StartupCampLondonDiscussionIdeas
From StartupCamp
Startup Camp London Discussion Ideas
Startup Camp: An Unconference for you, by you
This page is where you should give people an idea of the session(s) that you may end up proposing at Startup Camp. But first, if you're not sure how things will work at Startup Camp and how to create and edit pages on this Web site, then read on. If you're an old hand at unconferences and are ready to offer some ideas for some discussions (and you know how to edit wiki pages), then click the edit tab above, scroll to the bottom, add some discussion topics (along with brief descriptions to this page).
Open Space Basics
Startup Camp will be conducted Open Space style (more about Open Space and unconferences can be found here). Much the same way other camps like Mashup Camp have been run, at the beginning of each day, there will be a general assembly where attendees can propose the discussions that they're interested in leading. Attendees will line up for their turn at the microphone, propose a discussion and, on a whiteboard that lists all of the available rooms and timeslots in grid fashion, slot their proposed discussion into one of the available room/times. We'll follow the same protocol as we did in Mashup Camp where the details about the proposed discussion are written in magic marker on a piece of paper and then taped into an available slot (this way, they're easily moved).
Startup Camp Logistics
To get an idea of what this looks like, check out the images on the Camp Agenda for Mashup Camp 1. For Startup Camp, there will be about 8 different rooms and 4 or 5 different time slots which means there's opportunity for a lot of different dicussions to take place. One or more blocks of time will be reserved for "speed geeking." Speed geeking is like speed dating and the purpose of it is to give all attendees the information they need to vote for their favorite startup in the Best Startup Contest. Startups will be given the opportunity to setup up stations where they can present their business idea, plan of execution, and demonstrate any tangibles. Attendees will spend five minutes at each station before moving to the next one at the sound of a buzzer. For more information about the Best Startup Contest, be sure to vist the Best Startup.
Principles of Open Space
There are several principles of Open Space:
- Whoever comes are the right people.
- Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.
- Whenever it starts is the right time.
- When it is over, it is over.
- Document your session on the wiki.
The Law of Two Feet
There is also the Law of Two Feet: If during the course of the gathering, any person finds themselves in a situation where they are neither learning nor contributing, they must use their two feet and go to some more productive place.
And Be Prepared to Be Surprised.
And amazed.
Discussion Proposals
Below is a list of probable/proposed discussions. At the end of each description is a link to a detail level page where you can get more information, indicate your interest in attending the discussion, and flesh out the topic in more detail with other attendees. However, in some cases, the proposed discussion is neither listed yet or the detail level pages are not setup yet. So, feel free to add to this wiki. If you click on a link for which a page hasn't been created, it will take you to a page that you can start to edit (if you are one of the people who proposed a topic, feel free to start the detail level page associated with that topic and get the conversation going!).
Note: We've had a few people use the discussion tab along the top of the wiki interface to enter a proposed discussion. Be sure to click the edit tab at the top of this page. This will put you into the edit mode for this page. Then, scroll to the bottom and enter your discussion idea.
Check out our help page for getting started when it comes to logging in and creating or editing pages on this wiki.
In no particular order, here are some proposed discussion topics. If you're adding a topic, please bracket the topic with four "=" signs to designate a new section heading (e.g., ====MyTopic====), and add your name so we know who proposed the topic.
Manoj Ranaweera - Learnings from 3 yrs in Digital Startups, What's success?
- Soft launching a digital startup under £1000 cash investment
- Document interactivity portal – 3 applications from Knowledge Exchange, Marketing Communications Channel for Lead Generation, Event Collaboration
- Learning from catastrophic stupidity
- Not putting all eggs in the same basket
- Is success guaranteed this time? Hell, yes!
Business
- Funding
- Bootstrapping or investment
- Duration of funding
- Marketing
- Networking
- How much to spend on marketing
- How to find sales leads
- On which channels to focus
- Market definition
- How to convince clients to use a new start up as a supplier
- Customer service
- Dealing with suppliers
- When to recruit...
- ...And who to recruit first
- How detailed a business plan do you need?
- Testing the idea
Development -- creating the product
- What language you use doesn't matter! But...
- Dynamic vs static
- Communities
- Libraries
- How much should you think about scalability when writing code?
- "Premature optimisation is the root of all evil"
- But see the Twitter experience for what happens when you ignore it
- Fancy tools for observing code in production
- When to ship
- Designing to cope with failures
Operations
- DIY or use a web host
- Servers
- Installation
- Monitoring
- Scaling
- ISPs
- Coping when they inevitably screw up
Staying Sane
- How to cope running a startup
- Startup communities
David Petherick suggests: Attention Span 2.0
For the Attention of the Public
- Effective Wikis, Swikis and Blogs: Tools for SEO, SEM and Conversations
- Twittering, Powncing, Digging and Upcoming: Using new tools to make a buzz
- Brand New 2.0: Building an identity on a budget
For the Attention of Partners & Investors
- Elevator Pitch: What does an effective pitch need to include?
- Business Plan: What does an investor want to see?
- Show me the Money: What financial models do you use for a new ball-game?
Fabio De Bernardi - Spread the word about your app:
- How to reach potential users through the blogosphere and other media publication (not only tech blogs, especially if you're not geek-centric)
- How to determine the cost of acquisition for your customers/users when most of your initial marketing is based on word of mouth (VC want to know a darn figure anyway!)
- How to build an effective facebook app (or myspace, bebo.. whatever) and widget strategy
Company evaluation:
- How to determine your pre-money valuation when you're just started in a very young market
- Angel investment vs. VC round
James Governor, RedMonk co-founder suggests: Working With Industry Analysts
What the hell do industry analysts do anyway, and why should a startup care? Targeting analysts in your space Analyst Relations without a budget Learning from people that have seen thousands of company pitches before
AlvisLoo, Student of Msc E-Business and Innovation from LUMS
- How end-users to earn potential income from Facebook app
- How Service-oriented Architecture helps Bloggers to make more money
- How to leverage the power of Google Analytics
- How to success in e-marketing consultancy
- How to coordinate, control, and monitor virtual group/team
- How to leverage the power of WIKI(mass-collaboration) to make money
Nyasha suggests: Topic for Discussion
New Web start-ups with small budgets
- How to choose an outsourcing supplier
- How to tell whether a low cost website is actually worth the investment
- Offline marketing strategies for Online businesses
