5 Reasons Product Managers should be at Startup Weekend
This post originally appeared at the TAG Community blog on October 24, 2009
I can think of more than a dozen reasons why every serious product manager should go to Startup Weekend on November 13, 14 and 15. For starters, Startup Weekend is a chance to get out and do something that’s, well, different.
Startup Weekend is in its third year in Atlanta, and you can read all about it (and register) over here. But, in short, you can imagine about 100 (or so) entrepreneurs, technology enthusiasts, developers, marketers, and experts from a variety of fields gathering together with the express purpose of building something new, and doing it in a single weekend. The energy is unbelievable, the dynamics thrilling and the opportunities are unlimited.
But this is a product management blog, right? Most of the people reading this have “real jobs,” (or are looking for one), families and responsibilities. This is not the time in your life to be getting involved in some half-baked startup crusade, right?
Wrong. This is exactly the time. Set aside for a moment the fact that by going to Startup Weekend you may actually find a team to help you build your own wildly successful startup. Forget that you could be there for the start of something new and exciting, like Twitpay or Skribit. Maybe by being there you’ll actually change someone’s life, or meet some new friends. Those things are nice, but I’ve got five reasons that you’ll do yourself a service to consider.
5. Learn about startups and the startup mindset.
Maybe you’ve always worked for a large company. You’ve read the articles about “that guy” or “that lady” who came out of nowhere and built a brilliant company in his or her dorm room, garage, or executive suite. But you don’t have a clue how it all “comes together.” The dirty truth is that most of those folks you read about don’t either. They figure it out as they go. This is your learning lab. Go figure it out. You’ll walk away with a new perspective on your customers, founders and your company, no matter what industry you are likely to be in.
4. Uncover business opportunities
Once you step outside of your everyday environment, you’ll be hearing about markets and emerging technologies that you probably haven’t considered before. These conversations can lead to new product ideas, new markets for your existing products, or maybe even new customers. Don’t get me wrong: Startup Weekend is not a selling opportunity for you. It’s an opportunity to learn about new places that your product can have an impact, or about new technologies that can influence your product or market, and that brings me to…
3. Solve a business problem of your own
One thing that makes Startup Weekend work is ideas, so bring some. Successful companies solve a problem (we usually call it meeting a market need) and make money doing it. Have a business need that no one has a product for? Tell Startup Weekend. If you have been keeping up with the Atlanta startup scene you already know that our city’s smartest entrepreneurs know that their best opportunity for success is to find someone like you with a problem that your company can’t commit the resources to solve. The problem is that many of them don’t know how to find you.
2. Find talent for your organization
Why interview potential product managers, engineers, marketers, and more when you can go see how they really work and think, for free? You’ll find recent and soon-to-be college graduates, MBA candidates, experienced engineers, marketing experts and more all working for a cause at Startup Weekend. You can find out everything you need to know to recruit “A players” and you can do it with minimal risk. You’ll see how people function as members of teams, how they lead, how they follow and how they collaborate. It doesn’t get any better!
1. Look at your products in a new way
If you’ve talked to me about product management and ProductCamp, you already know that I’m a huge proponent of looking outside of your own environment for innovation. If you are in software, make some friends in biotech or CPG. If you work for a company with a formal product management organization, you can learn from folks who are just figuring it out. Startup Weekend is another opportunity to get outside of your everyday environment and look at things from a new perspective. The best way to “think outside the box” is to get out of the box altogether.
Links:
- http://www.startupweekend.org
- http://atlanta.startupweekend.org
- http://atlantastartupweekend3.eventbrite.com/
Technorati Tags: startups, startupweekend, product management
