San Antonio Startup Weekend 2

On Sunday afternoon both SaintsandSinnerz and WakeAbout were able to share their business model with Chip Griffin. The teams shared the concept and business model with Chip who gave valuable suggestions to both teams. A special thanks to Bryan Person for connecting us with Chip for the investor pitch and to Chip for spending a bit of his Sunday afternoon with us.

On Saturday we spent the day fleshing out 2 of the final 3 ideas that made the cut from Friday night’s idea pitch session. The secrets idea was named SaintsandSinnerz and the natural progression alarm idea was called WakeAbout.

We continued live streaming the happenings of the day. For the most part viewers could find us with our heads held down working hard at turning the ideas into a reality. However, it wasn’t all work. We did stop and enjoy a few tunes from Laura Marie.

On Friday night the pitch session brought forth some innovative ideas. From an Automated Real Estate Appraisal web site to a GPS Corrective Tracking Mobile App and even a Co-Working Tracking and Reservations System. By the time it was all said and done, we had burned through 22 ideas and by nights end had narrowed them down to 3. Here is the pitch session in all it’s glory.

Even though we’ll be in a 54 hours “0 to Launch” business building frenzy, we still want to have fun. So on Saturday for our pre-dinner entertainment we will enjoy the rocking dulcet tones of Laura Marie who will offer us a well deserved break in the action.

Photo courtesy of Laura Marie

Laura Marie’s pre-dinner entertianment sponsored by Cardboard Resume

Everyone likes swag. Startup Weekenders are no different. Luckily we can deliver. Folks will leave sporting this cool tee. You can wear this with pride knowing that you created a company in 54 hours.

We call that Startup on Steriods!

We love our sponsors and are thankful we have folks like @designminded who created this cool banner for Startup Weekend San Antonio II

A lot of times when talk to folks about the Startup Weekend concept we get a whole lot of questions. Here is a general overview of what happens during the 54 hour marathon experience that is a Startup Weekend. Taken from the official Startup Weekend site and modified based on experiences from the first Startup Weekend San Antonio. Enjoy!

Here is the registration link: http://startupweekendsa2.eventbrite.com

6pm Friday: Everyone gets together; figures out who else is there; what would be interesting to build while enjoying a hot slice of pizza. 7pm: Pitches start (if you have an idea for a product you pitch it to the group). 8pm: Teams start breaking off. 9pm: Hopefully teams have solidified their concept and created an elevator pitch (even a simple one) by now. 10pm:  Continue the discussion and attempt to paper prototype out their application or head home and pick it up in the morning.

9am Saturday: Crowds pour in; work starts on development. Noon: Lunch.

1pm: Pitch to the Venture Capitalists.This is where each startup gets the once or twice over from folks who know a thing or two about startup companies. An open mind and thick skin required for this session. Then it’s back to more coding, business plan development.

4pm-5pm: A special guest (to be announced).

5pm: Dinner and gut check on the product; basic prototype building; group get-together for drinks and to talk about the products everyone is working on. Some folks will work through the night and into the wee hours of the morning. Others will go home and get rested up to make the most of the last day.

9am Sunday: The day’s work starts again. Noon: Projects are being developed; live website with signup is possibly set up.  6pm: Sink or swim time for those looking for a weekend launch. Recap from each company; what worked, what didn’t, what could go better and contacts are exchange for those continuing in the future

We’re on the fast track to making our second Startup Weekend another success. Registration tickets are moving fast and sponsors are signing on to be part of the startup frenzy. Feel free to share this button with your tech and business savvy friends and co-workers.

Last year’s inaugural Startup Weekend was such an amazing experience we knew we wanted to do it again next year. Well, guess what? It’s next year!

That’s right, on the weekend of May 29th-31st get ready for another around the clock startup event in the Alamo City.

We’re in the preliminary stages of planning but we already have sponsors. Microsoft and Weinkrantz and Company are both returning sponsors for Startup Weekend San Antonio 2.

Philip Wheat from Microsoft was on hand last year to witness the Friday night idea frenzy and returned on Sunday to see how the business ideas had fleshed themselves out. We’re honored to have them return to sponsor us for round two.

Alan Weinkrantz has been a huge supporter of the emerging San Antonio Technology and New Media Community.  It means a lot that he continues to support the community that grows with each passing event.

Interested in learning more? Take a look at the posts in the archives from last years event.

Want to join in the fun? Then mark your calendars because registration for Startup Weekend San Antonio will open in 2 weeks.

Cheers!

WOW!

That one word could sum up the whole Startup Weekend experience, but it would leave out all the fun and amazing details that happened. As you can see from all the posts that Celeste Diaz Ferraro and Shaine Mata wrote, there was a lot going on over the weekend. Although the blog was quiet yesterday it didn’t mean the SWSA energy had faded or that the teams had stopped working.

On the contrary, the iDre.am Team http://idre.am had a fully functional site by 1 a.m. Monday morning. They were the team pulling the notorious all-nighters during the whole weekend. They also obtained their EIN# and set up their corporate structure on Monday. The buzz that iDre.am is receiving online and in the press has been quite impressive. As someone who is using idre.am via their Twitter integration app, I can say it’s been fun to read the analysis of my dream and see the subsequent ratings of the analysis. To use simply @idreamed and it is automatically posted on the iDre.am site for analysis. Of course you could also submit your dream for analysis directly on the iDre.am site.

The ForceXchange team has a live site which is being readied for a soft beta launch this week. We were lucky enough to have 2008 Sundance Film Festival Official Selection filmaker Pablo Veliz use his talents to create the main site video promo. During the planning phase we discussed the business model with an active duty soldier who offered us his wish list for an auction site. It helped us hone in on what should be part of the site and weed out unnecessary features. Thanks Kenneth for making yourself available, offering your insight and being our “man in the field”.

The RentEscapes team had the most ambitious idea for a weekend project. They faced some planning challenges, but are moving forward with the project. They have a clearly defined list of goals to bring the site live within 30 days. The team had a recap meeting on Monday evening and have another meeting planned for Wednesday.

Overall, Startup Weekend San Antonio was a complete success. We went from a room full of strangers to company founders over the course of a weekend. Stay tuned as we keep folks updated on the progress of iDre.am, ForceXchange and RentEscapes.