Why Startup Weekend is the Best Kind of Founder's Dating

As Mike Kowalchik pointed out yesterday on the Greenhorn blog, the structure of standard entrepreneurial networking events where you're quickly pitching your idea may not be the best way to find a co-founder; when you're trying to find a business partner, there are many elements that have to come together for it work and many question you need to try to answer.  The amazing part about Startup Weekend is that many of those pieces can come together in just one weekend thanks to the event's unique structure.

Why Startup Weekend is the Best Kind of Founder's Dating 

Preface: Startup Weekend is a 54 hour startup event that provides networking, resources and incentives for individuals and teams to go from idea to launch. They connect you with local developers, innovators and entrepreneurs to build community and start real companies.  People pitch ideas and form teams on Friday night and then try to build prototypes/demos and organize basic business planning in one weekend, culminating in a judging on Sunday night. Winning teams receive prizes including cash, in kind services and mentoring. You can learn more about the event here.

1) This is the right group of people

The first step in finding a great cofounder at an event is having the room filled with the right types of people.  Fortunately, anyone who signs up for an event built around trying to start a company in 54 hours is clearly a bit of an "entreprenerd" (credit @JoshSamBob). Anyone who isn't serious about startups will quickly stand out like a Star Trek geek at a Star Wars convention.  Find the Han Solo to your Chewbacca. 

2) You see how people work

This part is huge.  You can learn a lot about people by spending some time with them over some beers and coffee, but if you're talking about starting a business with someone, there's nothing better than seeing how they do in a startup environment. 

Are they the first person up in the morning or the last person out the door? How do they communicate their ideas and settle disputes? What happens when something goes wrong? Can they adapt or do they freak out? Are they a perfectionist? Do they half-ass things? Do you enjoy being around them in a working environment?

We all have different personalities and work styles that mean the perfect cofounder is going to answer many of the above questions differently depending on who you are; the important part is just that Startup Weekend provides an environment to learn the answer to many of those questions in a matter of days instead of months of working together.

3) You work on something real

Wouldn't you love to see into the future? Startup Weekend helps. The reason you get answers to so many of those questions is because it realistically simulates the startup work environment;  real companies have sprung up from the event and the prizes can be significant. All of this incentivizes people to take the event more seriously than any role playing or "what if" discussion could. Nothing is quite like being 5 minutes before the presentation deadline and seeing both how your team members budgeted their time as well as how they handle the stress of crunch time. 

4) You might just win prizes towards getting your business idea off the ground

So now that you've learned all about your potential cofounders throughout the weekend, there's one last potential bonus: prizes for your startup.  In December, the winning team won $2,000 in free legal services, cash, impressions on a high traffic website and mentoring time with TechStars Boston leader Shawn Broderick. Second place also received mentoring and legal services.  Wouldn't you love to walk away from an event with a battle-tested founder and funding for your startup? 

So what are you waiting for? Sign up now for Startup Weekend: Boston from June 4th-6th.  Use the discount code: swdiscount and save 20%....because Greenhorn hooks you up.