Startup Weekend: How to Take a Company From Concept to Creation in 54 Hours by Marc Nager, Clint Nelsen, Franck Nouyrigat Page A

emerges] from figuring out an idea or a problem really represents the basics of a business—[from the way] you actually build a business around that, to how you pitch it to potential investors.” Marasco explains, “Case studies can only bring you so far.”
    Experiential education is invaluable for early stage entrepreneurs. However, it can also be a way of life for anyone in any organization. It may require a bit more effort, but most of the people we encounter find that experiential learning is more enjoyable, too. While there are always failures, the successes feel more real, and more exciting. And that is probably because they are .
    In addition to preaching the power of experiential education at our events, Startup Weekend also walks the talk and gives employees the daunting but exhilarating task of working via experiential education. One Startup Weekend employee recounts her interview with us: “In the beginning, our connection was quite basic. They knew I was a marketer and I knew that they needed marketing done.” But since that time, she has ended up working in just about every area of the company. As she says, “I believed in the vision and the team, and they believed in me. Everything else that has come out of my job since that first interview has been the direct effect of experiential education.”
    We try to empower anyone who comes to work for Startup Weekend by asking them to create their own job descriptions. We push them to work outside their comfort zones by experimenting with different initiatives, tasks, and goals. It's exactly what we encourage the entrepreneurs at our events to do. You don't have to join a startup or launch a company to see the power of experiential education. As one of our participants claimed, “Not everyone wants to wants to be an entrepreneur; [however], most people want to [improve] themselves . . . and there is no better way to do this than through experiential education.”

     
    The Importance of Context, Deadlines, and Instant Feedback
    There are some very important components that make up a successful experiential education. The first, which advertisers have learned over the years, is context . If you want people to understand that they should buy your cupcake, then you should put a sign outside your cupcake store and maybe even show a picture of someone eating it. It's not that people don't know what to do with a cupcake or where to buy one; it is simply that seeing advertisements in context helps our brains process the message more effectively.
    In a similar vein, we can lecture people over and over about what is necessary for starting a successful business from the ground up. However, unless they are actually going through the steps that are required to do so, they will not absorb as much information. A number of universities are beginning to realize this, and are adding this kind of education to their business curriculum. Once you realize that you don't need to get a degree before you can start a business, there's no reason not to start one while you're working toward your degree!
    The second important element of experiential education is deadlines . There needs to be an imminent reason to complete the task in front of you. Beth Altringer, who teaches a seminar at Harvard that uses the principles of experiential education, explains how the groups she teaches don't really coalesce around an idea until right before their midterm presentation. “A deadline is [helpful] for a group that has a good idea, because it forces them to think it through more deeply. It forces them out of the brainstorming, conceptual phase.” Our deadlines at Startup Weekend may be tighter than most, but we want to move people quickly through these different stages to ensure that they learn from each experience.

     
    The time limits that Startup Weekend places on participants forces them to narrow their tasks down to the most vital ones. As one