After a 3 day journey at "Tehran Startup Weekend: Fashion and Technology", it is a good idea to slow down, rest for a while, and look back to see what achieved and learned from this event.
As always, there were lots of energy in the teams and people there. You definitely could feel the energy through the momentum within the teams. There were a good diversity of skills and characteristics in participants which brings innovative atmosphere into the teams.
I was invited as a mentor to this event and it was an absolutely great opportunity for me to meet all the other mentors there. Personally I learned a lot, mostly from the people in the teams and how did they cope with the challenges to their little businesses. Also, it was great again to see my good friends Patrick (as facilitator) and Amirreza (as organizer lead) there.
About the organizers, the event was held at a very high quality and standards were really high. As a matter of fact it was higher than expectations! In It was the most luxurious Startup Weekend I've ever been invited.
My favorite part was that painter who was painting the walls all 3 days, with love. In my opinion, it was really interesting and such an innovative idea that inspired the participants so much.
For me, the painting was inspiring the coincidence between doing an artwork and making a business alive.
And the result was amazing at the last day. You can see the result behind the judges here:
If you ask me to criticize the event I could mention two points:
- There was too many mentors invited to the event. Participants were confused how to handle us!
- In my opinion, the opening talks was not good and mainly unuseful. The opening talks should be designed in a way to inspire the people. They should inspire about what they can do and what they can create. Having such inspiration can help people a better ideation for their initial pitches. And this is something NOT happened at this event.
The judges and judgement process were great. I like how they judges and how they described the process of their judgement. It was really convincing.
I congratulate to the winner teams. But a key point is that I see no loser teams. Although there were 3 teams nominated as winners, but the real winners are those teams that continue their startup (or even start a new one) after the startup weekend.
And finally, it is time for some fun. We also recorded some funny video:
Will this event can held again?