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This may also provide some additional insight into our team operated,
particularly for those not familiar with web development.

1. We began by setting the structure of what we needed to do through
out the weekend. Brainstorm, Wireframes, Backlog of tasks,
Development, Testing, Deployment, Presentation. Marketing would happen
in parallel with wireframing.

2. Brainstorm – In the first two hours, we worked out what our idea
was and our direction. We had a general brainstorm, then a targeted
brainstorm.

2. Wireframes: By the next 1-2 hours, we had our wireframes (layout)
done and the developers had already started grabbing all the tools we
needed. The wireframes were initally drawn up on the white board by
hand by myself and Allen. Once we agreed, I drew them up on the large
butchers paper, in a story board fashion and put them up on the wall
for everyone to see. My role was more of a product manager, as I sat
between the developers and the business guys.

3. The wireframe/story board also helped to explain it to anyone new
coming in, so they were quickly able to jump in and help. Whenever
anyone new came into the room, I took on that responsibility as “front
of house” and answered any questions they had. I then walked them
through our wireframes.

4. Development – It was amazing to have two dedicated and hardworking
developers, including James who had gaming experience. We went and
found existing tools we could use so we didn’t have to do stuff from
scratch. We also developed it in Ruby, which is great for rapid
prototyping. I focused everyone on creating a good product first, then
we focused on monetisation. I used to think the other way around but I
kinda had the sense that there was a business model around it, that if
I created something useful, people would pay for it.

5. By 2am, we had it done and deployed.

6. Testing – The next morning, the business guys tested it while our
developers kept working. We wrote our consolidated feedback on the
whiteboard. Then everyone debated which features we would prioritise,
sorting them to P1 / P2 / P3 (P = Priority). The Devs then addressed
P1 & P2, and covered all of them. Some of them, we did on the fly
(e.g. make this pic smaller).

7. MVP – I knew that we didn’t need to develop everything for an MVP
(Minimum Viable Product) to win. We made screen grabs / photoshopped
the other sections as needed.

8. While this was happening, the business guys started debating
monetisation models. There was a lot of vigorous debate happening
across the room, so I made them get into a corner and discuss it so it
didnt affect our developers. I trusted them to work it out, while I
started doing the presentation with the vision and opportunities.

9. By approx 4pm, development pretty much stopped. We all focused on
doing the presentation and giving feedback.

10. One final thing, I kept hearing about the other teams and I pretty
much blocked it out. I needed to focus on our project. But
ocassionally, someone would say “Feel@Home has this killer idea,
they’ll give us a run for our money! Or Group X has a 3D
presentation”. That just made me double down and work harder.

Cheers,

Matt

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This is cross posted from the Startup Weekend Melbourne Google Groups Forum.
————–
Hey its Matt from Native Tongue.

Most of you know I flew down from Sydney for this event. I was here for work as well, but stayed the extra few days for the first startup weekend.

My motivation for participating was to take on the best entrepreneurs from Melbourne. My idea took the title. Admittedly, my team is all from Melbourne, but the idea is from Sydney =).

I thought that everyone was supposed to pitch an idea, and was worried that I didn’t have one. So I came up with the idea the night before the competition. But I knew it had to be tested and feedback was needed, ala customer development (see Steve Blank).

When I got on the plane to Melbourne, I pitched it to the people sitting next to me. It was the first time I pitched it, and I knew I had to make the vision simple: “Making language easy to learn”. They liked it. When I was at work on Thursday in our Melbourne office, I pitched it to as many people as I could, and used that feedback to refine my pitch. About 50% liked it.

I was staying at an Airbnb place, and I pitched it to one of the housemates on Friday night just before I came to the event. That’s why I was 30mins late. She liked it as well. That’s when I knew it was good.

I never stopped pitching the idea and believing in it. Allen and I actually never did a full practice together – we were the two people pitching to the judging panel. We did a few rough practices towards the last 1 hour, mostly separately and put the slides together like 5 mins before the deadline. But I had pitched it so many times, at least 40 times that weekend that I didn’t need the slides. I knew what the vision was and how to sell it.

I also knew what was possible and what was not possible in 2 days, given my background in web design. I’m actually not a developer, but I have worked at a web development agency for 3 years and knew what to do and the process.

This is actually the first startup event I’ve entered. I didn’t mention this (in my winning speech), but I went to SXSW in March and went to a bunch of lean startup sessions called “Battle of The Apps” with a judging panel of Eric Ries, Dave McClure and Robert Scoble. That’s when I found out about the lean startup model. I also attended the StartupBus finals, and I knew what it took to win. I saw what the best entrepreneurs were doing from the Valley, New York, and around the world.

I think what is really underrated are the mentors. Although they kept interrupting us, I listened to each one of them and I took the best parts out of each one’s advice. To be successful, you need to surround yourself with smart people. The presentation I gave, had elements of Leni, Humprey, Glen and a few other mentor’s in there.

So I’m laying down the challenge to everyone in Melbourne. I took the title back to Sydney. Come up to Sydney for the next one, because we want the best hackers / entrepreneurs up here. We want to go up against the best.

Sydney 1, Melbourne 0.

Come and get it =p

Cheers,

Matt
p.s. My team is going to keep working on our product.