How to build a startup in 22 days

This is how our Skype Chat went last night: (for context, New Tech is a local meetup of of 200-300 entrepreneurs/tech geeks where 5 startups pitch each meeting)

Robert: Hi all. - New Tech Denver had a cancellation - Cassie you ready?

Cassie: Ha

Robert: Andddddd

Robert: Well?

Cassie: Ha annnnnddd definitely not. I have 50 seconds written.

Robert: You have 2 days its Thursday night. Think about and let's talk in the AM

Cassie: Ok. that's fair

Robert: Did you make your decision yet? :)

Cassie: you should see the inside of my brain right now. it's trying to rationalize it.

Robert: Risk reward

Cassie: I'm hammering through a v1 pitch right now. if anything, i'll have a better grasp on the whole thing in the AM...ok to sleep on it?

Robert: Who needs sleep

_____

We said yes...with 58 hours until presentation, no design assets, rough story lines, and our biggest user interview still 24 hours from now... It's a good think we like challenges!

Human-centered design has been drilled into our heads from the moment classes began at BDW way back in August. In fact, Day 1 at BDW involved a trip to Jamba Juice to talk to customers and team members before jumping into app development/design for Zero to Sixty.

We're lucky to have two incredible UCD experts, Rich Bowen and Len Beasley, to keep us on track—especially within a condensed timeline. In our first startup this year, we spent 2 months talking to potential consumers and developing user stories to guide our design. This time around, that time has been narrowed drastically. Our deep dive research stage is only 1.5 weeks, however, we'll continue to touch base with these consumers right up until PitchFest.  As we drew up our first draft of the UX interface this weekend, we continuously defaulted to one answer whenever we got stuck: "Ask the user". 

At BDW, we are super fortunate to have access to some of the best minds in the industry.  James Clark, co-founder of Room 214, is a social media guru and one of our mentors this semester.  

He made a really great point about content creation across social media channels that got us all thinking:  "You have to change your mindset.  Worry less about selling and more about teaching." 

This was an interesting point.  Companies have a duty to their customers that can go far beyond just providing a service.  When you start thinking about what you can teach, you not only establish yourself as an expert, but you start changing the relationship you have with the people who use your product.  

One important lesson we've learned through this entire startup-building process is that if the desire for perfection is too strong, it halts all forward progress.  So this second time around, we've already started to sketch like crazy, thoughtfully picking at each others ideas to expose all the great, good and slightly-not-right's in our thinking.  The first problem to tackle was a seemingly simple one: how do we show analytics about a restaurant's atmosphere to a business owner?

If you're slightly confused, we can take the fault for that since we haven't exactly told you what it is we're building.  At a basic level, it's a sensory box that uses certain cues to detect the ambiance or atmosphere of a space in real time.  It can then store that data for the business owner so they can compare the vibe of their place across a certain span of time.

When considering this dashboard view for the owner, we had to keep several things in mind.  Most importantly, how can you make a graph that shows a scale of ambiance levels on a timeline without insinuating positive or negative feelings?  We made some basic charts but were disappointed: the traditional line or bar graph was out because the high spikes and lows look scary even though the data itself isn't.  So we brainstormed.  And white-boarded.  And sketched.  And repeated.

The whole point was the process.  Because we were able to comfortably throw out every idea, even the ones we knew were wrong as they were leaving our mouths, we could be creative enough to solve the problem. 

The guys from 37signals said it best: "Don't expect to get it right the first time. Let the app grow and speak to you. Let it morph and evolve. With web-based software, there's no need to ship perfection. Design screens, use them, analyze them, and then start over again."

Ask any BDW alum and they'll tell you that one of the best parts of the program are the resources and networks we are introduced to during our time here. 

Today was no exception. Blake Mourer, a Principal and Founder of Open Studio Architecture, found his way across the railroad tracks, through two parking lots and an abandoned lumberyard, to our studio warehouse. 

Within minutes of meeting Blake, it is obvious he thinks differently. He talks about the vision and principles of Open Studio where timesheets and vacation aren't tracked (*gasp*) and where the emphasis is the impact of design on the space functionality, the community, and the big picture. 

It was the perfect AM inspiration for an afternoon of market study discussion, name-storming, and UX plotting. 

That's a great question.  As post-grad students at BDW, Cassie Thill and I are participating in a startup class.  Members from 5 different teams are tasked with bringing a startup from idea to pitch in one semester.  Cassie and I found ourselves in an awkward situation--we were working on a team with three others and it became apparent that the idea was not ready for the spotlight just yet.  We recognized our failure less than a month before the big pitch. So what to do?

Carry on, we decided.  We've teamed up with Robert Reich for an idea he has been working on for a few months himself but wanted help with research, branding and design.  So Cassie and I are are diving in and forgoing almost a month's worth of sleep to try to bring this thing a little bit closer to life.

Welcome to the ride.