Apologies up front. This is probably a bit of a rant but I hope there’s a serious point to be gotten at here.
Last night, I was at Techmeetup presenting the rough plan for the startupcafe mobile app.
I have to say, I got a bit of a curious reaction.
Let me give a bit of context first … Startupcafe started about a year and a half ago because a few of us were frustrated that we were going to startup events, but there was no central place to find out about them. We thought it would be a good idea to post news and events for other people to hear about, as well as pointing out local successes to help make startup life a little bit less lonely. Eventually, we’ve even gone on to do interviews and write up proper articles – something none of us have trained for.
Like quite a few other meetups in the city, it is really ran by a group of people that are doing it in their spare time. It’s a labour of love. Despite the hours, we love helping people and the reactions that we get when someone has found something of value through us. It’s a side project.
Last night, I presented about the startupcafe app. It really didn’t come about because people wrote into us asking for an iPhone app, or it seemed like a get rich quick way of making money. Instead, it was just something much more simpler: I had been playing around with Titanium (a framework which allows you to build cross platform mobile applications using javascript and CSS) and wanted a little project to work on while learning it.
Before the end of the presentation, I was asked why I wasn’t following lean startup principles. Why was I presenting a list of features and not the process by which I will discover what customers wanted.
I guess this was a little unexpected. I love lean startup principles and practice them in my day job at Interface3: talking to customers, spending time understanding their pains and testing out customer validations. But I hadn’t linked them to this side project because the point of this project wasn’t to make money, the point was to learn about how to build apps in Titanium. I rarely get to do any heavy duty coding in my day job any more and I really don’t want to get too rusty. I’m a geek. I like to play with new shiny frameworks. I like to make stuff.
The point of a side project is not to make money: its supposed allow you to learn stuff and have some fun.
There is a time and place for lean startup principles BUT if we followed them for every aspect of our lives, then …. it just doesn’t sound right. Life shouldn’t be that serious all the time. Side projects aren’t meant to go anywhere. They’re supposed to be things that companies wouldn’t invest time or money into. They’re places for creativity and to do something unusual.
A few people suggested that I should set up a survey and send it to the community before coding, and their point was that I shouldn’t cram too much into the app. So I’m going to take that on board. My next step will be to knock together a little survey to find out the top thing that a startupcafe mobile app would do.
But forgive me if I don’t strict startup priniciples for this one. I’m building the app because I want to see how easy it is to build mobile apps quickly and easily using Titanium over writing Objective-C. Not because I think that we’ll get rich by doing it.
Incidentally, let me leave on this one parting shot. I thought the audience last night wasn’t exactly supportive of the projects that were being presented. I know that quite a few people have questioned how to encourage collaborations (and sparks to happen) at Techmeetup beyond the beer and pizza. If the point of the side project presentations was to encourage those types of sparks to happen, then maybe the community could be reminded that side projects are side projects. If you encourage people to present things, then criticise them for almost entertainment value, then people will think twice about presenting again. In the long term it will do more harm than good.
StartupCafe 
I wasn’t there last night (down in London earning some money..) which is a shame because I would have liked to hear about the side-projects.
But I’d just like to agree with Kate’s comment about the point of a side-project is “to learn stuff and have fun”.
I’ve usually got one or more side-projects on the go, and that is always the way they start up – I want to learn about Technology X so I invent a reason to build something using it.
That’s the way I’ve learnt a whole bunch of cool things that I wasn’t being paid to know about.
And sometimes the side-project can turn commercial, like my ebook site http://luzme.com, and that’s when you need to start thinking about it differently and apply all the lean startup stuff to the project.
But not at the outset, for sure. (Unless of course the cool new thing you want to learn about is “how to do lean startup”)
Rachel
P.S. I’d be v. interested to hear how you get on with Titanium, Kate – it’s on my todo list…
The point is well made, Kate. There is indeed a danger that the side project presentations become a sort of Dragon’s Den style bloodsport. I’m somewhat guilty of contributing to that atmosphere, and I’m resolved to do better in future.
On the other hand, frank criticism is a rare and precious thing. Other, ostensibly more supportive, forms of commentary are rarely substantive. “Have you seen X?” or (worse) “have you thought about adding feature Y?” or (worse still) “*polite silence*” are worth much less than a tricky question that really disrupts your thinking about a project.
I wonder if it’s just a question of communication?
I know of a company that had problems with a trade union, which was making life very difficult for the management. The solution turned out to be simple. When the management presented anything at a meeting they made clear what it’s status was. e.g.
– this is a management decision we are communicating for your information
– this is something we intend to do, although if you can come up with better suggestions we are open to it
– this is something you can vote on and decide
– this is a formal consultation
It solved the problem completely – which was that the union reps didn’t understand what was being asked of them.
Maybe the solution here is to make sure that before each presentation it is made clear what it’s purpose is. Some people will be looking for critical feedback, others just wanting to share some experience. Some might be looking for collaborators. Then perhaps the audience will be able to respond accordingly!
Just a thought… I wasn’t there last night so it may be completely irrelevant.
If the art of “learning stuff and having some fun” (as you put it) has disappeared under a heap of formal processes, then we are surely doomed to mediocrity: Do these people have any idea how many world-changing inventions and discoveries started out as glorified accidents, moments of serendipity, idle curiosity?
Apply “startup principles” later, if the initial idea seems popular – but to refine and improve, not explicitly to create and experiment.
Looks like we urgently need to demonstrate the benefits of fun! So quit worrying about Appleton Tower, and go play…
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