Mix and Focus

On Monday I talked about what you can achieve in just 48 hours. What I observed during StartupWeekend was that you need a few things in order to achieve the best results.

1. You need the right mix. Of people that is. The team must cover every aspect of business. Marketers, business people, designers, developers, all need to work together as a team to come up with ideas and implement them.
2. You need to focus. During the ideation process you can get lost in features and added value. This can easily end up diluting the real offering. Decide what problem you are solving and do that.
3. You need to do the work. Coming up with big ideas is just the beginning. If you cannot implement them, you haven't really achieved anything.
4. You need to find a reason. Just building something is not enough. In order for people to connect with you and buy into your product/service you need to find reason in what you are doing. Why are you doing this? Search within your team to find your reason.
5. Optional: Do some research. If you have the time, do some research. But don't take into account all comments. If you just listen to what people want you won't be trully innovative.

Now that you have everything, get ready to launch!