Startup Weekend Athens

Hello again,

We have about two weeks before Startup Weekend Athens begins, and we wanted to share with you some more details as to what happens during Startup Weekend so you have a better idea of what to expect and how you can prepare for it.

What you need to do:

• Sign up and show up with your laptop, enthusiasm and good ideas. We kindly remind you that Startup Weekend Athens is a three day event and we strongly recommend that you sign up only if you are committed to show up in all three.
  

Here’s an outline of a preliminary schedule:

Friday November 21st

• 4.30 p.m. doors open at Microsoft Innovation Center at Leoforos Vasilissis Sofias 103, Athens (map)
• 5 p.m. The event officially begins. The organizers and hosts say a few words and then people are encouraged to meet one another, exchange ideas, form teams and think about what would be interesting to build.
• 7 p.m. Pitches start. In other words, this is the stage where if you have an idea you pitch it to the teams that are beginning to form.
• 8 p.m. Teams have formed and ideas have been chosen and they begin to break off for further discussion. So if we end up with 10 teams this means 10 startups would be created.
• 9 p.m. Teams have hopefully solidified their concept and have created an elevator pitch, even a simple one at the moment would do.
• 10 p.m. Teams continue their discussions and attempt to paper-prototype their applications

Saturday 22nd of November

• 9 a.m. Doors open. People assemble; each team starts working on development.
• 10 a.m. By now it would be a good idea to have your site paper prototyped out, working title, all your technical plans made out. Start the process of getting your servers live, buying domain names, and creating user flows.
• 12 p.m. Lunch
• 3 p.m. More coding, business plan development and a special guest.
• 6 p.m. Pitches from the teams and additional special guest drop-ins. These guests are generally experts in particular fields (Business Development experts, Technical Assistance etc.) that will help startup teams develop a better product. The guest list will be announced when finalized.
• 9 p.m. Gut check on the product; basic prototype building; group get-together for refreshment or dinner and to talk about the products everybody is working on.

Sunday 23rd of November

• 9 a.m. Doors open, and work starts again.
• 10 a.m. Teams should be able to have a live splash page up with an email capture and simple blog.
• 12 p.m. Projects are being developed, more special guests drop in (VCs, Legal help etc.)
• 6 p.m. Sink or swim time for those looking for a weekend launch.
• 9 p.m. Presentations from each company; what worked, what didn’t, what could go better. Wrap up and move out.

That’s it for now. For a glimpse of the idea of Startup Weekend in video, you can watch the CNBC report here. We’ll keep you updated as the schedule finalizes over the next weeks.