Mauricio Salazar, Technologist, Team Last Sandwich

 

What were you hoping to get out of participating in BeMyApp before the actual event?

An App (hopefully one that would allow me to take over the world, and/or achieve world peace). I knew it was a long shot for a 48h challenge so I hoped to learn how to do the first part (the App developing part); and meet the right people so we could work on the second part afterwards.

 

Can you explain what happened over the weekend?
I arrived Friday night to the venue and registered to pitch an idea (avoided mentioning the “take over the world” part and proposed something more practical). After an hour of networking at the pub –relaxing wine included–, we went into one of the classrooms in the Hackney Community College. There, we were told what to expect during the weekend: Friday: pitch ideas, 3 – 5 selected, form teams (developer, marketing, business, designer). Saturday: design, code and develop marketing and business strategies with the help of visiting mentors. Sunday: more coding, last touches and present the final app to the jury.

This is what really happened:

On Friday, visitors, developers, designers and business people were given tokens so they could vote for their favourite 1min pitch/idea. In total, 4 ideas got selected (mine included) and time was given for people to ask questions to the winners to allow the team-forming process. We were ready for Saturday.

On Saturday the real challenge began. Newly formed teams gathered together at 10am in separate classrooms to discuss their strategies for the weekend.  I was really interested in another group’s idea and decided to accept their offer to join and help them with the UI / UX and business strategies. Without knowing it, we had opened a Pandora’s Box: we spent the rest of the day (and most of the next) brainstorming and coming up with new and interesting pivots for the original idea. Mentors were great help too: they gave us focus and interesting perspectives on how to approach the business side of the project. By midday we had realised winning the competition was secondary, the team and its never-ending ideas generation engine, was a way bigger prize than any of us had expected.

On Sunday we decided to use WebMynd’s platform to create a working mock-up App of what seemed to be the “final” pivot. Each one concentrated in their self-assigned tasks and, 5 minutes before the deadline, we were ready to present the idea to the Jury.

All of the ideas/apps presented that afternoon to the juries were proof that if you get a group of smart people in a room for 48h, you’ll get something fantastic to say the least. I personally loved the other 2 apps presented, they were clever and good enough to be a solid start for a real-world startup.

 

What did you learn from your experience?
I learned two things: 

1. It is all about the people. It may sound obvious but make sure you are surrounded by the right people, they hold the key to your creativity and innovation; and vice-versa. Alaric, James and Jennah (my BeMyApp teammates) certainly had mine.

2. You have to be in the right place. This affirmation usually sounds heavily linked to luck but it is not. Go out there and be at that place where you think you’ll have an increased chance of finding the people and the resources to inspire and fuel your passion. BeMyApp (and TechMeetups) are such places.

 

Has the experience changed anything for you?

More than changing, it reminded me how much I love being surrounded by entrepreneurs and uncertainty. It hit the “play” button.

 

What would you advise anyone thinking about attending a future BeMyApp event?

1. Stop thinking about going and go!

2. Be open to discuss, help, not sleep much, and, overall, to learn.

3. Share all you can.

4. Technology can’t only be seen from a mere geek perspective, it is really easy to get lost in bits and forget that most of the world cares more about (heart)beats. Solve a problem for the people and make sure actual people can use the solution.

 

Is there anything else you’d like to say about the event or your experience?

Yes, get ready, we are going to take over the world (and help achieve world peace) soon…

… or not

 

The next BeMyApp Weekend in London will be on February 24-26, 2012 – Get involved!