Resources to make the most of your Startup Weekend
Here we've gathered resources, information, and special deals we thought would be useful for new startups. Each section is contained in a box; click that box to expand it and read the content in its entirety. We hope that this will be helpful to all the startups which come out of Startup Weekend!
Business Plans
Here is an awesome way to collaborate with your peers while alligining your strategy, setting goals, and finalizing your vision. We all know the conventional busienss plan is outdated, so check out this great new (and way more productive) tool.
Funding Roadmap™ Special Discount Available for
Startupweekend.com ParticipantsFunding Roadmap™ is the first completely web-based global platform for small business owners to develop business planning and due diligence information and share it anytime from anywhere with anyone in a very professional and easy to use format. It is a tool to change the entrepreneurial landscape, help stimulate the economy and give everyone equal access to capital.
Unismart Capital Software, creators of the Funding Roadmap™, will be providing a full working version of their product to be available to breakout teams at each and every Startup Weekend event across the country and around the world. The subscription-based product will expire 60 days after the event and participants will have the option of continuing the subscription their group used at the event, or if they want to start their own business, they can purchase their own copy of the Funding Roadmap™. Either way they will get a special discount for participating in the program.
Funding Roadmap™ is designed to help entrepreneurs at every stage of their business succeed in planning and benchmarking the development and funding of their enterprises. It replaces static business plans with an instantly sharable, simple to use, eco-friendly, server-based, interactive, subscription-based platform.
Funding Roadmap™ is tailored for entrepreneurs interested in building their businesses in the United States, and is applicable for entrepreneurs outside of the United States looking to expand their businesses in the U.S. Through the Funding Roadmap™ entrepreneurs have a virtual medium to brilliantly communicate all the essential data – along with their personal passion and commitment. The easy-to-use format gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to express his or her reasoning and passion through the narrative sections and video “elevator pitch.” The video “elevator pitch” can be streamed from http://ciscoetube.net/ into the entrepreneur’s online report, and showcased on the Funding Roadmap’s marketplace.
How to Receive the Discount
Funding Roadmap™ is collaborating with Startup Weekend to provide a special 15% discount to its participants.
- Go to www.fundingroadmap.com
- Click on the BUY NOW button, and start the registration process to purchase your subscription
- Enter coupon code swrh09 for a special discount on the order form and registration page #2
- You will see your discount when you get to the order confirmation page #4 in the checkout process
- Click submit
Code Management
Source Code Management (SCM)s play a key part in keeping your program files in their latest editions and ready for collaboration. Latest edition screw up your website? Just hop back to an earlier version and stop stressin’!
We suggest Dropbox. Incredibly easy to use, install it on your computer so files in your My Documents/My Dropbox are always the latest for everyone on your team.
Other popular tools include:
Subversion – A widely used open source solution.
GIT – Another open source solution that is gaining wide popularity in some of the biggest open source projects.
Content Management Systems
Content Management Systems are an essential tool to manage documents for storing, editing and publishing. A necessity for keeping your web content and documents organized while collaborating with others on your team.
When coming to the event it is important to be well versed in several different CMS systems out there. In fact it may make sense to have your website built on a CMS.
Read how to Choose the best CMS.
We are using WordPress and are extremely happy with it’s capabilities, stability, and plugin features.
open source
loaded with useful plugins
completely customizable with help of CSS & PHP!
look how great Startup Weekend is! :)Other options include:
CRM Tools
CRM or Customer Relationship Management tools keep teams together and up to date on the most essential pieces of their business, it’s current and prospective customers. These tools allow for you to track and organize your clients and always be up to date on their happenings. The Rolodex concept has certainly been upgraded.
Here are some noteworthy suggestions to check out:
SalesForce
Bantam Live
HighRiseHosting
One backbone of any company is it’s website. The backbone (and all vital organs) of a website is its hosting plan. It’s what gives you speed and space and the capabilities of running your business’ through programming languages like PHP, Ruby, C#, Javascript and more.
As a benefit of being created at a Startup Weekend, we are offering free Wowrack hosting for 3 months to every company. After your company is formed please click on the wowrack image to setup your hosting!
Other options include:
Honorable mentions:
GoDaddy
HandyNetworksSweet Hookups!
Sun Startup Essentials is an AMAZING program for startups to get free software and services, mentoring, and discounts on hardware. It’s FAST, it’s FREE, its worth checking out for any startup. Click on the logo to get more info!
Startup Weekend is a Certified Partner for the Microsoft BizSpark Program. Get up to $15,000 in FREE software by joining.
Venture Reports
Looking to assess your viability? Venture Reports 360 has 2 types of reports. One for those just starting out or coming from a Startup Weekend who want to input their stats, goals, strategy to see just how they stack up. The other is a full-fledge report that was made by Angel Investors for Angel Investors. This is truly a tool to be using if you are serious about getting funded.
Your Startup Weekend Company can get a STANDARD REPORT FOR FREE. Ask Marc or Clint for your access code!