November 7
2013
AFTER EDITION
The Startup Daily Het Kasteel, Melkweg 1, 9718 EP Groningen
Index Intro Nick Stevens -------------P.2 What’s up with the press corner p.3 Overview Groups --------------P.4-5 Just Sayin’ --------------------P.6 Lauren Valbert thinks ----------P.7 DAY 1 ------------------------P.8-9
Backstage at Tebrugge --------P.10 Time to Relax -----------------P.10 Renate Verstappen -------------P.11 Soupie? -----------------------P.11 DAY 2 ----------------------p.12-13 Meet the Jury -----------------p.14 Survival tips -----------------P.15 DAY 3 -----------------------P.16-17
groningen.startupweekend.org
The Danish Guy ----------------p.18 A typical Startup Weekend ------p.18 Expectations ------------------p.19 DAY 3: The winners ---------P.20-21 Think Different ---------------p.22 The Weather -------------------p.22 Illustrated Facts -------------p.23 Sponsors ----------------------p.24
Intro by Nick Stevens Startup Weekend is massive. As a not-forprofit organisation hosting more than 1250 events, across 550 cities in 115 countries, we’ve reached over 115000 attendees in just under five years.
Colophon Concept SAUS
Like Us facebook.com/sausgroningen
Editor in Chief Lotte Dijkstra
Writers Sieta Schellinger Sahal Merchant
Photography Sieta Schellinger Joost Nuijten
In Groningen for the third time, the annual event held on the weekend of November 1, 2, 3 was the result of many months of work by a team of volunteer organisers. With fifteen other events happening during the same weekend, attendees come from all sorts of different backgrounds but share an interest in exploring entrepreneurship. The event schedule is more or less consistent across all events. Starting on Friday the approximately 100 attendees gathered, got to know each other a little over dinner before being welcomed to the event by facilitator Nick Stevens and keynote speaker Merijn Everaarts, founder of Dopper.
on their favourites, and formed teams accordingly. The rest of the night, Saturday and Sunday daytime the teams worked to explore their idea and create the basics of a business. Aided by a group of experienced mentors, the teams were encouraged to develop business models and strategies as well as functional products/services. Sunday evening saw the eleven surviving teams down their tools and prepare to do battle by presenting their vision and progress over the weekend to a VIP jury. Supported by both global and local sponsors, Startup Weekend provides experiential education in a pressure cooker type situation. Attendees learn from each other and the mentors, not by studying, but doing. In Groningen, one team acquired 60 paying customers and delivered a physical product to them on Sunday evening, others already had meetings with potential partners, suppliers and customers booked for the week following the event.
Design Ellen Beck Anne-Marijn Van Rooij Liza Verboon Sahal Merchant
Next, 43 ideas were each pitched in 60 seconds by attendees, who then voted
Software Developer Sietze de Jong
Guest Writer Nick Stevens Lauren Valbert Pascal Wassenberg Renate Verstappen Arjan Yspeert Robin Balser
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- Nick Stevens
What’s up with the press corner
And who are we? We are SAUS! “Saus” is the Dutch word for sauce, a flavourful seasoning or relish served as an accompaniment to food. It is something that adds zest, flavour, or piquancy. SAUS is what you can call a creative flavour enhancer. It supplies an extra dimension of colour and flavour to everything it is added to. SAUS is made up of seven different ingredients.
You might have been wondering what the people loitering in the top floor hallway were all about. So here’s a quick explanation:
an opening to get an interview. you are least expecting it, we pounce on you for a picture. you, it’s not the only thing we be doing this weekend.
You’re reading it. They made this paper, and by they I mean we. So if you want to place an add for your new product or if you have any kind of
On the first floor we have set up a number of interactive playthings for your entertainment. If you crave a bit of fresh air, there is a short
It combines graphic design, illustration, animation, photography, spatial design, event management and software development. All of SAUS’s
news worthy subject on your mind, you can come and see us. We are looking for your stories! You will see us lurking in the shadows, waiting for
walk we have set out for you. Remember us if you have any kind of needs, be it creative, mental or odorous. We might have a solution.
members have their own businesses, but they love to combine their powers for joint projects such as STARTUP WEEKEND GRONINGEN.
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When will Mind will
54 hrs later Superheroes ASSEMBLE!!
Overview groups
Of the 43 ideas pitched on Friday, only 15 survived the voting process. 2 ideas merged straight away and sadly we lost 3 ideas in the process. We ended up having eleven groups working on eleven great ideas. Heres is an overview on all of them.
Splintr is a platform that engages users through stories in the form of an illustrated book which consists of successful and inspiring innovators. It challenges them to take the first step towards creating new things for themselves. For a fee the users get a box of the products featured in the book which comes along with a challenge to make the product better. This engages the user to interact with the product and the results of which can be uploaded by the user thus completing the circle. The main idea behind Splintr is not only to act as a bridge between the inventor and the users but also to create a community who they can provide tools to for creating new ideas and products.
SPLINTR
Get Out and Play People don’t get any exercise these days. Most have to be motivated to do so. Get out and play encourages people to do jus that. Player use a city map for example on their phone where virtual landmarks are mapped over real ones. You can also challenge an opponent who owns a landmark and battle over them for ownership. Game play involves simple physical movements using your phone. Revenue can be gained with in-app purchases like upgrading avatars and special powers. Businesses – local and global can buy in on landmarks including their own businesses. Users will be awarded depending on tasks completed. For example a health care sponsor can award users for walking certain distances and promoting health awareness.
The problem with news is that it is objective. We are never really informed about the facts or the sources. Statosfr attempts at solving this problem by creating a service that provides statistics in the form of a widget (a graph or map using geo data) next to news articles using multiple data sources and aggregating them. Statosphr will search the data and combine them to give the output. This adds context to the information cited in the article. The service is target towards content creators like journalists. The service is Freemium and will only cost a fee if there are multiple widgets of data.
Statosfr
Esperanto Esperanto is not just a coffee bar but an experience. It is a cafe where art and culture come together over a great cup of coffee or wine. Esperanto will provide a platform for artists, writers and musicians to present themselves and their work. Visitors would be charged a small fee to attend these performances and presentations. The cafe would strive to create a place where one could feel at home, laugh, get inspired and inspire others. Groningen does not have a place quiet like it yet and Esperanto could surely fill that gap.
Game of Drones The team pitched an idea to develop a drone that could follow a person with facial recognition. The product would be a drone+GoPro hybrid. Many extreme sport athletes would love to have videos & pictures of themselves performing their sports. Its not practical to make a good selfie and give a great performance at the same time. The Game of Drones would be perfect for this. They would eventually offer it as a selfie service for rent. One of the big challenges the team faced was getting the drone software to work with a GoPro cam and an appropriate facial recognition software.
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Vanilla nights There is a dearth of decent strip clubs in the Netherlands, most having a bad image since they are known for having a problem with trafficking of women who are promised a good career in dancing but end up being abused or forced into prostitution. By giving a quality experience in a high class environment and being socially responsible, “Vanilla Nights” strives to change that. The team chose for a burlesque style as it is proving to be popular in the west. They also have reduced over head costs as their performances would be hosted at venues. By offering quality performances in burlesque, strip tease and lap dancing, the team found contacts willing to host and also willing to re-decorate their interiors. Vanilla night can change this industry by making that difference.
Hawk’s eye Mapping disasters is hard as it involves a lot of variables and data, in which one can easily get lost. Hawk’s Eye automatically acquires the real time localized impact of a natural disaster by combining social media analysis and real-time disaster information. You can track the path of a tornado for example and see its social impact in a community. This can also offer a risk free solution for insurance companies as insurance claim fraud is much higher during natural disasters. Hawk’s Eye aims at charging a percentage of the revenue earned by these companies. The app claims to be extremely fast as it uses sophisticated algorithms and heuristics that can accurately predict and show information and trajectories.
Organize your right “Organise you right” is an app that makes living or working together a tad bit easier in the event of you shifting out of a shared house or working space. The users of the app can make lists according to the ownership of possessions. After a list is created you can then make an agreement of the same and have it legalised at a notary or lawyer’s office. The lists can also be updated in the future with the app. Thus cutting down the possibility of conflicts if the need to move out does arise. The app can be beneficial for students, live-in partners or also estate agents.
Spinning Heroes Spinning can be boring, but Spinning heroes can make it way more cooler and fun. The game combines a spinning bike with an ipad for a controller and a display screen. Spinners can thus compete with each other in a Super Mario Kart like game using avatars and influencing the speed of their virtual vehicles depending on how hard they pedal. The team plans to forge a co-operation between gyms and fitness machines manufacturers who can pay a fee for using their game. Spinning heroes intends to put some fun into spinning.
Super Selfie SuperSelfie would like to revolutionise the outdoor advertising industry by giving customers the power to post selfies using their app onto advertising billboards. App users can login using social media, look up offers from various brands, take a selfie and share with the brand’s logo onto the SuperSelfie billboard and also have their one minute of fame. Once uploaded the user can avail of offers and discounts from that brand. Revenue can be acquired by charging businesses a fee for a sale made via SuperSelfie and also for acquiring customer’s statistics in the future. Brands will have enough exposure and also ensure that the app users become paying customers.
Quoins The Quoins team are made of people are very passionate about festivals. They offer a mobile payment solution which does not rely on the internet. The biggest annoyance for people visiting events or festivals is standing in a long queue for coins to purchase something. Quoins simplifies the payment process by using Apple’s P2P technology that does not rely on the internet. They also plan to have options to pay with additional services such as coupons and royalty programs. Quoins will charge event organisers, facilitators and event sponsors for their service, through licencing, or by charging a percentage and client app sales. They also intend to build for the android platform and plan to take it to big festivals and crowded events.
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Just sayin’ Some sound bites from our mentors..
“S
tartup Weekend facilitates great interaction between participants. I see lot of creativity, discussions and innovation.” - Arjan Yspeert
“W
hat is exciting is that you are going from a really tiny germ of an idea and trying to make it big enough at the end of three days.” - Franco Papeschi
“V
alidate your questions and business models. Sharpen your stories. Make sure you have all your bases covered.” - Jeroen Sprangers
“T
he idea of connecting the online and offline makes for a great experience.” -Lauren Valbert
“E
veryone should be able to explain why they believe in what they do. Why they are working on their project? It is really important to explain why you do stuff, or else you are producing for nothing.” - Michel van Galen
“S
tartup Weekend is not just an exercise or for fun. It also creates great value.” - Niek Huizenga
“I
like an idea that can actually solve a problem and then be globally implemented.” - Sebastiaan Hooft
“E
xperience the vibe. React to it. Be Innovative. Start something new.” - Xen Buijs
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“Something really amazing is going on” A StartupWeekend is a kind of magic show. Or a chemistry experiment. Throw a bunch of people together from all sorts of backgrounds, provide them with a location, support and mentoring, deny them sleep, and watch what happens: ideas that excite, amaze, impact and (potentially) change the world. I have spent the weekend being a mentor at StartupWeekend Groningen, and the mentor group is the best kind of company to be in: people who know everything about entrepreneurship, have made (almost) all the mistakes possible, and achieved (almost) all the success. So these guys should be jaded by now, shouldn’t they? But the mentor team itself gets caught up in the magic and the madness. One of the mentors walked into the room on Sunday afternoon and said excitedly, “something really amazing is going on!” More accurately from my point of view, there are 11 amazing things going on, as each of the 11 teams gels, fights, breaks up and reforms, and builds from a concept to a demonstrable idea, all in 54 hours. The ideas range from fun (a game, a book about creativity), to a bit saucy (a stripclub, really?), to potentially world-changing (a real-time disaster analytics tool).
They’re also in every stage of development, from fully fleshed-out solutions to half-baked concepts that are circling the drain. But for me, the magic is not in the creation of successful ideas. It’s in the process of moving from concept to team engagement to the pitch, and all the wonderful and terrible moments in between. Because it’s in the in-between moments, particularly in the moments of depression and terror, where the learning and the growing happens. And that is the core of what you get from a weekend like this. It’s hard to summarise in a few words (or a few hundred) what I got out of this weekend. I sharpened my own business skills. I gained energy and excitement from the enthusiasm and dedication of the participants. I learned from, and shared with, my peers. But most of all, after a weekend like this one, I am filled with hope. It makes me believe that for any and all problems in the world, a solution can and will be thought up and developed. And through weekends like these, we are preparing the entrepreneurs that are going to build those solutions. And that feeling is a wonderful one to go home with!
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- Lauren Valbert
DAY 1
November 01 2013
DON’T FORGET TO BE AWESOME!!
It’s Back! This is the 3rd edition of Startup Weekend Groningen (swGro) that has brought together the most enthusiastic of minds . The weather has been typically Dutch, but the atmosphere at Het Kasteel has been anything but grey. Greens, reds, organges and blues seem to fill in the corridors and rooms of the venue. The turnout of about a 100 participants has been ideal and energies are running strong. Startup Weekend is a brilliant platform that brings about the most creative of collaborations and nurturing of some great ideas. “The attendees of the startup week are mostly people want to create stuff,” said Nick Stevens, “and consist of Creators who are generally quiet. Designers that are kind of interesting. Business people who are habitually noisy.” On a more serious note it is the sheer diversity, talent and passion of the participants that makes the Startup Weekend a force to be reckoned with.
“Validate your idea and create it for an audience and not for a vacuum”, was an invaluable tip to come out from the introductory evening. Quoting Apollo 13, the movie, a slide from Nick Steven’s presentation read “ Failure is not an option”, but at the same time he pointed out that failure is also necessary. With the pitches over and done with, 13 brilliant ideas stand. The coming two days we look forward to the same energy, passion and excitement amongst the participants and organisers. So today you start with cracking that big idea. Today you will be learning new skills and forging new partnerships. Today, you are going to be AWESOME!
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SAY WHAT?? Question: Why is Coca Cola one of the main sponsors?
Audience answers: "Start up weekend is cool and hip" "If they don’t then Pepsi will” “Its addictive"
Question: What is an MVP?
Audience answers: “the shit that works"
Nick Stevens: "Drinking late night is customer validation"
The Lord of the castle asks... Please twitter about our sponsors
"Because of the freedom it gives me to make my own choices" Name Joris Overzet
The lord of the castle wonders… Do you want to know why everything is running so smoothly at the Startup Weekend Groningen? It is because of Erik, the lord of the castle. He is the guy dressed to the nines, making sure everybody enjoys their stay at the castle. But you better keep on his good side otherwise you will end up in the dungeons.
Profession Designer
Place Groningen
What is the idea you pitched: Set up a stripclub in Groningen through crowd funding.
but also keeps up a great social life aswell!
Do you want to be like Richard? How did you pick your team members? I looked for awesomeness.
I would surely like to adapt his ability to manage so many businesses at the same time!
And how do awesomeness?
Why do you want to be an entrepreneur?
you
recognize
With the awesomeness meter
Because of the freedom it gives me to make my own choices.
Who do you admire? I admire Richard Branson because he not only manages 500 businesses
Are you going to work tonight? Yes!
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With all these creators, business people and designers in the castle he wonders if they have any tips for him. For example on how he can improve the routing, marketing strategies or use social media. Of course he is open to anything else that would improve the working environment of Het Kasteel. So if you have any tips write them down on a post it and leave it at the press corner on the second floor. Erik says thank you.
Backstage at Tebrugge
Yoga
Making chutney at three-thirty at night
Saturday morning started out with a stretch. Despite the early hour, the power yoga lesson was frequented by a lot of people. The Lounge was speckled with yoga mats and enthusiastic participants. People who were under the impression that the Buddha Balance class would be easy, were sorely mistaken, power yoga is hard work! On Sunday morning it was Roelynke Postma who took her turn making our bodies limber and ready for the last day. For more information check out: buddhabalance.nl and www.yogaatgroningen.nl
We started planning for Startup Weekend two weeks in advance. We made our grocery-lists, checklist and planned personnel. Of course when it comes to big catering orders, it is like getting ketchup from a bottle; first you get nothing, then you get everything. It was like that this weekend, very busy. Luckily, some of our former employees were willing to come to our rescue. The first team, which consisted of four people, started making sauces, pesto and chutneys at three-thirty at night. We had to start ridiculously early because of the chutneys. They need to simmer for at least four hours before we can use them for our sandwiches. The second team, three people, came in at eight. They were in charge of the salads, tapenade and herb butter. The second team also had to keep an eye on the shop and look into our other catering orders. At this time the first team delivered the sandwiches to you guys at the Startup Weekend. After that they had to go straight on to buy croissants for Sunday morning. Finally on Sunday morning I had to start at five-thirty to prepare an inordinate amount of bagels and croissants. No rest for the weary. But then it was Monday and everything had gone smoothly. That is what you can call job satisfaction.
Massage Over the course of the day, the lovely people of AJCO were relieving participants of their stiffness and stress on the first floor. Their twenty-minute massage was a welcome interlude of calm during all the hard work. It was also a good opportunity for some of the men to take their shirts off, although that wasn’t entirely necessary. For more information check out: ajco-stoelmassage.nl
Startup Walk If you were in need of some relaxation, or looking for some creative inspiration, you could have also tried the Startup Walk. It started right outside Het Kasteel and took about twenty minutes. During the walk you were asked to perform several tasks and exercises that would have helped you unwind. You were able to find the map on the Startup site, that was easily accessible with an nfc chip or QR code at the door.
- Pascal Wassenberg Page 10
Startup Weekend through the eyes of an organiser Friday morning 5.30h my alarm clock rings. I wake up and while I’m feeling sleepy I ask myself, Whats going on... Oh, right! I am starting work early today in order to go to Het Kasteel in the afternoon. Let Startup Weekend begin!” At 15.30h I set foot at the venue. The rest of the organising team is already busy and the place looks quite good. I give a quick hand preparing the goodie bags, introduce myself to the volunteers, take a look at the script and welcome the catering guys. At 17:00h we are rocking this place!
Soupie? Saturday afternoon we were pampered by the wonderful people of Pho. The delicious noodle soup they prepared was a treat for those who stayed up late working or drinking. Pho is a fresh and healthy lunch which is a common snack in Vietnam.
Being an organiser lets you experience Startup Weekend in an entirely different way. On one hand it’s less relaxed. You feel responsible and want to do everything as good as you can. You are looking forward to this weekend for months so you want everything to be perfect. On the other hand, you’re not in a team, don’t have to work on an idea, so it’s perfectly fine to end the evening with a nice glass of wine.. or two. And drink a few shots in the board room. And a few more in the hall downstairs. And a some more shots with the volunteers. Of course, the next day you have to be present at 8 in the morning to welcome the yoga guy, help the catering and clean up breakfast. It’s only logical you get a little sleepy in the afternoon. Finding a quiet place to take a nap on a Fatboy
Phocompany is the initiative of a design company called Concept7. Apart from designing websites, they come up with a lot of fun ideas and try to execute them. Phocompany is one of those ideas. Their goal was to find out whether or not they should start a restaurant selling Pho noodle soup, and they asked the
does not seem a bad idea. On Sunday you feel the tension mount in Het Kasteel. Most team members are adding final touches to their work, others are already trying to sell their product or practising their presentations over and over and over again. From the organiser’s point of view this day feels very different. You are starting to look back on a terrific weekend, while at the same time you try to bring this last day to a good end as well. And then, just a few hours later, everything is over. But it was GREAT!! Thank you everyone who was part of it! See you next year?
startup attendees to vote by throwing their plates into one of two bins. Looking at the almost full YES bin and the half empty NO bin I think they found their answer. Groningen can add another fantastic restaurant to their collection.
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- Renate Verstappen Co-organiser
Taking ideas to the next level
DAY 2
November 02 2013
With the groups now formed and ideas finally chosen, it was a day where our troops would show their mettle in cracking their ideas. After some fresh brewed coffee and a quick yoga session, 11 teams were now in full swing and Saturday set the tone for the remainder of the event. Mentors met up with our weekenders during the day as they continued to develop their ideas into products and services. Some groups had to either evolve their initial ideas (we saw the merging of two teams) and others took their existing ideas forward to the next level. Boards started filling up with post-it notes and some teams took to sketching down anything and everything that could be their possible next big thing. While a few participants got a good massage from the good people of AJCO to relax stiffened necks and tight muscles (we did suggest they take the “Startup Walk” as a break from sitting in front their computer screens), others took to the zen of beer drinking in search of their next big break. Some just took turns flying a drone around the corridors of Het Kasteel. After delicious appetizing dinner and solutions popping up around their pitched ideas, our toopers were letting the calm before the storm sink in. Sunday would be a day of reckoning.
SAY WHAT?? The Drone guys made a promise: Masseur:
"THE DRONE WILL FOLLOW YOU"
“MANY STIFF UPPER BODIES. TAKE THE STARTUP WALK!”
The spinning heroes were the first group to start drinking together:
“BEER AT 16:30” The lord of the castle asks:
“HAVE YOU SPOTTED THE GHOST OF THE CASTLE ALREADY?” Arjan Yspeert:
"THE WOMEN ARE TAKING CONTROL OF THE STRIP CLUB"
Spotted 4:30 AM: “A HALF NAKED PARTICIPANT SLEEPWALKING & ANOTHER HUGGING A FATBOY ” Anna Sophie Meulenberg:
“GETTING OUT THE BUILDING WAS MORE FUNCTIONAL THAN I THOUGHT.”
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The Lord of the castle is satisfied
Yes we believe in the product! It’s quite a funny scene in the treasure room. A halfnaked girl on a television screen who is obviously a potential employee for the strip club and a group of guys working on a flying drone. Time to get to know more about this interesting scenery. What is the name of your project? Game of drones and we even have a promotion movie!
What are you making exactly? We are developing flying drones that can follow you through facial recognition. Our target audience is people who do extreme sports but also companies who like movies or pictures of extreme sport for example Red Bull.
Who are the members of game of Drones? Erik Huisman, the winner of last year’s Startup weekend, and Joost Drijver the runner up. Pim Drijver and Egon Rijpkema who attent startup weekend for the first time. Peter Jaap Blaakmeer who came up with the idea and Joshua Peper and Martijn Kamphuis. This group has creators and designers but no businessmen.
Are you ambitious? Yes, we believe in the product! And when it becomes popular it’s only a question of who we are selling it to, Russia or America.
Who do you admire? We admire all entrepreneurs with unique ideas who are able to develop a business from scratch and are able to make a living out of it.
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In yesterday’s daily the lord of the castle was wondering how he could improve the venue and asked the participants of Startup Groningen for help. After a good night sleep/work/ drinking they came up with some pretty great tips.
The lord of the castle now knows that… •
He has to make sure Het Kasteel is recognized! Especially from the Kraneweg Het Kasteel is not visible. Maybe he could place a sign there.
•
He should use the kitchen more! I sneaked in the kitchen and saw that it was big, maybe it is suitable for cooking courses or dinner parties.
•
There are a lot of people who are happy the way it is! They thought Het Kasteel is a great place to work in and has a nice ambiance.
•
He should put up house rules because we didn’t know we were not allowed to stick things on the wall.
•
Het Kasteel needs better lighting outside. It is a beautiful castle so don’t be shy to show it off!
•
He should never leave the castle!!
•
It can sometimes be a little bit confusing because there is a bar in the Poelestraat with the same name.
•
He should improve the parking space ... it sucks for cars as well as bikes...
•
He should reconsider the prices for the conference room. For us it’s too expensive.
•
He should do more of these weekend events!!
•
That the stairs are hectic! Woehie!
•
Het Kasteel is so beautiful! Don’t ever change that!
Meet the Jury 1
Herman Kienhuis Investment Director Sanoma Ventures We’re very happy to welcome Herman back to Startup Weekend Groningen. Herman is investment director of SanomaVentures, Sanoma’s new initiative to fund digital startups. For the last four years, he has led the digital business development initiatives of Sanoma Media Netherlands, focused on video, social and mobile. He combines a strong interest in digital media, innovation and sustainable development with a love for vintage design, indie music, family life and slowfood.
Karin Husslage Chief editor of Sprout
2
Karin is chief editor of Sprout, the coolest entrepreneur magazine in the Netherlands. In five years at Sprout, she has spoken to thousands of entrepreneurs. Therefore, she can see when an entrepreneur is talking nonsense and knows when a business plan is spot-on. She is always looking for good startup stories, and you can talk to her about media issues or advice on doing a great pitch. Besides her job at Sprout magazine, she is host at 7 Ditches TV, the online television station for entrepreneurs.
3
Wessel Kooyman CEO Cole Street He is one of our mentors and will also take a seat in the jury! Wessel is a technology expert and entrepreneur, who’s been active in the startup world since 1998. He spent 8 years in Silicon Valley, and is a mentor at Le Camping, Seedcamp, and other events and accelerators. Cole Street is a web and mobile development company that specializes in working with startups.
Mark Vletter Founder Voys Telecom Mark Vletter tries to steer around 30 profesionals that make up Voys in the right direction. He knows how to translate technology into business opportunities and connect the right people to the concept. If you’re not afraid of some blunt Dutch honesty he’s the right guy to get you started. Voys Telecom is one of the fastest growing Dutch telecom providers. Many SME’s and corporates like Gazprom, Nuon and MSI use the services of the TNO spin-off.
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4
Survival tips Designate roles based on best experience. Don’t assume the person with the idea is the team leader, figure out who the best team leader would be and use them. Similarly, figure out who’s the best presenter, then send them to pitch camp to brush up their skills before handling the final presentation.
Use the mentors. During the event you have many smart people who are ready and willing to help you. You would be foolish not to make good use of them. At some point, you will hear conflicting opinions from mentors - that’s normal - listen to them all and decide what feels right for you.
a product/service. Focussing on building a minimum viable and lovable product, that you’ve validated people actually want, is the route to success.
Don’t worry too much about pricing. There are many people with very high salaries that take years to find out the right pricing for their products. Understand the ball park in which you play, what the competitors charge, then make some decisions and calculations on that. For example, are you a free/low priced mobile phone app (needs lots of users), or a 10k per month software as a service for enterprise sized companies (needs fewer customers).
Build a product/service, not a company.
Don’t sweat the details.
With a good product, you could start a company on Monday. For the purposes of Startup Weekend, there’s not much point to starting a company without
If you get stuck, move on. If you’re going round in circles, move on. If you’re getting too deep, or heading off on tangents, move on. Sweat the
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details. Some details matter. Decide which they are and be obsessive about them.
Choose a name quickly. Choosing a name shouldn’t take long - you can always change it later.
Create a 100+ person contact list. and then contact them. Asking 10 random people is both easy and statistically insignificant. You’re better than that.
Get paying customers. “Some people we asked, said they would pay for this” is worthless. People putting cash in your hands is the goal. Be brave - ask them to pay now.
- Nick Stevens
knocked us out with final pitches
DAY 3
November 03 2013
Some more yoga and a some more coffee cups later, this was the day that the Startup Weekend builds up to. The mentors found that the weekend had brought about some amazing collaborations between individuals. It was exciting for them to see if the teams could validate their ideas and turn them into new solutions, products or companies. The rest of Sunday was spent strategising and planning the final pitches with the help of the coaches. Towards dinner time one could ascertain the overall environment in Het Kasteel. The press team was busy reading our expressive participants – excited, nervous,
stressed and impatient were just some of the few emotions we could jot down. It was time for our participants to wind up their covert operations and get ready for their final presentations. We waited with bated breaths to see what kind of darlings the weekend had given birth to. It was time for the weekenders to sharpen their stories, add some final touches to their strategies and knock us out with their final pitches. Presenting an idea that is both meaningful and attracts their respective target audience is one big challenge. But nothing was impossible for our superheroes at work. Het kasteel was theirs to conquer.
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SAY WHAT?? “A business is like good salami, you feed it one slice at the time and customers will keep coming back” -RALPH STEENBERGEN “Enthusiasm and passion filled the room as the team did their final pitches. The end results of 54 hours of hard work were awesome and it made every attendee a winner.“ -MARK VLETTER I was impressed by the quality of the plans you were able to create in just two days. Keep on going, I hope to see some of you in a couple of years when you have hooked your first investors☺. -KARIN HUSSLAGE -CONVERSATION BETWEEN LAUREN VALBERT AND NICK STEVENSLAUREN: Do you need my help? NICK: Can you eat for me? LAUREN: Do you want me to regurgitate the food and also feed it to you like a bird?
Groningen is the Startup Weekend winner On Sunday Evening I had the great chance to attend the final pitching sessions of Startup weekend Groningen. Rather then talking about the winning Teams and their ideas I would like to address the environment as a whole which I perceived, at the event in Het Kasteel (Groningen). Having attended a couple of similar events I thought I would have more or less an idea of what to expect. It turned out to be less; nothing had prepared me for the great vibe and energy which hit me once I entered the event. It didn’t seem like a competition it felt more like a family get together such was the buzz of happy chatter and laughter during dinnernetworking. This feeling didn’t stop once the pitching event started, as every Team was cheered onto stage by tumultuous applause already declared a sure winner of the event before the pitching even had started. The teams presenting had a great mix between gamification, social student initiatives, monetize event paying solutions, advertisement and many other great ideas.
Next to that, Nick Stevens who was host and chief Startup Weekend coordinator contributed to this overall enthusiastic and collaborative empowering feeling through his British humour and excellent organization from his stunning Team. Between the extremely solid pitches of all teams , the great enthusiasm and family like atmosphere there could be in my eyes only one clear winner: Groningen as student driven entrepreneur-Hub Nights like these shout out for a repetition or the establishing of further startup initiatives in Groningen. I’m still enthralled and looking forward to give my input towards startup environment in Groningen on my return in February.
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-Robin Balser (darpdecade@gmail)
The Danish guy... How did you end up at Startup Weekend? Two and a half years ago I attended my first Startup weekend and I ended up with a kind of fever of just wanting to start things. My whole life I have been fascinated by the idea of building companies. When I was eleven I started my first business, selling Christmas decorations. We earned around 150 euro’s in one month! This was a lot for an eleven-year-old boy. When I went to my first Startup weekend I found that young, enthusiastic boy in me again. No - what if’s - Just do, and go for it!
People call you the Danish guy, but what is your real name? David Andersen, 24 years old.
Who are you and what are you doing here? I am a global facilitator and organiser at Startup Weekend. The primary reason for my visit is to meet people and share experiences with the organising team behind this event. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to participate this weekend because I have to work - but I don’t think you can find a better place to work than at a Startup weekend.
Do you have a life outside of Startup, like what is your profession? Yes I have a life. I am in my last year of a Master in ICT product development. Furthermore I am obsessed with taking notes and how other people take notes. Lastly, my main focus lies on meeting a lot of awesome people, building stuff and having fun while doing it!
What do you think of Startup Weekend Groningen so far? It is amazing. I love the energy!
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I particularly like the groups who are making ideas physical! From my personal perspective, I really like the idea of the book! I already bought one, and the amazing thing is, I was their first customer - YAY!
Is there a difference between Startup Weekend Groningen and Startup Weekend Aarhus? This event is taking place in a castle! That is so amazing! So I would say the setting is the biggest difference.
The biggest difference is of course the Startup Daily. Yeah I really like how the paper is connecting people. The thing about Startup Weekends are that people are so focused on their own project that they do not talk that much with people from other groups. It is awesome to see people drink coffee and read the Startup Daily. I hope I can find volunteers like you in Denmark! (David, you are more then welcome to invite us to your event!)
Thanks for your time and see you in Denmark!
Expectations?! Go out and play What were your expectations of Startup Weekend? “I came here with my own pitch. The idea was to create an app for kids with a metabolic disorder. Unfortunately my idea wasn’t chosen, so it took me a little time to change my mindset. Of course I hoped to work on my own project, but I think that maybe my idea wasn’t sexy enough.”
judges of course. But we are a young, eager and motivated group. So I think Quoins could be a great succes, whether we win at Startup Weekend or not. Project that stand out for me are ‘Hawk’s Eye (former Social Rapid Response) and ‘Game of Drones’.”
Vanilla nights
Did Startup Weekend live up to your expectations?
What were your expectations of Startup Weekend?
“Yes it does. I participated last year too so I already knew what to expect.”
“One thing I certainly did not expect was working on a project like this!! I thought I would work on a more technical projects.”
Do you have tips or advice? “Yes. All the ideas were printed out and put on a wall. But some projects had a better spot then others. I found my project on a table somewhere. Displaying the prints of the ideas could have been better.
Did Startup Weekend live up to your expectations? “The project didn’t, but now I’m happy with how it turned out. This is a great group with a nice project. Right now I’m working on realizing crowd funding for the club, so I still get to do something a bit technical.”
Who do you think is going to win? “Of course City Crush will win! But I think ‘Quoins’ has potential too.”
Quoins
Do you have tips or advice? “Startup Weekend is great how it is. The people participating and working here a great and everybody is 1000% dedicated to their project, wich builds a great admosphere. Also the location is great!
What were your expectations of Startup Weekend?
Who do you think is going to win?
“I expected to learn, meet new people and to feel ready to work as an entrepeneur after Startup Weekend.”
“I think ‘Game Of Drones’ has a good chance of winning.”
Did Startup Weekend live up to your expectations? “Yes and no. There are many people here with a lot of knowledge and I did meet a lot of people who were willing to provide me with a lot of tips and advise. But I actually expected much more people who would be as eager as I am to start their company today. Now I’ve noticed that there are also a lot of people who already run their own company and participate to learn from others or for the fun of it.”
Hawk’s eye What were your expectations of Startup Weekend? “I actually didn’t know what to expect and decided to come in with no expectations but to be working on a good project.”
Did Startup Weekend live up to your expectations? “It is more then I expected, it is very well organised.”
Do you have tips or advice?
Do you have tips or advice?
“No, Startup Weekend is great!”
“None. We have been taken care of so well, it’s amazing.”
Who do you think is going to win?
Who do you think is going to win?
“I’m not sure if Quoins will win. It depends on the
“Of course we will win”
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DAY 3 | November 03 2013
Winner Startup Weekend 2013
Quoins And? Did you expect to win? Yes! I mean no, but I did hope to win. I was quite confident though.
So how does it work exactly? Walk me through a purchase. Okay, so imagine you are on a festival and want to buy a beer. Normally you would have to queue to get your festival coins. After that you would have to join another queue to get your actual beer. With my product you can skip the first line and go straight for the beer.
Did you run into any difficulties during this weekend? We didn’t have enough time! Because of that we had to make some difficult choices. We couldn’t make the ultimate app. We had to choose which parts to focus on and which parts to leave out. Also the fear people have of bigger and better funded companies. It makes them think: “How can we ever compete with that.” It renders them paralyzed. I think that passion and hard work can make up for a lot.
Did you get along with everyone in your team? But wouldn’t you have to wait in line anyway? Yes, but you get something afterwards. People don’t mind standing in line when they get something in return. When you have to wait for coins, it doesn’t feel like you are getting anything. When you wait for beer, it is okay.
And when I get to the front of the line what then? Do I order the beer beforehand, while waiting? No, Quoins is not an ordering service. It is a payment service. We want the interaction. You still have to place your order verbally. The person behind the bar will process it and then you can pay by phone. Another upside to this system, you never get stuck with leftover coins.
Yes, very well. We asked everyone who wanted to join if they actually liked going to festivals. It was one of our main selecting criteria. We wanted everyone to be able to connect with our target audience. We also didn’t want too many business people. We were afraid that they would change the focus point of the product in favour of greater revenue.
Would you like to be an organizer or a mentor? Yes, I’ll be back as a sponsor next year with my own success story.
Thank you.
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Go out and play Did you expect this? Yes and no. We could have improved our business plan but then again our idea was great..
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Any awkward moments during this weekend?
Naaaa... The 1st night was short. The next was late. We ended around 1:30 or 2 am in the morning.
Because the idea ‘get out and play’ straight away merged with the idea for ‘interactive citytours’ we had some troubles deciding on which idea we would go for. On the first evening we formed a group, split up and got back together again. This gave some awkward situations. Luckily through a lot of discussions and voting we managed to put our heads together.
Did you have time for a shower?
Why is Startup Weekend so much fun?
A quick one.
The strong thing about us is that we had no awkward moments. We were totally comfortable with each other. We felt like we knew each other for years.
You can do things that you normally can’t do at work, for example drink beer during working hours. The first night after breaking up and coming back together again we thought drinking beer was a good plan. So we went to the house of one the participants and had a great brainstorm session.
Any mental break downs?
When can we play your game?
We are always mental!! We did have alot of stress but we managed to keep it together. The most hectic part was printing the book. We were at the printers and realised we had mistakes in the PDF and then the lady at the printshop printed it all wrong. It was one big mess. But we managed to finish a minute before our presentation. The last two people walked in with the final printed book just in time.
The test version is ready but the real version will take some more time. The week after startup we are going to meet in the launche café to talk about the future.
Splntr Did you guys sleep much?
Were there any awkward moments working together?
Are u going ahead with the project? Everyone is still very enthusiastic. Next week after everyone has settled back into normal lives, we’re gonna discuss whose up for it and wants to take it further. But I do think we have something special that people will like. We would like to just put the content out there, get it out as an MVP and see how it can grow.
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Innovation prize: Hawk’s Eye Hawk’s Eye won the innovation prize for developing an product that informs you of disasters as they happen. The aim of Hawk’s Eye is to provide data and real live information that would help relief organisations, local authorities and people to stay better informed. This motivated group had a great time working together (way into the night) on realizing their idea and bonded during the whole process. They expect to come back and participate at Startup Weekend 2014. So watch out for them.
The most social impact prize: SAUS Amsterdam Coffee Roasters, a socially responsible company, provided a bonus prize for the team with the most social impact. Although not a team participating in the competitive event, the audience had no hesitation in giving a standing ovation when it was announced that the winning team was in fact SAUS, the Groningen based volunteer crew of creatives who dedicated their weekend to providing ambience and mini-experiences as well as a real time press service. Page 21
How was the weather? The weather this weekend was nothing to write home about. It was, for lack of a better term, very Dutch. An abysmal drizzle, interchanged with dim showers, switched with heavy cloudbursts. The bleak weather and the on going downpour made it all the more enjoyable inside het Kasteel. While the last of the autumn foliage was being hammered from the trees by falling raindrops, we had all the food, coffee and beer we needed to stay indoors for the duration.
We asked Arjan Yspeert to tell us something interesting about the Startup World. He came up with this very interesting story.
Think Different
Last May our family embarked on a trip to Kenya where we would meet old friends and visit projects we support and care about. One of these projects is an open-air car-workshop (www.opti-ride.com) I helped into existence in 2009 when we lived in Nairobi for 8 months for the adoption of our daughter. My partner in the garage, Eric, succeeded in building this business to what is is today employing 4 mechanics despite being robbed, defrauded and shot at (at close range, the bullet missed fortunately) since we started it. Needless to say the East-African market differs entirely from what I was used to in the West. To be in Africa, even for a short while, will definitely change your views about the world and, more precisely, how you view the fish bowl you normally spend your days in. For me this became still more apparent when I paid a visit at the end of our trip to the Nairobi accelerator for startups, the Nailab (nailab.co.ke). The problems that these startups are solving differ tremendously from ours, and their solutions are different too. Let me give you three examples. • Duma (www.dumaworks.com/), makes it possible for people without regular employment to build a resume nonetheless. And it works on ordinary mobile phones. Now, even day-workers can build a reputation and are more easily employed. • Secondly, MyOrder (myorder.co.ke/) helps shop-owners go online and have their products delivered. Quite a game-changer in a country without a properly functioning postal service. • The third one, and one I have taken on as a mentor, is Ukall (www.ukall.co.ke). Ukall developed a punchclock app so workers can check-in for work with their
Android phones, therewith eliminating costly and often ineffective attendance checks. A launching client is one of Kenya’s many security companies. All three startups are lightweight (under-financed is another word for it) and have a crystal clear focus on the specific, central, need of the target group. Their innovation is not technologically driven because it can’t be; penetration of smartphones is low, connections are too slow. It is problem driven. So be sure to ask yourself the all important questions: what problem are we solving? Is it relevant to the target group? Are there enough potential -and paying- clients in the target group to make this a viable business? Good luck and may the best team win!
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-Arjan Yspeert - @yspeert
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We couldn’t make this weekend rock without the help of:
ANIMATION • ILLUSTRATION
Startup Weekend Groningen Organisers APP DESIGN • GRAPHIC DESIGN
bombayink@gmail.com
www.bombayink.com
Matthijs Smit
Roeland Vugts
Jeroen Panjer
Matthijs Menses
Nick Stevens
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Renate Verstappen
Ralph Steenbergen
Robbin Hof