It was a great weekend in Olsztyn. I have been mentoring at Startup Weekend for the second time, this time Olsztyn.

What I particularly like about such events is that they are beneficial not only for participants who end up with experience gains, new connections and (hopefully) great time spent but also for everyone involved. During the three days I met awesome people, possibly started a fruitful cooperation, had a chance to see old friends. It's a win-win for everyone.

At Startup Weekends everyone can bring an idea for a startup. The only issue I find it that when there are no constrains on the category it results in pretty generic and honestly poor ideas. As a result, all ideas were targeted towards consumers, many involved user-generated content and online communities, many concentrate on mobile apps. Sure, the success depends on many factors, execution to be one of the most important. But honestly I would expect either a bit more crazy, non-schematic ideas, or projects that try to solve real problems.

Do not take me wrong — Startup Weekends are great opportunities to validate an idea, pitch it in front of audience, test one's skills and try to reach the goals in a sandbox environment. Most importantly, one can fail (and people do) without any real consequences. Knowing how to fail and not being afraid of it is an awesome skill and it's so much better to learn it during a 3-day marathon than after having spent months of work and tons of money.

What's most important — everyone had fun and learned something. Despite the fact that the jury (and audience) had to chose winners, I think every single team was a winner. Congratulations!

Wikidot was one of the sponsors of the event. We awarded the Audience Award winners — The Fridge Challenge — with Pro Plus accounts.

Big thanks to the organizers, all participants and guests! It's been great time!

PS. Be sure to check the #SWOln hashtag on Twitter and the event Facebook page.