Who You Calling A Jesse?

We are just a week away from the third StartupCampWaterloo at the Accelerator Centre on North Campus in Waterloo. If you work for, own, or are thinking about having anything to do with a startup in the Waterloo region you should come out and meet other like minded folks. All are welcome.

StartupCampWaterloo is a community run event that gives startups a chance to test their ideas on their peers. Everyone who wants to present is given 60 seconds to get the audience interested in hearing more. The audience then votes and we try to give at least the top five a chance to present and get some feedback from everyone.

If you just want to see what this all about and get some free pizza and chocolate bars, you are welcome to that too ;) Please sign up on either the wiki or the facebook event.

This Saturday is BarCampWaterloo (number 6!) from 1pm to around 7pm (we may retire to the pub before that) at the Accelerator Centre. A much more toned down event compared to StartupCampWaterloo, BarCampWaterloo is where people come to explore ideas and maybe get themselves ready for a DemoCampGuelph (which happens to be April 9th at the Albion in Guelph). I might show some of the stuff I have been working on this weekend ;)

DesignCampWaterloo is March 26th (Wednesday)27th (Thursday) starting at 4:30pm in the Tathum Centre on the University of Waterloo campus. The first one was a bit difficult to follow being in the SLC and all so I am really looking forward to it in the TC. Plus I just have to go up two floors from my office to attend!

There is also a RailsNite next week on Monday at Ceaser Martini’s. Not sure of the start time but I think 7ish might work.

Update: RailsNite does start at 7pm and there is a Facebook event created for it.

Another update: Rick Segal is not coming to Waterloo for his VC roundtable, but he is coming to Guelph on April 28th… Perhaps Ali is influencing people now.

Yet another update: DesignCampWaterloo is Thursday not Wednesday.

With our second StartupCampWaterloo behind us here in Waterloo we hit a milestone. Over 100 people were in the main area of the Waterloo Accelerator Centre to talk with Startups and help each other with ideas (quick estimate based on 88 chairs in the room plus Ali’s colourful chairs). I am pretty sure all those that demo’d got some useful information and experience out of the evening.

A big thanks to Stefanus De Toit for opening up the evening and breaking-in the crowed by sharing insights like: Turning academic research into a product is hard if you don’t keep your paperwork in order; hire your friends; wow people with lots of 3D chickens to get investment (actually prove your concept with a solid demo). Another big thanks to Austin Hill for closing off the evening with a great presentation which included: don’t be afraid of sharing your ideas because someone already tried it – it is your execution that is important; Canada needs more of its successful entrepreneurs re-investing in the startup scene; beware the vulture investors; do a startup while you are a student; it helps to work for a startup if you are thinking about a startup as startup culture is infectious.

What was learned from this one is that 60 second intros with voting works out really well. Keeping things short and keeping the slides out of it kept the conversation interesting and focused. The big buzzer also helped. Only took one person being caught by it—no one else dared challenge their time limits. Plus it kept us on time, mostly.

I had a lot of good feedback and now can relax—until the next one. What are we going to do next? BarCampWaterloo is on March 29th, a DemoCampGuelph will be in April, and StartupCampWaterloo3 will be sometime in May. If you can’t figure out if you want to go, I have a post coming up tomorrow that will cover that ;)

Other folks to thank for making the trip from places afar and/or helping out last night… The Toronto folks venturing outside of the GTA in their large 4×4: David Crow – thanks for the books and disruption, Jevon McDonald,  Jonas Brandon.   Ali Asaria brought some chairs and name tags and Simon Law for came down from Montreal. The other organizers Simon Woodside and Mic Berman ensured that we appeared as unconference as possible ;)

Most importantly, the night was good because of the folks that were there. Waterloo has a great community.

If you are in the Greater Waterloo Area (roughly Milton to Woodstock in highway 401 terms) and have a thing for startups you should come out to the second StartupCampWaterloo on February 26th. Our first one attracted a great group of participants and inspired similar events in Toronto and Montreal. The event is free, the refreshments are provided thanks to sponsors, and there is working wifi. All you need to bring is your expertise, ideas, and an open mind. We have undergrads, grads, alumni, startup inclined people, technologists, and other various characters in-between that make up a large group of people all eager to share and develop ideas.

This event is informal and fun. We aren’t expecting polished presentations. The audience would prefer that you use little to no slides if you present. What you should have is a passion for your idea/technology/etc and the ability to receive open and honest feedback. The schedule is set at the event by those at the event by the participants so be sure to get there on time (starts at 6pm, wiki has details).

Please sign up on the wiki, look forward to seeing you there!

Last night I attended StartupCampToronto which was put on by the guys behind StartupNorth. It was a really good event with some intelligent entrepreneurs and a great audience that weren’t afraid to speak up. The format was simple, five minute presentation with roughly 15 minutes for questions. They did let it go over a bit if the conversation was a good one.

It wasn’t until the last presentation that I really go excited though. A couple of students from U of Toronto came with their idea and prototype for a really easy portfolio manager. They had a grand plan for how this can work which had its issues. The crowd jumped on it and offered some great advice which I hope helps them create a successful product. That, I believe, was Simon Woodside’s motivation behind StartupCampWaterloo. When he had an idea for his company/technology it was hard to get that advice to move it along. For students and researchers or anyone else really, it can be hard for them to understand the market their technology might work in. Yes there are organizations designed to help but the community nature of a StartupCamp I believe works better for a lot of people.

A lot of the talk about entrepreneurial learning curve is that you have to fail to succeed. StartupCamp was designed to encourage people to at least try with the support of the community to offer some guidance. Could some failures be avoided by the community helping them figure out the obvious mistakes?

A secondary benefit is the community is enhanced from the fresh ideas and energy out there. With that in mind, next StartupCampWaterloo is February 26th. Looking forward to it.

It has been about two years since the unconferences started in Toronto. Shortly after it started, David Crow coined the community is the framework discussion and helped inspire folks to help build communities. It took me a while but September 29th, 2007 saw the first BarCampWaterloo. We are now six events (plus DemoCampGuelph) into it and I think with StartupCampWaterloo I feel confident saying there is a solid community in Waterloo that finds community driven events useful and are willing to participate.

Why organize these events? Personally I am not an entrepreneur with a few attempts or successes at starting my own business under my belt. I have not experienced the joys and fears of starting a business but I have experienced years of feeling isolated within both the University community and the larger regional community. I have had more web technology contacts in the US than I do in Canada, more of a sense of community when I attend the big Adobe MAX conference.

Starting and continuing a ‘BarCamp’ movement in Waterloo is about the entire tech community: the web developers in big companies, the entrepreneurs, the inventors creating things for fun, the people that are researching the application of technology and/or how people interact with it, the business minded folks that would love to help something grow. However, the desire for topic specific events is there and that is why we (Mic, Simon, Brydon and Ali in Guelph, and myself), with the help of the community, have broken the events into three main forms:

• BarCampWaterloo – something for everyone who attends. We have talked about how to age a good ham, use two keyboards at once, cool coding, and how to build the technology in your business. Its a day long event that strives to include everyone who attends.
• DemoCampGuelph – this event aims to showcase working projects. You demo something that works, no slides, no time to babble.
  
• StartupCampWaterloo – the most recent experiment that borrowed from the spirit of DemoCamp. This event focuses on the start-up experience and aims to give folks a place to get the feedback they need to keep going and succeed.

The events are staggered monthly and all three events offer a place for folks to connect. Through these connections comes a sense of community. Someone other than your dog or the voices in your head that share the same passion as you are out there and they want to help. You may leave an event inspired to try something new at work or in your own business or find something to work with on your next big idea. That is the potential power of the community that I currently see in Waterloo. With the success of the Accelerator Centre and the construction of another Accelerator Centre along with a Research Accelerator Centre it really feels like Waterloo is on the verge of something. Infrastructure (we do need a free community wifi) and the brains are here… a vibrant BarCamping community will certainly help I think.

It is not that I don’t acknowledge the groups that have been organizing events for a while. The first one that comes to mind is WatStart which is an effort led by Gary Will. The launch of the new WatStart site I think offers a great place to organize community resources, I hope people start using it. Then there are some of our now regular BarCampWaterloo sponsors: Communitech and TechCapital, they have done a lot positive things for the entrepreneurs in the community.

No matter where you are I would encourage you to seek out the local community and participate. Every person that contributes enriches the experience for everyone. There are other events in town and groups that meet mingle. DesignCampWaterloo, UX group, a new RailsNite Waterloo, a .NET users group, and others. Get out there and meet people, you never know what could come of it.

Tags: community, BarCampWaterloo, StartupCampWaterloo

The BarCampWaterloo group brings a BarCamp/DemoCamp event to Waterloo that is aimed for those that are interested in or already have a start up. It is called StartupCampWaterloo and will run from 6pm to 9pm on the 23rd of October at the Accelerator Centre on North campus (295 Hagey Blvd). Sign up on the wiki if you are going to attend, all are welcome!