Top 5 Things To Do After StartupWeekend

You’ve been to StartupWeekend, pitched your idea, collaborated with a cool team of people and pumped out a killer app.  Now what?  In this post, we’ll go over the top 5 things you should think about as you consider your next move.

Figure out the IP. The  coolest thing about StartupWeekend is that a bunch of people from all sorts of different companies and backgrounds can come together and hack a solution to a problem in 54 hours.  The downside to this equation is that a bunch of people from all sorts of different companies and backgrounds come together to hack a solution to a problem.  Who owns the code?  From a legal perspective, the code, the design, and the art, all of which is copyright, trademark, and maybe even patent material, is owned by the author or inventor.  However, you may not exactly know who contributed what, whether it was code, the idea and its various permutations, or the market research after you walk away from the weekend.  The whole thing is one big blur.

From a practical perspective, whoever walked away with the code, the art, or what have you, may as well be the author.  So, if you didn’t walked away with access to that material, this might be a good time to talk with your teammates to get that, especially if you want to do something with it and no one else on the team does.  If you plan on plowing ahead with turning your weekend hack into a company, then you will need to secure an IP assignment from whoever worked on the idea with you during the weekend to avoid any Social Network-type issues.  This is usually done during formation and in exchange for equity in your newly formed startup.

Reserve your name. According to StartupWeekend, over 30% of the teams that are formed during a given StartupWeekend are still working on their idea 3 months later.  If you are like most, you have already grabbed a domain, a Twitter handle, and Facebook extension.  Whether you continue to use these and do something more though, may be up in the air right now.  Will you be part of this group launching a new startup or just consider the weekend as an awesome experience?  So, you’ll want to keep the door open, just in case.  If you want to launch your startup using the same name that you were using over the weekend, you’ll want to reserve the name for your startup business now with both the Washington and Delaware Secretaries of State (see my post on where to form for more information on why you want to reserve Delaware too).

This is very easy to do.  Roll over to the DE Division of Corporation site, do a search for the name and pay your $75 to reserve the name for six months.  Ditto for the WA Corporations Division.

Recruit advisors. It takes a village to get things done, from market researchers and social media moguls to industry-specific experts and lawyers.  Not only do advisors help with strategic guidance, but they also serve as connectors to key hires, investors, and acquirers.  Set up coffees, bounce the idea off them, get them onboard.  If you are like most software startups, you might need some cash to keep things moving quickly forward.  Constant speed networking may help you talk with your next investor.

A very good way to do this is not only to set up coffees, but attend office hours.  There are a ton of local experts, investors, and lawyers that hold open coffees and office hours (check out the Seattle Tech Startups mailing list for more info).  Make sure that these are free; you’re looking for informal coaching and connections and recruiting supporters.  Check out my free office hours on Ohours.

Continue practicing your pitch. You prepared a short slide deck and a four minute pitch.  That pitch/demo was good for a specific purpose:  StartupWeekend.  What you’ll find out is that there a ton more types of pitches and demos that you will need to develop, including a one-line, fifteen-word “what do you do” pitch and a short, 1-2 minute elevator pitch.  Putting together the perfect elevator pitch takes time and a ton of practice.  Start now and practice, practice, practice.  You just never know when you might be sitting next to that Google exec on a bus or flight who asks you “what do you do?”

And for the real die hards … incorporate! If you think your weekend hack is the greatest thing ever and everyone will want it, then you better think about cleaning up your legal house now by forming a new entity.  You may think it’s hard and expensive to work with an attorney.  While that may be the case for many, that isn’t the case for all.  There are a handful of dedicated startup attorneys, like me who put on free workshops, conduct open office hours, and talk to entrepreneurs exhaustively to answer questions and help them create something great (sorry for the shameless plug).  Things don’t have to be difficult; you just have to find the right person.

Keeping the high level of energy you put out over a StartupWeekend is a tough thing to do for a prolonged period of time.  However, if you can tap into that sense of urgency created over the weekend while pacing yourself through the tasks I’ve recommended above, you might just be on your way to starting the next cool thing.  In the meantime, what questions are lurking in the back of your mind?  What would you like to know more about now that it’s all said and done?