• Positive attitude, open mind and lots of energy!

• Everything you need for a rapid product development. 

• Please take your:

• laptop

• 3-5m power extension cord (as power might be on distance),

• mobile phone

• all chargers 

• Optional:

• pen and paper

• photo camera to take and share photos

• mattress, sleeping bag and towel (in case you registered for sleepover at the venue)

• credit cards for domain registration

• business cards

• If your idea is pre-selected, please prepare a good pitch. 

• Ideas are presented based on "elevator-pitch" method but we give you 3 minutes. Event host and audience can ask 1 to 3 short questions.

• Consider following key points:

• Describe briefly your background

• What's the idea all about? What is the problem your idea solves? Target user count and description

• Technical solution and the revenue model (in case of non-profit idea, how the maintenance and further development costs will be covered?)

• Minimum viable product and plan for 48 hours. Who do you need for the team?

• Look at the guideline and example "how to prepare a good pitch" (SlideShare)

• NB! Practice your pitch to your friends or family before you present!

• You can prepare 1 (one) PDF slide to support your pitch. You should send the slide by Friday 6th December 12:00 by e-mail info@garage48.org (Subject: name of your project).

• After pitching is over, we will put all the ideas on the wall. Every participant will choose their favourite idea and this is how teams will be formed.

• Average team has about 5 to 7 people and the team should be "balanced" - covering all required roles like a project manager (team lead/visionary), developer(s), designer and marketer in order to get the product/service ready in 48 hours! Minimum size for a team is 4 people and max is 8 people.

• If some ideas get too few people or not balanced teams (probably unable to build the service), the idea will be dumped. Those people should choose another idea/team.

• After forming the teams, organizers will give space for every team for the weekend. You should start by dividing roles, setting the product vision, customer journey and start working right away.

• It is very important that you have a project manager (team lead) in the team - one of his tasks is to keep the focus of the team, one eye on the clock and the other on the team progress. 48 hours is really a short time.

• We can help you with domain registration and hosting, if you need. 

• Food and drinks. We provide breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday. So, you could focus on work and building your product.

• Mentors. We have arranged mentors to work with the teams throughout the weekend. Some of them are more technical, some more business savvy. Be open and ask for their advice and contacts.

• Please wear your name badge during the whole event, this will help to encourage networking and gets you inside through security guards. Otherwise be open, get to know new people, share your ideas and give ideas/feedback to other teams.

• MOST IMPORTANT - have fun!

• Sunday afternoon 2:30 pm is the deadline. Either you have your service ready or not, time will tell.

• Every team will practice their demo together with mentors and jury members for 10 minutes to make the final adjustments and make a better presentation.

• We do not allow any Powerpoint presentations or screen shots - we want a live demo!

• The final demo event starts at 6:30pm

• We will pick teams randomly. Every team gets 3 minutes for product demonstration (+3 minutes for questions).

• We admit, that the development process is the ultimate importance. But we still have a jury, to evaluate the results and choose the top projects.

• Usually, local participants stay at home or at their friends place.

• We can provide floor space for sleeping at the venue for "bootstrappers" from abroad. You will have to take everything you need for sleeping - airbed, mattress and sleeping bag. 

• You should either sleep at the venue or book a hotel/hostel on your own.

• I If you don't find an answer there, then please write us at info@garage48.org

We thank all our partners to make Garage48 Diplohack Tallinn 2013 a kick-ass startup community event!