Surviving your first Startup Weekend (and loving it!)

They say startup weekends are intensely addictive and it just takes one to start what could become a lifelong habit but for those about to set out on their first startup weekend, what can they learn from those who have gone before to make the finishing line in the best possible shape?

The organisers will send you their own list. And these are all important - bring them all but what I found was that the veterans brought a bit more than that. And I made a note that next time I'd be one of those savvy veterans bringing the following:

• multi-plug – one office, two power outlets, six laptops – is there any further elaboration needed?

• alternative internet – internet is provided but do you really want to sit through a session of being down, knowing that the key fact/image/code you need is out of reach until it's back up?

• a clean USB drive – for moving files around.

• coffee mug – you will be supplied with more coffee than may be good for you, and a new cup every time. Be a little kind on your world and bring your own (supersized if necessary) mug. But label, if you want it back again, label.

• water bottle – yes, you've got that unlimited supply of coffee on the go but the brain needs a little more than that – a bottle might encourage you to drink a little bit along the way.

• late night food supplies – don't worry about food – it's good and it's plentiful, except possibly at 11pm when you're about to make that last push for the night – an emergency musli bar stash will never go astray. And a bag of lollies for outright bribery of other teams' members helps.

• stationery set – oh yes, it's a high tech world but sometimes you need to put a piece of paper in front of someone, and you'll need scissors to cut it with and you'll need sticky tape to put it on their wall so they don't forget you. You could ask the endlessly helpful organisers or your could save those minutes for the next task in the impossible list of tasks to complete in your allotted 54 hours.

Well, that's my list of what I wish I'd brought with me, I'd love to hear from other participants on the items they most wished they'd had with them. When enough are mentioned, I'll republish the article with them – as the “perfect suitcase for startup weekends”.

Until then, whatever you do – make sure you take the multi-plug.

 

Ursula Hoult is PR Manager at Unified Inbox in her day job and has just returned from attending her first Startup Weekend. All Startup Weekend Auckland June 15-17 2012 attendees are entitled to receive a free years subscription to Unified Inbox – a place for teams to collaborate on the multiple communication accounts required to run a project or business. Her AKLSW project was Startup-Platform and they use Unified Inbox for managing their incoming communication streams.