Learn to Duck

Last night I was speaking with a friend about a couple of issues he was experiencing both professionally and personally. We talked through several options, and near the end of it, I decided that the best thing to do was to talk in person.

So, this morning, I put Billie and Taylor into the car, packed a backpack full of water and poop bags, and headed up to Boulder. Three of us met at a trailhead, and we started the hike.

Initially, the thought was to hike for about an hour, we would all be able to vent to each other, offer support and suggestions, and at the conclusion, we would separate, one to go work, me to a hot yoga class, and the third went wee wee wee, all the way home. (Im making one of those up).

As we started hiking, dogs and all, we decided to take a path that we hadnt before. That path continued away from the trail head, and after about two hours ended at a sign that said, “Attention hikers! The trail dead ends here. The rest is private property. Proceed and die.” (I made one of those sentences up.)

Instead of turning around, already having decided to forgo our subsequent plans, we began to forge our own trail. We climbed over and down rocks, through cactus and brier, and after about another hour, finally reconnected with a lower trail. Each one of us sore, beat up, cut up, tired and thirsty, we began the trek back to the car, not realizing it was probably around a mile away (I am not making that up.)

We got back to the car, grabbed some food, and separated after four hours. What was originally planned to be a quick 1 hour hike (maybe a mile in total), became a 4 hour, 4.5 mile scurry and climb.

But, at the end, we all agreed it was a great day. And the conversation I have heard after the hike didnt include any of the lousy parts. In terms of transparency, we really werent transparent at all publicly. As far as most people know, the hike was great from beginning to end. There was little communication (and interest) about the entire trip.

Over the past two weekends, there have been three StartupWeekends. Toronto, NYC and Hamburg.

Toronto, based on Andrew Hyde’s comments and Brill’s comments, was not the most fun. During the weekend itself, there was little to no communication to the outside world. Other than a few blog posts at the end of the weekend, the only thing I could think about it, was that it generally sucked, and that it was not a positive experience for anyone.

Transparent, it was not.

NYC, on the other hand, seems to be going much more smoothly. Currently, there are 25 blog posts about the weekend activities. Toronto had 15 posts. Currently, there are 29 tweets from NYC, and there were 8 from SWTO.

There are multiple blogs following NYC, and the general feeling is one of abject postivitity. Andrew even posted a bunch of photos he took to his own Andrew Hyde blog.

But, where are the mistakes? Where are the errors? Where is the process?
NYC, Transparent you are not.

I understand that StartupWeekend is a work in progress, and I am a huge supporter of the concept and of Andrew himself. So much so, that I am going to travel to DC, on my dime, just to be around (I feel like its their weekend, and I can be called on for advice, but I really shouldnt have a material role in the weekend).

But, part of the beauty of this concept is transparency. The biggest disappointment for myself ,and many others at SW Boulder, was that while everything seemed to be great, we didnt launch. There was little indication–internally or externally–that was going to be the case. Sure, we made a major error, and to Andrew’s credit, he blogged about it. But the mix of disappointment and anger in the follow up posts is clearly there because the failure was a surprise.

At the end of the day, if StartupWeekend is going to be a success, and if its going to continue to be the global phenomenon it has become (There are cities in Europe signing up!) it has to bet its future on transparency. There has to be clear vision into the process itself, because the companies created during StartupWeekend dont matter–only the process does. Until everyone can see the process clearly and transparently, StartupWeekend will continue to be a nice experiment that a small number of people enjoy on select weekends, and like every other buzz-filled event, it will die.