Startup Weekend: Library Edition - 54 Hours in 5 Minutes
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Lightening talk given at ABEL Conference, April 28, 2014. Startup Weekend Toronto EDU: Library Edition was the first-ever Startup Weekend organized specifically for the library community. My talk explored what the event was, what happened, why it mattered and what's next.
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Startup Weekend: Library Edition - 54 Hours in 5 Minutes
- 1. 54 Hours in 5 Minutes STARTUP WEEKEND Helen Kula ABEL Spring Conference Toronto, Ontario April 28, 2014
- 2. WHAT WAS IT? STARTUP WEEKEN D Held on March 28-30, 2014 in downtown Toronto Brought together 60+ developers, designers and startup people + library community to solve library-focused problems Affiliated with global and local Startup Weekend & SWEDU organizations Used the Startup Weekend program template: Team-based Intensive, experiential learning – “no talk, all action” Grounded in lean startup methodology
- 3. Friday: Pitches, voting + team formation 25 initial pitches 11 teams formed Saturday: Work! Product development (working prototype) Customer discovery & validation Design, branding & business model Sunday: More work, final pitches + awards WHAT HAPPENED? STARTUP WEEKEN D
- 4. I facilitator 20 mentors + observers 21 sponsors 5 judges 4 award-winning teams 1st prize: 2nd prize: 3rd prize: Organizers’ Choice: BrookList WHAT HAPPENED? STARTUP WEEKEN D
- 5. Offer new kind of experiential learning opportunity for the library community NOT a conference Expose library community to ‘startup thinking’ and tools, e.g. Customer development - ‘get outside the building’ Minimum viable product (MVP) Business model Pitching Build relationships between startup + library communities Empower library communities to build their own solutions Seed community of library professionals who are committed to active innovation WHY DID IT HAPPEN? STARTUP WEEKEN D
- 6. DID IT WORK? STARTUP WEEKEN D Positive feedback about event At least 3 teams committed to project post-event Challenges included: Diversity of library types Pitching & business experience Application of for-profit template to non-profit library context Continuing community momentum
Editor's Notes
- Talk about event I co-conceived and helped organize and execute together with an amazing team of 4 other individuals: M.J. D’Elia, June Avila, Meg Eccelstone and Emily Porta. The event is called Startup Weekend: Library Edition and it was the first-ever version of this event designed specifically for the library community
- Held at the end of last month in Mozilla’s community space in downtown Toronto Our final head-count was 61 with 80 registered participants prior to the event Our participants came from the developer, designer and broader startup community together with information professionals and librarians, who almost all came from the academic and public library space We partnered with the local and global SW organizations And we modelled our event on the Startup Weekend program template SW program provides experiential learning focused on startup creation that is: - team-based - intensive – very compressed timeframe of weekend - hands-on – focus on execution – not a business plan competition Also emphazizes lean startup methodologies and tools – but again, exposure to this is via experience, rather than classroom-based
- What did that Startup Weekend template look like in action? We opened our doors at 5:30pm and pitches began after supper We had 25 folks pitch with a 1-minute time limit There was s a round of voting and top 10 individual pitched again Teams then formed and the work began Saturday is focused on product development and on customer discovery and validation, as well as work on the business model and building a brand Sunday – teams start to transition away from building back to pitching, working on a deck which is capped at 5 minutes) and that is done n front of a panel of judges Judges deliberated and awarded prizes to the top 3, with the organizers contributing another prize, and the event then wrapped up.
- Here’s some of the key numbers associated with the event Wanted to highlight contribution of mentors or coaches who provided technical or business-focused assistance in shifts throughout the weekend Some of these brought friends – and we had some amazingly committed sponsors who just hung out for the weekend Did want to also acknowledge winning teams HUB which integrates local, community resources into public library catalogues SpaceValet, which helps students identify available study space in their campus libraries RaisinReaders, an app that connects parents to early literacy and reading resource Organizers’ Choice award when to BrookList – a team that really exhibited the Startup Weekend spirit
- This event happened for four reasons To offer a new kind of learning for the library community – very definitively NOT a conference To expose library community to a new set of tools and frameworks that the organizers feel have real value Emphasis on customer development – idea of getting out outside the building or behind the desk to talk to customers much earlier on when developing services and products Wanted to initiate connections and networking between librarians and startup folk – feel communities would benefit from getting to know one another better Liked the ‘DIY’ ethos of this program - Finally, interested in seeing if we could start a conversation and spark a community of like-minded librarians who are open to new ways of thinking and working beyond the committee model that tends to be the norm
- Did it work? Somewhat qualified yes Lots of positive feedback the event’s execution – librarians make GREAT event organizers As a learning opportunity, feedback from librarians was very positive – have highlighted common themes on the slide We know all three winning teams committed to continuing work on their respective projects – and at least one team is interested in working together Challenges – areas where we could improve included: Biggest of these is perhaps how to sustain and nurture this community after the event That’s it!