, which is like yesterday’s “elevator pitch”, only you have like three seconds to impress the person before their eyes glaze over and their mind goes off to relive last night’s Celebrity Apprentice. Also, we have a logo, and it rocks! It’s really amazing what a group of talented, motivated people can do when they need to. That’s the main lesson I’m taking away from this weekend.
We are working toward a 9pm launch, with amazing unity, drive and energy. This is an talented group, it has been and will continue to be an experience where we learn, grow and connect with a great group of founders.
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7 Responses to “On Building skillbit”
By brett borders on Jan 27, 2008 | Reply
Cool reflections on the team building process and the right mixture needed to make a group of people move forward. It sounds like a very daunting task - to do what you do - on a random basis with a group of strangers. Great job!
By Will on Jan 27, 2008 | Reply
If I did not know any better, I would have thought you were rehashing the DC SW ;-)! Glad to see things turned around and sounds like you are on a similar path as to the one we were on, but beating us with a 9 pm launch, only time will tell.
W
By Micah Baldwin on Jan 27, 2008 | Reply
Of all the posts you have every written about StartupWeekend, this one is the best for a number of reasons, the first and most important is that you have finally accepted the event for what it is, not what you want it to be.
Kudos, my friend.
(I would save that line above. Its probably the last time I complement your slacker ass.)