We never got paid our UIUC StartupWeekend winnings, even after emailing the organizers countless times. Yes it's more about the connections and experience over the prize money, but just a fair warning.
Each event is put on by a set of organizers, I would look at it slightly more from a franchise perspective. It's probably not Startup Weekend's fault. I've been an organizer before and I am sorry you didn't get what you won; but don't go for prizes. I've organized and been a participant, I've never seen any 'substantial' prizes other than some fun stuff. The last one in Washington DC I think had some Think Geek stuff like a lightsaber.
But that's not why you go to these events. It should only be about the experience and building something. If there happens to be a prize, that's gravy.
I've never done a Startup Weekend, but posts like this make me want to try it.
As someone who has iterated and launched a lot of stuff in the past year, I love this approach. I think 54 hours is crazy small to release a quality product, and dont know if I could do it, but Bubs is right with the framework. If you have to do it, this seems like a great method.
You'd be surprised -- I certainly was, about how quality a product someone can release in 54 hours.
Regardless, it really isn't about that. It's MVP at its truest sense. Does the world need this product? That can be answered in 54 hours, with enough talent, caffeine and motivation.
To cram everything in, you cheat. Use Django, Rails (or better), Flask, Sinatra, whatever. Use an off-the-shelf authentication schema (Facebook, Twitter, whatever). Get a themed template from Themeforest or wherever.
If you're lucky enough to have a designer, let them put polish on it. If you're lucky enough to have (or be) a developer, let them choose the language and framework.
At the last Baltimore SW, Dave Troy built and launched a couple of addons for (the not yet launched) Shortmail[1] service. Yasmine Mustafa (seen on HN front page[2] recently) was building 123Linkit, which was later acquired, and the winner, Parking Panda[3] was built and demoed (and looked spartan, to say the least), and they were recently featured by Mashable.
Things can happen, and 54 hours is enough. Getting everybody involved to see that isn't necessarily the easiest thing in the world, but it's a great way of whittling down even modest ideas into their smaller kernels.
I recently attended the Philly Startup Weekend (just this past weekend). I have on suggestion for you: Go.
Startup Weekend is great, if nothing more, than building something, meeting people, and maybe, just maybe, starting something great (Remember, it's Startup Weekend, where you go to start, not finish). The pressure of having something to demo, of being asked questions about the business model, of having to be judged in front of your peers is exciting.
I highly recommend attending one. Even if you aren't planning on doing a startup or don't have an idea, the connections you make, the things you learn, are awesome.
These are all good tips to follow for any new team trying to get to MVP, regardless of if you are in a startup weekend, and test out the idea and the team.
