Helping Others Tell Their Stories – Marc of Startup Weekend
October 28, 2010 by Gwendolyn Regina T
Somewhere around 680 new ventures have come out of the global startup phenomenon that is Startup Weekend. Held in over 100 cities in over 25 countries, this 54-hour event brings developers, business managers, startup enthusiasts, marketing gurus and graphic artists together to form teams and build solutions to problems that they see in the world.
At this first Startup Weekend in Singapore, you can meet Marc Nager, Director of Startup Weekend Global Operations as he will be here to facilitate the entire weekend.
The avid skier, hiker and biker corrects me on the pronunciation of his last name (“Naw-ger, like Lager :)”) and tells me that while he is “horrible” at telling his story, he’s “good at helping others tell theirs.”
Marc who?
Marc Nager
Through Startup Weekend, I am able to share an amazing model around the globe with cultures of all types to inspire and truly unleash the power of collaboration and human potential. I grew up in the mountains in California, went to Chapman University, worked since I was 12, and am on a mission to enable people to follow their hearts. Startup Weekend is truly an investment in what I love and my future. Someday I’ll make my million following my passions. :)”
Why should startups attend Startup Weekend?
Marc: “From first-time to veteran entrepreneurs, there is always something to be learned by building a team around a passion. You can come learn how to collaborate, share, and validate your ideas.”
What makes you so excited about startups?
Marc: “Startups rock because they are a unique group of “crazies” that are not afraid to take a leap of faith to do something they really care about.”
Last weekend at Startup Weekend KL
Before this coming Startup Weekend in Singapore, Marc was just in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where 54 people attended Startup Weekend KL. Out of the 54, the breakdown of people were 1/3 technical, 1/3 business, and 1/3 students, marketing, legal, other. After 31 original pitches, the entire cohort was narrowed down to 10 working teams who developed business models around their teams.
Also in attendance as judges for the teams’ pitches were: YB Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah, Deputy Minister of Higher Education & Patron for the GEW Malaysia along with more members of the US Embassy, Microsoft BizSpark, Digi, Plug & Play and Cradle, among others.
Participants at Startup Weekend KL.
Marc speaking to participants at Startup Weekend KL.
What is a successful Startup Weekend?
Marc: “Success = when attendees meet new people, learn a new skill, work in a team, share ideas, find a co-founder, launch a new venture, and overall become a better entrepreneurs more likely to succeed in whatever ventures lie in the future.”
1 in 10 become a “legitimate” startup
From all the Startup Weekends held thus far, over 680 ventures have formed and generally about 1/3 of them live on after 3 months while “almost 1 in 10 succeed to become a legitimate startup”.
An example of such a startup is Memolane, an alumnus of Copenhagen Startup Weekend, who went from pitching at the Weekend to raising VC money in just 5 months.
Check out this informal talk by Eric Lagier, founder and CEO of Memolane on his Startup Weekend story:
Eric Lagier – the memolane story from @bootcampdk on Vimeo.
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About The Author
Gwendolyn Regina T - Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Apart from SGE, Gwen is also a Partner at Thymos Capital, where she focuses on early stage investments in technology firms. She has had two exits out of her investments via the firm, one of which is iHipo. A frequent judge for business competitions both locally and overseas, she graduated from the National University of Singapore. Gwen also spent some time in Silicon Valley and studied in Stanford University under the NUS Overseas College programme. Gwen is a mentor at Spanish incubator Tetuan Valley, Polish incubator Gamma Rebels, the Singapore Ambassador for the Sandbox network and the Singapore curator for StartupDigest. She enjoys languages, travelling, dance and adventure sports. Gwen can be found on LinkedIn and Twitter.
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