This past weekend, Marque Lawyers hosted and was involved in Launch48 Sydney.
Launch48 is a forum bringing together entrepreneurs to pitch, plan, build and launch ideas for a start-up business in, you guessed it, 48 hours. With over 40 participants and mentors involved, it was one hectic weekend.
The Marque team were on hand over the weekend to provide advice, encouragement and, most importantly, biscuits to the 3 teams. It was fascinating to see the teams in actions and we thought we'd share some things we learned:
- A business idea that has no potential customer base is not viable. Focus on your future customer - what need are you fulfilling and how much will they pay for it. Ask questions, do market research, take the time to analyse responses – you may be surprised at what comes up.
- Starting a business is a very consuming exercise and having co-founders with complementary skills to share the load can make a world of difference. That said, once you have a team, make sure you use them. It's no good having Chris Judd or Benji Marshall in your team if he's just going to sit on the bench!
- Presentation matters. A great idea can be lost in a poorly thought-out pitch. Try and anticipate what questions you are likely to be asked by potential investors and prepare answers in advance. The more you practice, the luckier you'll get.
- Change your mind! The ideas evolved over the weekend, particularly as the mentors got involved. Katie Holmes changed her mind, so can you.
- There's nowhere to get good coffee on Sunday morning in the CBD.
By Sunday night, we had a lot of very tired participants but 3 very impressive business ideas. Rome wasn't built in a day but we're pretty sure the Launch48 teams would have done it over a weekend.