A committed and talented mix of people showed up on Friday, March 27th to engage in an experiment: Build a Business in a weekend. Halifax Weekend was an initiative organised and coordinated by Patrick Hankinson, who released Tetherberry only weeks ago. Patrick participated in a similar ‘build a business’ event in Ottawa and thought it would be fun to bring the concept to Halifax.
The Hub was excited to sponsor this kind of event that brought together people for a Hub-like experience of their own. About 14 people came together on Friday evening, most unknown to one another and not quite sure what to expect. Anyone could pitch a business idea to the group. Seven ideas were presented, ranging from Twitter and iPhone applications to a social fitness and a local food platform. The result? A business that could either be ready to go at the end of the weekend or at least something to put out into the world through open source. Ideas were vetted by examining overall interest and potential profitability. People voted and work began. Each individual received credit for every three hours they logged over the three days towards a share in the final product.
The commitment invested was impressive, with people showing up daily from Friday through Sunday. (Particularly impressive considering this past weekend was probably one of the first good weather weekends in months.) So what kept them going?
Among the participants was Bill Wilson, a software developer (MindSea Development) and avid kite flier. He enjoyed the networking experience and commented on seeing how bringing in some designers to existing and future work could really benefit a product.
Also among the team were two from the Momentum Group: Ian Conrad, Website and Customer Service, and Nick Brunt, illustrator and Graphic Designer. They were interested in coming together with a group of people passionate about what they do and interested in developing a tangible product. Sarah Semark, a freelance Designer, found the experiment of putting a large group of people together to work on something in a short time period quite interesting.
Patrick’s innovative weekend was also joined by three other Hub members: Cory Schop and Jessie Ouellette, who recently launched Tweepler, and Will LaChance, creator of hbus. Cory spoke about Halifax Weekend on Global News at 6pm yesterday on behalf of the group. Will was impressed by the eclectic group this event attracted and also pleasantly surprised by the skill and innovated nature of the people in the room.
The three day working weekend produced an idea that started with a concept originally pitched by Michael Christie of Red Spruce. Waldii was born this weekend: a website linked to GoogleMaps for events and happenings in Halifax.
And there you have it: a business built in a weekend.
Thanks and congrats to Patrick and everyone who participated in the Halifax Weekend experiment.
Let the fun continue!
The weekend has passed, but the enthusiasm from the group has not. Already the programmers have made several changes to the website overnight and through out the day.
The idea would have not formed if there was no avenue for us all to get together and share our skills. The Hub truly is an social idea incubator and the grounds for many ideas and partnerships moving forward.
Thanks to everyone at the hub for letting us hold the event!
I was so please to be around Halifax and able to take part in this great event with such a diverse set of talent. It really was a fun time and I hope we can do it again.
I’ve wanted to do something like this for quite some time now as you can tell from a website I launched Group of Gurus
It was great to get to know everyone and I am sure we will all keep in touch. I know we are still collaborating on the idea and ways to improve it even after the event so that is awesome considering I have heard most of these kind of events often seem to fizzle out.
A big thank you to the Hub for letting us express ourselves under your roof