The extreme end of startups. I am familiar with StartupWeekend, SixHourStartups (Seattle), and see this trend continuing. More at Digg on the 24 hour startup.
The key question is can a viable business be built in just a few hours? What are the issues that face such a startup?
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I’ve wondered the same thing. The camaraderie, knowledge opportunities, and networking opportunities in these 24-hour startup situations are fantastic. There’s nothing like being in a room full of smart, motivated people to get the creative juices flowing. I intend to partake in the next StartupWeekend — my schedule just didn’t allow it this past time.
But this does seem to move a certain level of product and company formation down to being a commodity. Which is great for the economy as a whole, I guess. But as with all products in a supply and demand situation, as the supply goes up the value goes down. E.g., if there was just one blog on the planet, it would be worth millions…and because there are millions of blogs, their average value is just a few cents.
Won’t the same thing happen with company/site/product formation?
Like with blogging, the lowering of the entry barrier doesn’t have uniformly positive results. Most of the value in a new product comes from an idea. But as it becomes easier to put any idea out there, their average value goes…down?
Is there any data on how well the past output of StartupWeekends have done? Either as site visitor numbers, or (better) the LLC or corporation profitability?