One thing I noticed while organizing Startup Weekend Monterrey is that a some of people are in it for the prize, they see it first of all as a competition. In my opinion, although competition events add real value to the entrepreneur space, there are several problems with that view for Startup Weekend events.
Prizes. The prizes in Startup Weekend events are not that appealing – you don’t get any material trophy, just fame & glory and something to help you continue with your startup.
Teams. In Startup Weekend events the teams get formed on the fly, with people that just met a few minutes ago. If you are in it for the win, this doesn’t work. You’ll want to have a well formed team that already knows how to work together.
Ideas. As mentioned in this blog post (“A bolder idea?” part), you’ll want to know more about the viability of the idea you’ll be working on so you’ll choose a project with more chances of success. A 100 persons debate on the market share or competition (things that the teams will do anyway) for all the 40-70 presented ideas would take all night and probably become unmanageable.
Collaboration. Different teams collaborating or helping each other is a common sight in Startup Weekend events. If the focus is on the competition, this would not happen – if you’re interested in winning there is no point in wasting time helping a rival team.
The fact that there is a winner and that there are prizes can be misleading to the participants in a Startup Weekend. The real value you get is the experience (from the “elevator pitch” all the way to the feedback received from the jury) and the networking. Everybody wins that!
I still think teams that do an exceptional job in one or all of the areas should be congratulated by the jury and get their “fame & glory”. Have perks for the teams to help them build their startup further.
Just don’t make it about the competition – that is another type of event, with a different dynamic and interaction between the participants.
Totally agree,
Though, Startup Weekend prizes / competition is interesting as it’s simulate the competitive business world (btw collaboration is a better strategy from what i’ve been observing at both SW and in the real world:) I usually close SW by reminding the people that this is just an educational experience of what entrepreneurship is about. Some winning teams will make it after the weekend, but some who “lost” might also make it in the next few months (usually 12% raise $ within 6 months…) We should make that clear in the organizer’s guide! Thx
And congrats on the SWMonterrey!
@peignoir