Comments on: 12 Hour Startup

By: millionleaves

millionleaves — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:34:50 +0000

I have something related that I call the 15 minute brainstorm:

Sit down with a piece of paper (I use a new post in a WordPress blog because I can type faster than I can write).

Think of a problem to solve or an idea to develop.
Start the clock.
Start writing/typing – anything that comes to mind which is related to that idea.
Stop at 15 minutes.

Rules:
Don’t edit.
Don’t re-read during the 15 minutes.
Don’t read the finished document until the next day (I bend this one sometimes).
Do it daily for at least one problem or idea.
Don’t trash it. Keep it filed.

Great way to generate new ideas and/or break out of a block.

By: Micro Businesses | bwagy

Micro Businesses | bwagy — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:27:56 +0000

[...] 12 hour Startup [...]

By: 12 Hour Startup is gaining momentum | bwagy

12 Hour Startup is gaining momentum | bwagy — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:57:45 +0000

[...] 12 hour Startup [...]

By: Mike Cochrane

Mike Cochrane — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:13:57 +0000

These guys did a similar thing but gave themselves a bit more time and money.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/03/how-to-build-a-web-app-in-four-days-for-10000-say-hello-to-matt/

By: Tristan

Tristan — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:21:47 +0000

saw the meetup talk… was going to say, A japanese firm got their employees to do a similar thing, submitting ideas etc, they got thousands a month. Probably only 1% of them got used, however, it raised the innovation and greatly increased company profitability. several large orgs do it including google. a good idea… never gets tired and hope it works out for you…

By: Ben Young

Ben Young — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:04:10 +0000

@Sam Interesting, could definitely look at it from that angle. The initial idea is to stimulate creativity / innovation from an agile rapid deployment point of view. Thanks for your feedback.

By: Sam Farrow

Sam Farrow — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:22:52 +0000

This approach appeals, however, I wonder whether you could limit complexity of produced systems with only 12 hours for prototyping.

Perhaps for larger projects a framework could be built to define relationships between functional units prototyped in parrallel and selected on success criteria of fitness for purpose. This covers Scrollings point too.

By: Ben Young

Ben Young — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:40:09 +0000

@Scollings Might be in touch soon.

@Robbie Not all good ideas are original ideas… however give it a shot a few times. Will get better at it.

@Matt Thanks, why not give it a shot! It’s fun.

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 06:48:55 +0000

Another great post.
I must give this a try.

By: Robbie MacKay

Robbie MacKay — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 03:48:54 +0000

Sound good :)
Now I just need some ideas that haven’t been done before and a job to pay the bills in the mean time… hehe

By: scollings

scollings — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 02:28:01 +0000

Sounds similar to what I do on a daily basis.

One key thing is setup what will define success for the prototype e.g. learnings for customer experience, decision on what tech choice to make, working demo that needs polishing etc.

Let me know if you want some help in a few of your 12 hour blocks.