The team designed and built a platform called World-Startups.com to connect startup founders globally. They identified opportunities through Startup Weekend events and conducted the first multi-conference virtual startup event on Google+. The platform provides profiles, collaboration tools, and an events system. It will generate revenue through services, advertising, and crowdfunding to support the international startup community.
2. Next Generation Startup Platform Team
MISSION STATEMENT
To design, build and deploy a business and
social network for startup founders that is
more advanced, in terms of functionality, than
anything currently on the market.
3. An International Team (1 of 2)
John Sechrest. Team Mentor and Advisor. Global organizer for Startup
Weekend. Founder of Seattle Angel Conference, and other angel networks.
Seattle, Washington.
Rob Gordon. Team Leader. Freelance Project Manager and Application
Developer specializing in business and community networks. San Diego,
California
Sander Johansen. Linux System Engineer and Software developer.
Organizer for Oslo Startup Weekend. Currently working for one of Europes
Leading Business to business software companies. Oslo, Norway.
Garret Hornby. Software developer with knowledge of a half dozen different
programming languages. Has worked for several startup companies while
pursuing a degree in computer science and mathematics. New Orleans,
Louisiana.
Ahsaan Rizvi. Electrical Engineer currently working for China Mobile.
Business development expertise, with interest in forming a startup in the
telecommunications industry. Islamabad, Pakistan.
4. Jack Crawford. Executive in the pharmaceutical industry responsible for
planning and strategy. He has an M.S. in Information Science, is fluent in
Spanish, and has founded and sold his own startup company. San Juan
Capistrano, California.
Chris Yin. Cofounder and COO of Bespoke Partners, an executive search and
consulting firm and works extensively with private equity firms. Currently
working on two different startups. San Diego, California.
Peter Koryaka. Works international business in the commodities trading
arena. Has worked with small business start up companies. Ukraine.
Temelko Dechev. Currently working as a Marketing Manager for a UK
company that is providing services in the scope of: Software development, Web
development, SEO, SMM, SEM, UX, E-Marketing, CRM, and Business
consultancy. Bulgaria.
5. Effectuation
Our Team's Business Model Approach
Effectuation is a set of decision-making principles expert entrepreneurs are
observed to employ in situations of uncertainty. Effectuation is an idea with a
sense of purpose - a desire to improve the state of the world and the lives of
individuals by enabling the creation of firms, products, markets, services, and ideas.
Bird in Hand Principle – Start with your means. Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity. Start taking
action, based on what you have readily available: who you are, what you know, and who you know.
Affordable Loss Principle – Set affordable loss Evaluate opportunities based on whether the
downside is acceptable, rather than on the attractiveness of the predicted upside.
Lemonade Principle – Leverage contingencies Embrace surprises that arise from uncertain
situations, remaining flexible rather than tethered to existing goals.
Crazy-Quilt Principle – Form partnerships with people and organizations willing to make a real
commitment to jointly creating the future—product, firm, market—with you. Don’t worry so much about
competitive analyses and strategic planning.
6. Team Project Management
A Google Intensive Approach
● All plans were produced using shared Google
documents.
● Many team discussions were conducted on Google+
● Regular team meetings were conducted using the
Google+ hangout (videoconferencing) technology.
● Most meetings recorded on Youtube for later viewing by
team members.
7. Opportunity Analysis Project:
A Look at Startup Weekend
● Startup weekend is a weekend long entrepreneurial event that has been
conducted in 300 cities all around the globe
● People with different skillsets meet physically, mingle, and form teams
around ideas, then work on those ideas from Friday to Sunday.of this
intense 54 hours work session.
● At the end of the event, they pitch the results of this intense 54 hours work
session to people who are investors or serial entrepreneurs.
● The event is open for everyone, and it costs about $50-$100 which
includes food for the entire weekend.
● There is a growing community of entrepreneurs in most major cities of the
world who have participated in a Startup Weekend event.
8. The Startup Weekend Organization
● No current business or community platform.
● No good method of tracking team progress
after the event.
● Event management could be improved.
● No current "virtual" events that could
leverage their branding and global
organization.
9. Startup Weekend Participants
● No easy way to connect with other Startup
Weekend participants, in spite of this shared
experience.
● No easy method to have team members in
other cities and countries.
● Some liked the idea of a "Virtual Startup
Weekend".
10. Opportunity Analysis Project Report
A proposal for a Global Community Platform for
Startup Weekend that would allow for this
hosting of virtual events and would facilitate the
formation of international teams.
11. Opportunity Execution Project
● Simulate the concept of a "virtual startup
weekend" by conducting an actual virtual
business event for startups.
● Move forward on the concept of a
community platform for Startup Weekend.
● Move forward on the concept of a "Next
Generation Startup Platform". Keep our
eyes on the prize.
12.
13. Startup Chautauqua
● An attempt to simulate one element of a "virtual startup
weekend" by conducting an event with multiple
videoconferences being conducted simultaneously.
● The first time this has ever been done on Google+. We
were pioneers in attempting this. This was also the first
real event that used the new Google+ events scheduling
system.
● Our vision for this event was different than the reality of
what happened, however the event itself was
successful.
● Event had approximately 40 participants and about a
half dozen independent hangouts were launched.
14. Multi-Conference Application
Purpose is to allow an administrator to manage
multiple, separate videoconferences as the first
step in simulating a "Virtual Startup Weekend".
● Uses Google+ API
● Allows users to launch and join hangouts.
● Lists the hangouts, and the number of
participants.
16. Virtual Startup Events
What Next?
1. Another Startup Chautauqua. Why not?
There is very little downside. It would be
difficult, but not impossible, to "monetize" this
type of event.
2. An Actual Startup Weekend Type Event.
Lots more work, but also a potentially greater
payoff. It would not be too difficult to monetize
this type of event, as it would have immediate
value.
17. Virtual Startup Event: A Proposed Approach
● CMO Team: This team would be required to prepare the market research, competitive analysis,
marketing strategy, and a short commercial advertisement (video/slide) for the best pitch.
● CFO Team: This team would be responsible to generate the revenue model, cost structure,
product/service risks and their mitigation.
● COO: This team would be responsible for the product/service design and development, if the
development is not possible, a small website would be the deliverable of this team for the best
pitch.
18. World Startups
A pivot back to where we started
Cloned from American Startups through a process of
effectualization (we used what we had).
Reasons:
● The international nature of our Stanford Team
● The "international teams" conclusion of our OAP.
● The possibility of working with a global organization like
Startup Weekend
● The Virtual Startup events we are proposing make
borders less relevant.
● Personal events and values of the Team Leader.
19. World-Startups.com
Features and Functionality
● Registration & Application System
● Customized Business Profiles
● Communication & Collaboration
● Partner & Interest Matching
● Teams and Interest Groups.
● Events Promotion & Management
● Membership Levels
● Advertising & Sponsorships
● Google Technology Integration
● Modified open source PHP/mySQL script
20. Business & Revenue Model
● Charge for Events & Training
● Charge for Professional Accounts
● Charge for Advanced Services
● Advertising & Sponsorship
● Crowdfunding
● Investors and Sponsors
● Others TBD
21. Partner & Relationship Plan
● Startup Weekend
● Google
● Venture Lab / Stanford University
● Others TBD
22. Marketing & Strategy
What's next?
● Continue Effectuation Process - a half dozen
possible revenue sources could be subject
to experimentation.
● Continue Planning for a Virtual Startup
Process using Google+ hangout technology.
● Softlaunch World-Startups.com - learn what
we can from a slow rampup of users- build
out the site and community at the same time.
● Use Startup Weekend events as a lean
startup approach for continual improvement
of the platform
23. Summary of accomplishments
● Identified a real opportunity for a community for Startup
Weekend participants.
● Identified an important service area that seems to be
mostly untapped - that of virtual startup events that
facilitate the startup process.
● Conducted an actual virtual startup event and hosted
the first ever multi-conference event on Google+
● Built the prototype for an application to manage multi-
conference events on Google+
● Actually produced and built a full featured general
purpose platform for startup company founders. This
platform is fully operational and accepting applications
at World-Startups.com
