The ultimate guide to winning startup weekend

10 November 2017

As Startup Weekend season is upon us, I thought it was about time that we put together a guide to winning. Having won and mentored at 10+ startup weekends, we have seen the same mistakes over and over. The aim of this guide is to give every single team the best chance at coming away from the weekend with paying customers, and a solid base for a business.

There is nothing worse than seeing a team pitch on Sunday what they could have pitched on Friday. We hope this guide will stop this happening.

In our opinion there are four key areas to keep in mind if you want to give your self the best chance at winning Startup Weekend.

How will you be judged on Sunday

How to manage your time over the weekend

Rapid sales and marketing channels

Building your prototype

The three judging criteria to win.
To win at startup weekend, you need to have a fantastic pitch. All the hard work over the weekend is worthless if you don’t present it well. According to the official startup weekend page during your final pitch on Sunday you are judged on three criteria:

Business model
Customer validation
Execution and design

The organisers of your event will often give you a guide on how to set up your pitching template to help you. The first is your business model, and will this idea be able to be formed into a business that is self-sustaining.

In other words:
Have you identify and tested traction channels to get new customers?
Are customers willing to put their hand in their pocket and pay?
Does it cost you less to get a new customer than you make from them?

This guide was written by Christopher Drake RCL Mentor