chiara de caro

Startup weekend Brussels AKA How not to drink beer for 54 hours

I heard about Startup Weekend Brussels from our friend “Leo the Loudwhistler” few weeks ago and I decided to participate.  But when I visited the registration page to pay my ticket I had to face a big dilemma. In fact, on that page I was asked to choose one of the following categories: designer, developer, marketing, and lawyer. Guess what? I didn’t fit in any of them.  Ok, jack of all trades was not really an option, wasn’t it?

But I didn’t give up! I had to be at that event and a simple category wouldn’t have stopped me! So I went to see Leo and I offered to volunteer during the event.  I was hired on the spot!

That’s how one of the most exiting weekends I’ve ever spent in Brussels started.  According to my volunteering schedule, I was supposed to help only for few hours on Friday afternoon and on Sunday evening. I ended up spending the all weekend there spying on different working groups and finally choosing one that I supported as a kind of “mascot” and “community manager”.

My startup weekend, while cleaning tables and opening doors. Without a particular order:

• The poor IT guy is the one who never sleeps
• The poor IT guy doesn’t get any visibility because the screencast doesn’t works
• Do not underestimate the importance of business model
• The way you pitch is half of the job
• Then, it is doable to spend a weekend in Brussels without drinking a single beer
• Working with people you don’t know at all can be surprisingly easy
• Working with people you don’t know at all can be extremely hard  
• Keep it simple
• The product to clean tables is highly toxic (my hands still smell bad)
• Never ask the IT guy “what are you doing now exactly”, you will never get the answer
• Take the time to ask about personal stories of your team members
• To be touched by a final pitch
• The endless energy of younger people
• Entrepreneurial spirit  doesn’t have age
• A perfectly “at least tri-lingual” environment
• The contagious energy coming from mentors
• ICAB door is the heaviest door I have even opened

Thanks a lot to the organizers, it was an unforgettable experience. Let’s do it again soon, I am now ready to pitch one of my 30 crazy ideas!