• Sponsors

    • Microsoft
    • VC Ready Law
    • MassChallenge
    • VentureFizz
    • TechStars
    • Green Horn Connect
    • BostonInnovation.com
    • dartboston
    • Massitsallhere
    Interested in Sponsoring? Contact us!
  • Location

  • Friday Night Pitch

    You will have 60 seconds this time! Get your pitch ready. Tell a story. Start with the PROBLEM you are addressing, what is the SOLUTION you are proposing, and what RESOURCES you will need. Have some sort of working NAME as well.
  • Organizers


    • Jeffry Vocell Jeffry Vocell

      Bio: Jeffrey Vocell is a New Hampshire based Business Analyst with experience in worldwide markets. He has served in numerous roles in marketing, customer service, and business development among various software companies in New England.

      He received his BS in Business Management & Leadership from Daniel Webster College. He is currently working with a Los Angeles transportation startup, and on launching a startup in the mobile web space.


    • Jason Evanish Jason Evanish

      Bio: Jason is the co-founder of GreenhornConnect.com, a resource hub for Boston's Entrepreneurs. The site includes a comprehensive, searchable listing of all of the organizations and events in the region as well as other relevant content for local entrepreneurs.

      Jason is a recent graduate of the School of Technological Entrepreneurship master's program at Northeastern University and an active member of the entrepreneurial community. He also has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern. You can learn more at www.GreenhornConnect.com or on Linkedin.


    • Aaron Gerry Aaron Gerry

      Bio: Aaron Gerry is currently a Junior at Northeastern University and is pursuing a Bachelor's of Science in Biology. A self-described startup enthusiast, Aaron has a particular passion for developing programs and helping fellow student entrepreneurs; he is especially proud of the innovative Husky Innovation Challenge and IDEA programs at NU.

       In the past, Aaron has interned at Localytics, taught Boston Public High School students, and was part of the core team that brought Ultra Light Startups to Boston.  Aaron enjoys hot sauce and zombie movies and is excited for the launch of his own startup, Zazu!

  • RSS TechStars

    • TechStars in New York City!
      We’re excited to announce that TechStars is expanding to New York City, with our first program starting there in early 2011. As of today, applications for NYC are open and will close on November 21, 2010. The program will start in mid January, 2011 – see the schedule for full details. We are so thrilled about coming to New York. The rapid growth and intensit […]
    • TechStars Turned Angels
      I’ve written previously about the second order effects of TechStars. Now that we’ve completed four years, and 6 of the first 20 companies have already been acquired (or in the case of Occipital, had a major product acquired), we’re starting to see yet another nice side effect. Jeff Powers and Vikas Reddy of Occipital (a TechStars 2008 company) recently inves […]
    • What is Graphic.ly up to?
      Man, Graphic.ly is fun. Here’s a quick one minute video showing what they’ve been up to since leaving TechStars last summer. They’ve grown quite a bit, and have built some amazing technology for comic book lovers. Go full screen with this video to see the full awesomeness. […]
    • Venturing Around
      With both excitement and disappointment I’ve decided that at the end of this summer after Demo Day, I am leaving my position as Community Manager at TechStars in order to travel the world. This is a really tough thing to do. The TechStars family really is family to me, but after four years the travel bug has really hit me. What I have learned at TechStars is […]

Final results

Posted by Startup Weekend Crew

Congratulations to all of the teams at SWBoston. Here are the results of the final presentations:

OVERALL: 60% based on team votes and 40% based on judge’s voting

1. Vidicul.us

2. ConvertibleHeels.com

3. NodeRabbit

OTHER CATEGORIES:

MOST FUN:

1. Vidicul.us

MOST COMPLETE:

1. Poundvs.com

SCRATCH YOUR OWN ITCH FROM SCRATCH

1. ReferralBon.us

Final Presentation Schedule

Posted by Startup Weekend Crew

Drumroll please…..  We have 15 teams that have been grinding all weekend who will show off what they have learned and what progress they have made. Each team will have 5 minutes to present. Here is the order:

  1. Stuffpass.com@stuffpass – “Bunk savings without the bunk”
  2. Bandock.com@bandocksus – “Helping local musicians find more gigs”
  3. Hocopost.com@hocopost - “Take Control of your online reputation”
  4. Referralbon.us – @referralbonus – “Watch for Jobs, Refer a friend, you get paid”
  5. Cogentmobile.com@cogentmobile -
  6. Factolo.com@factolo – “Making things better”
  7. Workwithme.org@workwithmeorg – “Social Co-Working”
  8. Poundvs.com@poundvs – “Pound your friends”
  9. Chirashigeo.com@chirashigeo – “Create fun, useful, or cool experiences around places”
  10. GrindeStone.com@grindstone – “Cooperative Venture Capital. Help people build & own businesses together.”
  11. NPITS.com – “No Pie In The Sky. For Entrepreneurs. By Entrepreneurs.”
  12. NaughtyNutritionist.com
  13. Convertible-Heels.com - @day2niteheels – “Convertible heels for work or play”
  14. Vidicul.us – @VidiculusVideo – “Snark & Heckle”
  15. NodeRabbit.com - @noderabbit – “Go-Live In Five”
  16. MeetImpact.com – “New England Innovator’s Revolution”

Saturday Clinic

Posted by Startup Weekend Crew

Bill Warner and Roy Rodenstein leading a clinic for the 18 team leaders at #SWBoston today.

Here is my quick re-cap of the session:

There are 3 dimensions to Innovation:

Invention – A solution to a problem that you have.

Intention – Because of your intentions and abilities, you help push Innovation.

Beliefs – The power of beliefs to actually accomplish what you set out to do.

Proposals: Most people talk about the invention. This is what it is. what it does, how we’ll make it, how we’ll market, etc. Talk more about beliefs: I intend to help people _______. I intend to make people feel _______.

Exercises we did:

1. Each leader had to finish a sentence that started with “I believe…”  Bill’s believes that people should follow their hearts.

2. Next everyone started a sentence with “My people are…” Bill’s people are entrepreneurs who want to build things from the heart.

3. Everyone had to give a 15 second “Elevator Pitch” (most were less!) *Can you give a pitch in 15 seconds?

- Don’t tell people “what it is” tell people “what does it mean” (Focus on what you believe and who your people are)

- Women are better at this.

- Fancy language doesn’t get you anywhere.

- Lose the jargon. Simple, to the point, sentences.

4. In the next exercise, Bill pretended to be the teacher of everyone’s first grade class.

- Result = people used real language. *Try explaining your business to a bunch of first graders so they can do it.

18 ideas up and running at SW

Posted by Startup Weekend Crew

# Person Idea
25 Eric Bandora
30 Candice Adjustable high heel shoes
3 Mike zipcode based app to help merchants and buyers search by location
33 Marsh Referral bonus
14 Glen Groupon for stuff
1 Alex H. Yelp for manufacturers.
11 Yi-Fen Rosetta stone for non-technical founders
12 Pascal Mystery science theatre for YouTube
13 Stacey Impact – open calendar
16 Kathrine Naughty Nutrition
37 Nikita Where i’m working and what i’m working on – Social co-working
23 Brian Voting game for twitter
7 David Pepper – Casual fantasy sports
17 Carl Manivu -
24 Nate OSSTing – Easy web hosting deployment app
38 Anthony Cogent mobile voice app
39 Jeff Cross network updates on a mobile device

19 Kabir Riotvine – Foursquare integration

Here we go!

Posted by Startup Weekend Crew

Where: Microsoft NERD center, Floor 11. Directions, parking, etc:

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/labs/newengland/visit.aspx

Agenda

Friday – Doors open at 5:30pm, and we’ll kick things off by 6:15. We will have pizza and drinks.

Saturday – Kick off at 9am, and we can stay until 11pm. Coffee in the am. Sandwiches & Chips for Lunch, Lasagna & Spagetti for dinner.

Sunday – Kick off at 9am. Final presentations start at 5:15pm. We’ll be out of there by 8pm. Coffee, Lunch, and Dinner provided.

Remember

Pitch Format for Friday night is – 60 Seconds. We’ll hear about 35 ideas for new startup ventures.

Bring: Laptop, charger, notepad, pen, business cards.

First-Timers: Be sure to check out our FAQ here.

Prizes: For the top 2 teams: 2 hours of mentoring with TechStars‘ Shawn Broaderick and “Priority Consideration” for the next application. Free “Incorporation Packages” from Cooley Godward Kronish, and an assortment of amazing prizes for MassChallange including free entry and endorsements plus additional judging points.

Also: Be ready to share ideas, learn, meet new people, and have a great weekend!

“One of the key tents of entrepreneurship is that you start your business with insufficient resources and knowledge” – Steve Blank

A special thank you for helping make this event what it is goes to Gus Weber and Leah Brunson from Microsoft New England R&D Center, Michael Choen with VC Ready Law Group, Jason Evanish with Greenhornconnect, Aaron Gerry from iZaazu (a starutp from the last SWBoston), and the long list of everyone else who has helped out. Boston is truly an amazing community!

Check out Founder’s Institute Boston coming in July!

Posted by Startup Weekend Crew

The Funded Founder Institute (http://www.founderinstute.com/r/suwkend), a four month program to help founders build the next generation of world-class technology companies, is launching a new semester in Boston from July, 2010, until October, 2010. The program is run by founders for founders, providing a structure for successful entrepreneurs to share their experiences and to provide guidance. Everyone that graduates from the program is invited to join a pool to share in the equity upside generated from the success of their peers. This adds a unique camaraderie to the program and creates a long-term peer support group with a vested interest in your success. If you have a new company or if you are thinking to start a company, take a moment and apply to the program. The program has an acceptance deadline of June 23rd. (http://www.founderinstitute.com/apply/23/suwkend )

We’ve already lined up great Mentors for Boston, including;

  • Phil Libin, CEO, Evernote
  • Craig Kanarick, Cofounder of Razorfish
  • Dharmesh Shaw, Cofounder of Hubspot
  • Dan Shapiro, CEO of Ontela
  • Eric Melin, CEO of Philanthropist.org
  • Stephen Hau, CEO of Sharable Ink and Patientkeeper
  • Doug Brenhouse, Cofounder of Metacarta
  • Ryan Alfred, Cofounder of Brightscope.com
  • Roger Yee, Former CEO of ShadowLogic
  • Matt Johnson, CEO of OmniStrat
  • And more…

Prize from MassChallenge!

Posted by Startup Weekend Crew

In addition to the incredibly valuable prize from Shawn Broderick and TechStars (mentoring for the top teams, and priority consideration for the next TS application), MassChallenge has put up a great offer for attendees of Startup Weekend:

What is the Prize?

A Diamond Endorsement for the winner (Free entry, plus 5 points toward their judging score), Platinum Endorsements for all finalists ($100 discount, plus 1 point toward judging score), and Gold Endorsements for all entrants (1 point toward judging score).

What is MassChallenge?

MassChallenge is running a global startup competition and accelerator to catalyze the launch and success of high-growth, high-impact new businesses. The first contest launched on April 14, 2010 with a total prize pool of $1 Million. The submission deadline is June 11, and winners will be announced in early October 2010. The competition is open to anyone in the world, with any idea, in any industry. Physical activities will be based in Massachusetts where innovation resources are most concentrated. Every entrant will receive trainingfeedbackPR and networking support via expert volunteers from partner organizations. Around 100 of the highest-potential entrants will receive intensive mentorship and other free resources, including office space and targeted introductions to customers and funding sources. The very best startups will be identified by expert judges to receive cash awards toward launching their businesses along with enhanced PR and privileged access to top investors seeking to place seed capital to work in high-growth firms. MassChallenge is a 501(c)(3) (non-profit) leveraging both public and private funding. Learn more and enter online: www.masschallenge.org

Don’t Miss Angel Boot Camp

Posted by Startup Weekend Crew

Brought to you by the guys behind BetaHouse, Angle Boot Camp will be a great opportunity to get inside the heads of Angle Investors and prepare you to ask the right questions and put together a perfect pitch. Startup Weekend is glad to support this, so check it out!

Angel Boot Camp + Demo Night
June 1, 2010
Cambridge, MA

http://seedboston.com/angelbootcamp/

Learn Angel Investing from the Experts
=============================

Have you thought about angel investing but weren’t sure whether it was
right for you or how to get started? Are you an entrepreneur who wants
to learn more about working with angels and how angel investment
differs from venture capital? Here’s a chance to learn from the
experts. We’ll have more than a dozen of the best angels and seed
investors on hand — some local, some from around the country — to
share their experiences. Why do angel investing? How do you find and
evaluate potential investments? What’s the right amount of money to
invest? How do you set terms? How do you work with other angels,
entrepreneurs and VCs? What are the legal issues?

We’ll address these questions and more. Join us for an afternoon of
learning and networking.

Demo Night
=========

Do you have a startup that you’d like to pitch to the angels, VCs and
entrepreneurs at Angel Boot Camp? Request an invite (see below). We’ll
invite a select group to demo. Note that we’ll also have a pitch
session on the evening of the 26th to help make the final selections.
It’s not mandatory, but it might help your chances. So save the date
if you can.

Request an Invite
=============

Request an invite at http://seedboston.com/angelbootcamp/ if you’d
like to attend Angel Boot Camp or pitch your startup at Demo Night.
For more info, follow @angelbootcamp or @jonpierce on Twitter or email
us at angelbootcamp@seedboston.com. Also feel free to reach out by
email if you’d like to sponsor the event. Space will be limited and
invitations will be extended as quickly as possible. Patience is
appreciated.

Speakers
=======

Alexis Ohanian, Founder, Reddit
Andy Payne, Angel Investor, Open Market
Angus Davis, Founder, Swipely
Bill Warner, Angel Investor, Avid and Wildfire
David Cancel, Founder, Performable
David Cohen, Founder, TechStars
Dharmesh Shah, Founder, HubSpot
Don Dodge, Developer Advocate, Google
Eric Paley, Managing Partner, Founder Collective
John Landry, Angel Investor, Lead Dog Ventures
Lee Hower, Angel Investor, PayPal and LinkedIn
Mike Hirshland, General Partner, Polaris Ventures
Phin Barnes, Principal, First Round Capital
Rich Miner, Partner, Google Ventures

More to come…

Who Should Attend?
===============

The primary goal of Angel Boot Camp is to educate, inspire and grow
the angel investor community. As such, active and aspiring angels are
the primary audience. But we also welcome entrepreneurs, VCs and other
people interested in learning more about angel investing, provided
they agree not to pitch at the event.

“Why Startup Weekend is the Best Kind of Founder’s Dating” – Jason Evanish GHC

Posted by Startup Weekend Crew

Great article by Jason Evanish with GreenhornConnect.com – This is a PARTIAL version. Check out the full version here.

As Mike Kowalchik pointed out yesterday on the Greenhorn blog, the structure of standard entrepreneurial networking events where you’re quickly pitching your idea may not be the best way to find a co-founder; when you’re trying to find a business partner, there are many elements that have to come together for it work and many question you need to try to answer.  The amazing part about Startup Weekend is that many of those pieces can come together in just one weekend thanks to the event’s unique structure.

Why Startup Weekend is the Best Kind of Founder’s Dating

Preface: Startup Weekend is a 54 hour startup event that provides networking, resources and incentives for individuals and teams to go from idea to launch. They connect you with local developers, innovators and entrepreneurs to build community and start real companies.  People pitch ideas and form teams on Friday night and then try to build prototypes/demos and organize basic business planning in one weekend, culminating in a judging on Sunday night. Winning teams receive prizes including cash, in kind services and mentoring. You can learn more about the event here.

1) This is the right group of people

The first step in finding a great cofounder at an event is having the room filled with the right types of people.  Fortunately, anyone who signs up for an event built around trying to start a company in 54 hours is clearly a bit of an “entreprenerd” (credit @JoshSamBob). Anyone who isn’t serious about startups will quickly stand out like a Star Trek geek at a Star Wars convention.  Find the Han Solo to your Chewbacca.

2) You see how people work……..

Ok… a teaser – go get the rest of the post here now!

Getting ready lean startup style…

Posted by Startup Weekend Crew

More and more you can hear speaking about lean startup. Being lean might look as common sense (and it is) how do you think Microsoft Apple or Oracle were created? Larry Ellison (CEO of Oracle) recently talked about the fact that the computer industry is the only industry more fashion driven than women fashion (speak here) So why business is important? why should you care if you are a developer? and why lean start-up is something new?

Well my point of view is that nothing has changed, but the fact you can now have for a $100 a working and powerful computer some cheap internet plan etc.. Makes any startup already lean. The only reason some of them cost a lot is because they are VC driven. So don’t bother your startup is going to be lean anyway! Now the real question is how can you learn and succeed. Well this is where conferences like startup lesson learned are useful. The more startups there is, the more data you’ll have have to understand how things works. But understanding is not experiencing, facing some customers request having to care about IP and discovering the beauty of accounting is something that you need to learn by yourself. There are rules there is a grammar there is a vocabulary (like in any language) but listening can’t help you if you don’t try!

This is what startup weekend is about. Learning in a real world

No Talk, All Action

hope to see u there :)


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