Attending Startup Dojo
I have an interest in Startups, I’ve worked at one and am now collaborating in my free time with another. Today I attended Startup Dojo at Foo Café, here in Malmö.
My interest is big because I love innovation, change and seeing things evolve as it builds up from the ground. Sweden have some big names to show off when it comes to Startups, which has become a capital new startups can use. I bet you’ve heard of Skype, Soundcloud and Spotify (All S and all from Sweden). Personally I’ve worked at Flattr which you are likely to have heard of if you follow my blog.
I attended the event tonight with no idea of what to expect. I knew there’d be a keynote about the Lean Startup or something along those lines.
As I step in I realise that I am the only woman present. Just as I’ve attended events with only women I didn’t find it to be an issue, more a change of scenery. The two groups do tend to give different types of input.
Entrepreneurs ready to take on a new challenge, with ideas ready to go. Three of them got pitched to us tonight and with all three I felt I actually had something to contribute. At some point I felt that I could even steal the idea and run with it together with some coder friends of mine. Not that I will, at this point.
An important thing to remember, that the beginning keynote reminded us of, is that no idea is unique and that it’s all about execution not just being first with an idea, but getting something viable out there.
This is the reason for why minimum viable product is important to remember when starting any new company. This is however a completely different blog post, that I hope I can return to and reflect on at a later time.
These nights will return at monthly intervals and I’m looking forward to meeting a lot more of the same and other people, as we go on. Hopefully get some friends to pitch their idea, and to get some input on future projects. Also I will attempt to bring some other geek girls to the party.
The night was very inspiring and energizing.
