Situation
This is the playbook we used during the creation of Chip Paints — an AI-based art company. We wanted to test whether a high-quality AI painting flow could be packaged into a simple, purchase-ready funnel with real customers under extreme time constraints. So we joined Buffalo Startup Weekend 2018 and tried to launch a company in 54 hours.
Task
Use Startup Weekend to force focus and execution: validate demand, generate sales, and build a working MVP (or a credible “fake it” flow) in 54 hours.
Actions
- Choose ideas with clear business models that leverage existing technology in a new vertical to minimize technical risk and focus on product/market fit.
- Favor SaaS and services that can be validated with a small team and no inventory.
- Build from real-world observation. Chip’s spark came from manually turning a noisy, low-res instagram photo into a tangible gift using AI style transfer.
- We then determined how we could reduce friction for our users by chaining together multiple services and creating a cohesive sales funnel.
- Treat Startup Weekend like a business plan competition that rewards execution and insight — then actually sell. Having customers at the end of 54 hours makes you a front-runner to win.
- Apply the 7 Ps: Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. Limit scope. Recruit the best participants. Build the MVP (or convincingly fake it). Ship while still embarrassed. Kill feature creep; backlog everything that isn't absolutely necessary.
- Use parallelism to decouple overall performance from the critical path. We split into four teams:
- Pitch: Win the competition with a clear, data-backed narrative.
- Sales & Marketing: Validate product/market fit aggressively (C.R.E.A.M.).
- Product Development: Build the AI back-end and e-commerce front-end.
- Business: Graphics, copy, customer interviews, financials, and ops support.
- Product was shipped via a print-on-demand provider, we drove traffic using PPC to sell generic products. We also pursued direct sales for personalized options (Leading to 11 sales by Sunday).
Result
- Shipped a credible MVP flow and validated demand with real transactions in under 54 hours.
- Parallel teams increased velocity and reduced blocking — each had ~20 hours of focused execution.
- Created a repeatable playbook for rapid validation weekends and future fundraising conversations.
- Raised $15,000 in pre-seed capital from an Angel at the event
Failures and Learnings
- Scope creep is the silent killer — force the "good ideas" into the backlog.
- “Ship embarrassed” is a superpower at this stage. Perfect is the enemy of learning.
- Having clear objectives for each team and decoupling teams from each other are a force — ambiguity and "hand-offs" destroys momentum.
How to Replicate
- Recruit by role. Set expectations. Empower everyone to act. Execute relentlessly.
- Use SaaS where possible; buy time with money to validate faster.
- Measure sales, clicks, conversions, and qualitative feedback; adjust in real time.