Hear from a student who participated in Techstars Startup Weekend. I attended Techstars Startup Weekend 2024 organised by Edinburgh Innovations and my team won one of the three awards, for having the Most Developed Business Plan. What was our idea? It’s a smart online assistant for dyslexic students to help them read better with dyslexia-friendly fonts and write better. Techstars Startup Weekend happens in hundreds of cities around the world, and it’s a super intensive but exciting three-day programme “where aspiring entrepreneurs can experience startup life,” meet mentors, investors, network, learn from peers and even find co-founders. Here’s a quick rundown of the three days which went by so fast Day 1 — Finding your idea We arrived, registered our attendance, and got name badges. I had some time to talk to random students while having dinner. After the first general session on ideation and startup-building tips, I was assigned to my team (we were a mix of undergrads and postgrads). I’d never met them before so on our first day, we all came up with a bunch of ideas and we voted for one idea to go forward with. Day 2 — Pivoting, validating a new idea and building an MVP On day 2 we had a customer validation workshop. And by the time the team met again, we threw our first idea out of the window because we couldn’t settle on the business model and market details. Our new idea, LexiLogic was an idea Marcus came up with to help dyslexic students, and we happily ran with it. Out into the Scottish cold we went, and interviewed about 13 people or more to validate the LexiLogic idea. Then we divided the tasks amongst ourselves. By Saturday night (end of day 2) we were pretty much ready and did a mock presentation with the mentors who gave us solid feedback. Day 3 — Pitching and celebration This was the final day! We put the finishing touches on our deck, spoke to a mentor, rehearsed the pitch several times, and did some karaoke for most of the afternoon while waiting for when we would officially pitch. Below are also lessons I picked up from the sessions Top tips for building a startup Your idea needs to address a problem people have. You need to research and see if they’re really going to pay for it. Experiment, fail, learn, repeat. A startup is like a hypothesis to prove whether something works or not. It is a continuous process. Don’t work on something so you can be 100% right. Find where you are wrong. Don’t fall in love with your idea (high intention, low attachments) First-mover advantage does not always hold water. No one is really going to steal your idea (I mean chances are that it is possible, but if you do not share your idea with certain people, how do you expect to get full feedback? Either way, you can put in measures to keep your ideas safe). You will receive conflicting advice and feedback from mentors, advisors, etc. Choose the advice you wish to take. Your customers’ feedback or advice is most often the best to follow. Apply checks and balances. A good way to look for startup ideas is not to think of cool ideas alone, but to look at problems you and others have. In summary, it was a brilliant event, and I would encourage as many people as possible to participate in the Techstars Startup Weekend. Many thanks to Edinburgh Innovations and all the team members and institutions who made this possible. *Read the full story on Mirabellemorah.com *Watch the Instagram Reel here. Techstars Startup Weekend usually runs twice a year. Once in March, with a deadline for applications in February, and again in November, with a deadline for applications in October. Find out more Image Get involved Startup Basics - programme Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or simply curious about the world of startups, our comprehensive Startup Basics programme is tailored to meet your needs. Equip yourself with the essential knowledge. resources and guidance to kickstart your entrepreneurial journey. With a series of workshops that cover topics such as: validating your startup, prototyping, pitching and funding. Find out more and book now Business Ideas Competition Win a share of £1,000 just for telling us about your idea. Do you have an idea for a business, social enterprise, charity or freelancing proposition? Tell us about it and you could win money to work on your idea. Running a couple of times a semester. Find out more and enter now. This article was published on 2024-07-01