At the Startup Centre We Love Crazy Ideas. We love it even more when people can bring those ideas to life. Owing to a non-existent Product Building Ecosystem in India, one of the first efforts we put together was this platform called In50hrs (www.in50hrs.com).
Fast forward a year, and with more than 200 odd participants, 100 odd prototypes and 20 odd startups that have emerged, we are taking this to three additional cities across the country - Starting with Chennai and heading to Pune, Bangalore and Delhi.
We kicked off this “new and improved” avatar with the Fifth Edition in Chennai and we are still reeling over the maturity of ideas and completeness of protytypes that were built - in 50 hours.
We are super blest with an amazing community onground who is helping us with various bits of this emerging platform but we need an anchor who can drive this effort on the ground - mostly based in Chennai, but travelling to these 13 Odd events in the year ahead (essentially every three weeks).
If you are someone who is passionately in love with code, hands on product building, and can communicate well, and has an organizational way of going about things (read : Eye for Detail) then you are the person we are looking for.
The person we hire for this role would be responsible for:
1. Having the Blogging / Content team reporting to them
2. Collaborating with the local ecosystem partners and aiding, working closely with them
3. Working with the Event Management team and clearly conveying requirements so that ground logistics are handled
4. Managing the Social Media Channels (FB / Twitter) for In50hrs and also blogging (should be a natural outcome - on best practices etc - if you love what you do, we presume it will flow naturally)
Note: If its not clear by now, there will be travel involved with this role.
Apply for this position
Its Quite Simple. Make it simple for us to make a decision about you: 1. Show us samples of code / projects you’ve built 2. There is quite a bit of words about In50hrs out there on the web. If you can tell us your vision for this platform and see where you think this platform should go in the next one - two - three years 3. Put this all in an email it to me at [email protected] along with a short note on your profile
We don’t care where you graduated from (or if you did at all). Age and experience doesn’t matter as long as you have what it takes to perform this role. That said, since you are in the epicentre of three different functions, having 1-3 years of experience in something post school (or whatever that age might be) would be helpful.
Monthly Archives: July 2012
Block Your Dates. We are coming.
Four Cities and 14 events ahead and in a way this is “scale up and out” for us. Trying to be a bit more predictable and ensure that some Planning is in place, we have put out the dates for the In50hrs Events in the year ahead. This is in a way our version 2.0 of the event, and we look forward to seeing you - take the first step on that audacious startup idea, with us.
Chennai:
Chennai 5th Edition - July 20th - July 22nd, 2012
Chennai 6th Edition - October 5th - October 7th, 2012
Chennai 7th Edition - January 11th - January 13th, 2013
Chennai 8th Edition - April 19th - April 21st, 2013
Delhi:
Delhi 1st Edition - November 2nd - November 4th, 2012
Delhi 2nd Edition - February 1st - February 3rd, 2013
Delhi 3rd Edition - May 3rd - May 5th, 2013
Bangalore:
Bangalore 1st Edition - November 23rd - November 25th, 2012
Bangalore 2nd Edition - March 1st - March 3rd, 2013 (Changed to March 15th - 17th)
Bangalore 3rd Edition - May 24th - May 26th, 2013
Pune:
Pune 1st Edition - August 31st - September 2nd, 2012
Pune 2nd Edition - December 14th - December 16th, 2012
Pune 3rd Edition - March 22nd - March 24th, 2013 (Changed to April 5th - 7th)
Pune 4th Edition - June 14th - June 16th, 2013
Remember to block your dates. Get that pitch ready. and Participate in the community on Facebook. See you at the event.
A Prototype vs A Hack
In50hrs is an Idea-to-Prototype Event. its been designed that way. Some ask us how its different from a hackathon. We think there are some differences to it, and rather crucial ones.
We’ve been talking to quite a few folks who run Hackathons - primarily are run by companies to get a developer community build deeper engagement with their platform - and the tune we hear seems common; not enough companies emerge out of it.
In the last one year, over four editions of In50hrs, we’ve had 100+ prototypes built and roughly 20 odd startups emerge. Are they billion dollar companies? Time will tell, but the evolution of an idea - prototype - product - startup route seems to be emerging.
Hacks don’t necessarily become products. Prototypes do. Developers and technologists hack. Product Managers prototype their ideas.
Hacks are solutions to fix a problem - in some cases as a temporary measure. Prototypes are the first step towards creating a long term solution towards a bigger problem.
Most hacks - and hackathons - are a great way to build expertise in a domain, on a platform or in using a tool. Prototypes are slightly wider, constantly keeping the problem that is being solved in mind.
While there are plenty of hackathons around, why are we building a platform for idea-to-prototypes? Because anything that is not managed deteriorates and anything that comes out of a system without the adequate processes is an accident. Rarely do startups, product prototypes and ideas emerge out of sheer chaos. It has to be engineered that way.
Attending a Weekend Prototype Event? Your Pre-Event Checklist.
It looks like there is a very healthy product building ecosystem emerging, with plenty of avenues for entrepreneurs, designers and developers to come together and experiment with new ideas. As well intended as all events are, the one thing that is against you is time. Can you get a Prototype out in a Weekend? Absolutely. But you also have to do some groundwork BEFORE you land up in the event.
Here’s a small list that we started putting together for the In50hrs (www.in50hrs.com) Participants. It more or less would apply for any hackathon.
To-Dos Before the Event:
Entrepreneur / Idea (Wo)Man
- Identify the Domain that is your strength
- Identify Pain Points based on Your Insights of the Industry/ Domain
- Brainstorm various ideas / Solutions around that Pain Point
- Jot them all down
- Start Your Market Research :
- How do Potential customers currently navigate that pain point
- What could they use as Alternatives (mark as competitors)
- Clearly Identify what would set you apart in terms of the solution to solve that pain paint more elegantly.
- Form the Pitch.
- Define one or two key features that would be required to demonstrate how the solution works (and its differentiation).
- Test if you are right - If you take out that one key feature, nothing should make sense.
- Define it as your MVP.
- Put yourself in the shoes of the user and think about the user flows - what all data needs to be taken from the user before giving desired result and how those data sources will be retrieved. If you have design sensibility, make a few wireframes for the same.
- You are all set.
Hacker
- Brush up on your technology skillsets.
- Track the Twitter Stream under the hashtag #in50hrs to locate potential entrepreneurs looking for developers
- If you spot an interesting idea, ping, connect, understand the problem being solved. Think about it. Take sometime.
- Connect back with the Entrepreneur. Research and identify the right tools / framework to implement the solution.
- Download the appropriate IDEs / Tools and have it installed on your development machine. (Go with the familiar, this is NOT the time to upgrade to the newest release of a dev environment to realize it breaks everything you know)
- Have an open mind to work with the team
- Get a good night’s rest and come for the event.
Designer
- Brush up on your design skillsets.
- Track the Twitter Stream under the hashtag #in50hrs to locate entrepreneurs and developers looking for team mates
- If you spot an interesting idea, ping, connect and understand the problem the entrepreneur is trying to solve and the take of the developer.
- Grasp the user flow as per the thought process of the entrepreneur and developer. Think of the User and optimize the UX and UI elements.
- Connect back with team, and propose the plan.
- Download the Appropriate Tools and have it installed on your machine.
- You are all Set and ready to go.
Collectively: Think of a name that best matches the product. Have it as the “Working Title” of the Product.
Credit: Siddharta Govindaraj, Kausikram Krishnasayee, Vijay Anand
In50hrs is Back. Bigger and in a City Near You
In50hrs the flagship Idea-to-Prototype event of The Startup Centre, has taken on a new avatar, with its learnings from the past four editions that were conducted in its city of Origin - Chennai, Over the Year.
From the demand that the team has been receiving, we are taking this event Platform to four different cities this year - Chennai, Pune, Bangalore and Delhi. The event is getting kickstarted in its home city Chennai, Followed by Pune this Quarter.
So How does this affect an entrepreneur?
We see plenty of entrepreneurs who have an amazing Idea, but are rather reluctant to do anything about it because there is no nudge to get them to take that first step - to convert that idea into something that starts to work, the prototype.
In50hrs is a weekend event that brings together entrepreneurs with audacious ideas, kickass developers, and product designers together to build first version prototypes of the Product idea.
Over the past four events, In50hrs hours has seen more than 200 participants participate in the event, 100 odd prototypes being built and in its last count 20 startups that have emerged out of the same - not so surprisingly, quite a few of them being student startups.
If we can enable a student to become an entrepreneur and experience, and learn how to build a startup in the most cost-effective and safe environment, then we have achieved our goal to support any entrepreneur with their crazy idea.
The event also seeks to seed some depth in the kind of ideas that are coming out of India. Opportunities around the mobile and internet, leveraging the mobile subscriber base - with technologies such as NFC, Augmented reality etc are quite under exploited. There are some rather large opportunities that are prevalent in the enterprise segment as well - pain points that we hopefully will see solutions emerge around in these events.
Registrations are open for Chennai and Pune. Early bird registrations for Chennai close on 6th July - This Friday. So Hurry.