Startup Weekend ends, Drop N accelerates ahead.
What a weekend. I would hardly be happier even if our team had won the final day pitches. We got a lot of people excited at the idea of a true adventure platform launching.
Friday -
There were over 100 people in attendance for this Startup Weekend, not counting the amazing facilitators, coaches, mentors, and judges. 60 people lined up for 60 second "elevator" pitches in front of the crowd. It was fun and nerve racking. When I had my turn I was derailed from my rehearsed pitch after seeing others go before me. The best received speakers before me had a more personal and vague approach, it was difficult for me to swap material at the last minute. The result was a pitch that was not inspiring. Bad news was I was not going to get top 10 votes at the end of the night, but don't count me out of the fight. I got quite a few votes, and I used some of the personality that all of us adventure athletes carry to recruit a team. The rules are even if you don't get top votes, if you can rally a team with enough members then you are good to go. And so with a little hustling we got a great 5 person team together.
Once the team was assembled, "News team ASSEMBLE", we split from the crowd and game planned the weekend for a couple more hours. We all headed home around 1am with brains a buzzing, a big weekend was just a handful of hours away.
Saturday -
This segment is shorter because it was so much more complex. Here are some highlights of our 14 hour long day: We approved a new logo that was created by my wife Holly (a graphic design grad), we clarified the base functions of the application, Gus began work on creating a visual prototype, Tyler started wearing the project manager hat, Monica and Seasha rallied a variety of social/pr duties, we read through tons of research and produced market stats... A lot was done. We also met with mentors that gave us clarity of vision. One of the most exciting aspects of Saturday, people didn't think my business was nuts! Drop N made sense to people and almost everyone commented "I want an account when it goes live". Saturday for most of us also ended around 1am.
Sunday -
The "Pitch". 18 teams in front of a 10 member judging panel and the 100 + members of the other teams. 5 minutes to blow minds and a few minutes to Q&A. The truth is I have never pitched a startup before Friday night. The only reason I was chosen by our team was probably that this concept has been in my head for months, maybe it would be easier to stay on track. I can tell you that pitching is a unique thing, it is very different than a sale. Maybe that is because we are selling something that is a risk based investment. We are not selling $1.5 million in widgets, we are selling $1.5 million in potential. Point being, I have done thousands of sales pitches and demonstrated product in front of hundreds on a stage. This was harder.
Everyone is smarter. That is why it is harder. The coaches and mentors are in fact venture based investors, or work in the environment of businesses that live on funds raising and the accountability associated. So I say it again, they are smarter than the typical customer you might make a sales presentation to. They don't dazzle, they nit-pic. They have to find the reasons Drop N might fail, or why someone else isn't already doing the same thing.
Long story short, there were some really great presentations on some interesting products. We definitely missed a couple key points in our presentation that made it impossible to compete with the top 3. One presenter named Sandeep asked me, "Who is your customer?" in the moment not only did I not hear him very clearly but my brain could not process what he was asking. Being on the spot I translated that he was asking the demographics of our users, perhaps challenging if there were really that many people out there to target. As I left the stage I processed his question the rest of the way and realized I missed a great opportunity to show everyone how well we understand our own product. Our customer, Sandeep, is two different people. One of them is the end user that makes an in app purchase to bump up credits. The other customer, the one that will be getting lots of attention, is the company that is buying targeted advertising from us. We are essentially curating a list of potential customers for them, a list similar to what Facebook provides it's customers, but with a much more detailed understanding of interests and activities than FB can provide. And this is one small example of why you do a Startup Weekend event, make sure you have answers to the questions your potential partners/investors will be asking.
Don't worry friends and future Drop N users, this is advertising you will love. Take your favorite t-shirts, shoes, and adventure sports equipment. Pretend your phone is a 1000 HP Baja race truck, these advertisers are the cool decals you would gladly plaster all over it. Another way to look at it, the detailed targeting allows us to treat your advertisements as bitchin posters for your wall, only they are on the phone occasionally and they subsidize your new adventures all over the world.
The future and the team -
Tyler Borders proved himself a valuable asset, and has shown interest in getting Drop N launched. We have already begun mapping our our project and funding programs. Gus Ireland was great on our team. He is a talented back-end engineer that has many of the skills we need for managing a global platform with many integrations, I hope that as we gain momentum he will be able to help or add some of his valuable insight. Monika Jociunaite, a young ambitious transplant to the US has a bright future and we loved having her international flair on the team. Seasha had a great energy for the team and was never afraid to get her hands dirty, I wish her and the rest the best of luck in future projects.
Daniel Maxwell - founder, Drop N