After people buzzing around this post it would be somehow awkward not reveal the #Launch48 Romanian experience.
Ricochee was not chosen to be implemented although I believe it would have been a feasible thing to do in 48h. Feedback pointed towards a “it would never work in Romania” case, still I see it like a fail pitch as it’s targeting Eastern Europe, not a local market.
Facing the decision I chose to be part of the winning team that had the most chances of turning into a product. Which I did. Decily is not a 48h idea, it is a product that, besides others has a potential.
And I’m not saying it from the teammeber perspective.
Let’s have a quick look at the others first:
OpenmyCV.com – with all the pitch-talk about open standards, marketing strategies and solid business plan, it is a project that has a huge competition among smaller market similar products. Besides, none of the big players are rushing to enable similar features although they could do it in a matter of days. That raises a lot of questions, doesn’t it?
Sevinde.ro – The local bit.ly for cars – a webapp that shortens up your ad is a local niche product that leverages the power of reference to make you remember easier an ad. Alright, you see a car driving past you, you like it, you remember the shortcode on the ad instead of a 10digit phone# then look it up on the website when you go online. Huge threat: any of the big players on the market can again deploy it.Being a local, small and very very niche market this is the equivalent of booting you out of the business.
Decily.com – Collaborative decision making – a product serving the group interest by showing members which decision fits everyone’s needs.
Decily had the crappiest implementation of all Launch48 products despite the sleepless tryout. 
Why do I still believe in it? Because it’s cool, it’s got all the ingredients for a successful product, it’s user focused, funny, positive and good things come out of it.
Part of the Launch48 experience was being a spy. I dedicated part of the break time I’ve taken to carefully do 5 minute milestone analysis on the other teams
The event ended yesterday with the Netcamp conference, a local event with some degree of maturity, gathering industry professionals from Romania.
This was a great opportunity for Vlad Stan, SeedMoney co-founder and co-organizer of Launch48 Romanian event to announce BucharestHubb, an initiative that turns the organization from an investment fund to a successful business incubator.
All in all, this was a great experience, a lot of interaction, few but important conclusions.
Points taken :
- when a group needs a leader – one who can truly do it should not hesitate to! Forget about being nice, kind and understanding. Not telling people stuff straightforward worsens things
- uneven groups should learn standards! As in ISO, RFC, you know…
- some Romanians fall under the idea that overall we are great developers/programmers and excessively believe it applies to their own person. If only they could pay more attention to the feedback…
Here are some flicks from the event, and as well as the reactions in social media courtesy of UberVu.
