My Experience With In50hrs Pune Event
Earlier last week I was checking out Hacker News (as what I follow religiously). I stumbled upon on an article India has a drought - not of Investors, but Customers which took my interest, tt was a great read. As the guy who wrote this was Indian I decided to do some research and get a background who is he and what he do. The result was stunning, He was Vijay Anand a well known Indian Entrepreneur who is behind The Startup Centre I also came to know that these people have something called in50hrs. Since I came to know about this it created an impression on my mind. Fortunately, in50hrs were conducting an event in Pune that too in couple of days after I came to know about it without giving a second thought I registered for the event.
I was unsure about my idea AdsHub which I planned to work on in the event. However, I somehow convince myself to stick to the plan and so I left from Mumbai for Pune to attend the event with one of my friend who is working on the idea with me.
We reached Pune (10:30am) way before the specified time for the event all thanks to my friend who was in charge for tickets. After, Struggling a lot to kill the time we successfully arrived at the venue.
Game begins
There was around 30 people in the auditorium and IdeaSmiths were ready to present their ideas. Almost after 8 ideas we got the chance to present our idea. I could feel the audience interest towards our idea but, my bad presentation skill and nervousness made me think that I missed the opportunity. Hosts of the event then announced that there will be a voting session for the ideas so that everyone gets a team to get started. Each person can vote 3 ideas including their own idea. Me and my friend voted for our idea and 2 other ideas which we felt were good. I was stunned to know we got the 2nd highest voting, iWish by two microsoft employees was leading. We both were surprised and excited at the same time after knowing the results.
Controlling our excitement and answering almost everyone's questions which were raised after the presentation. We started our work for the demo which was scheduled after 50 hours. Our goal for the event was to brainstorm ourself by figuring out how we gonna take this idea forward, what are the limitations and more importantly walk out with a clear vision about the idea. There were mentors available at the event to help you plan and build an MVP, These people were extremely friendly, knowledgable, helpful, experienced etc. etc. (limiting myself I hope you got their phenomena). Each of them took us one step forward towards our goal mentally and made us believe in ourself (and of course in idea too).
Every iteration on the idea was empowering our vision and kept us engaged. Also, we were surrounded by interesting people whom I highly appreciate for listening to my point of view in healthy debets, helping me to draft an about us page and putting efforts to make us believe that Microsoft is a good company :P.
#in50hrs hackers trying hard to crack the ideas.. So do I #pune pic.twitter.com/SK8fd1RQ
— Bilal Budhani (@BilalBudhani) December 15, 2012After all the efforts, fun and sleepless nights it was time for the demo with around ~50 audience and 3 judges. We were placed at 6th. Somehow managing my nervousness I went on the stage and started my speech. The response was overwhelming, I could see the curiosity in those eyes which were stuck on me. Demo session was followed by a snacks and networking break, after which we left for our place.
@BilalBudhani pic.twitter.com/n90qgFJB
— Banarasia (@prats3112) December 17, 2012Concluding
Overall it was a great unforgettable experience for us. We achieved lot more than what we've aimed for, also some awesome new friends to take back home. Kudos to in50hrs team keep rocking :).