Startup Weekend

Two Weekends Two Startups Part II

The following is the continuation of Two Weekends Two Startups Part I written by George Junginger and Doug Williams.

Yeah, we had a kumbaya moment. It was brief.
You know that time when you’re on this idea high – fueled by sugar, caffeine, good company? You start almost working synergistically, pushing each other further than the individuals could do themselves. The entire world seems conquerable. And the rest of the drive through West Virginia was how to solve the problems of the world. We both agreed that money brings power, and that power is the ability to affect someone else’s life. I was always taught that one of the great opportunities that money gives you is the ability to create work for people. To be able to provide someone with the dignity of work and to care for their family is something you still cannot buy at Amazon. But it also has the ability to make societal changes. We thought about being President, a Senator, or any elected office and finally decided the pay was too low and it wasn’t nearly as fun as running a business. Very little self-reliance and autonomy in those professions.

Ohio is calling. And to the rest of the world 2am is closing time.
All the way up to Ohio, the folks in Columbus would tweet the RTP Startup Guys to find where we were, when we were going to be in, if we needed help, etc. Now, I need to be brutally honest here – because Summize would bust us on this anyway. It had been a long journey. We had taken a wrong turn out of North Carolina. We knew that we wouldn’t be getting into our hotel until very late. So, we thought we would buy a six pack to take to the room when we finally got to the hotel. Not in Ohio. First we tried one convenience store that locks their beer up at 11pm. They told us to try the next county – Washington, I think. No liquor sales after 1am. So yes, we were disappointed that one of the ideas they didn’t implement at SWC was a change of the liquor laws.

Groundhog Day? No. The ending is better.
We hit Startup Weekend Columbus on Saturday morning and were warmly welcomed by the organizers. And so, we did everything all over again until we got in a car Sunday night to drive back to North Carolina (Doug had a performance review at 10am that morning that he could not miss — sleep or no sleep). Of course, the drive was easy because there were more business ideas, more refinement of current plans based on our experience in Columbus. Was anyone in Columbus working on projects that we were? Absolutely not. But it’s being in the environment, the presence of other ideas, the optimistic enthusiasm of possibilities, that allows you to see things more clearly, to refine, retool, move forward.

Was the journey as important as the destination? My body will tell you, “No, next time take a plane you idiot.” My brain and soul will disagree.

We can now claim, “We found our Business Partners at Startup Weekend.” The questions then stands, “Which weekend are we going to meet each of you? When will you find your next business partner?”

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