Silicon Valley - Where you can be Peter Pan and never grow up.

Boulder, CO - We’re working on being a crunchier version of Silicon Valley.

Here at startup weekend we expect this to work and what has surprised all of us is the efficient segmenting of teams - egos have been sublimated and leaders have come to the front by building internal and external consensus. This is not necessarily an easy process, but many of us are anxious to see the results. And no matter the results, we are anxious to take what we have learned and lead VoSnap to market success or come together again and try again.

Sounds like sweat shop 2.0.

Congrats. Onshoring is here!

Anyone interested in putting something like this together in SF / Bay Area?

Maybe see how the “70 founders” things work out in this scenario and either use that or adapt.

I agree with many of the above commenters that founding teams of 5-10 would be better.

(also question the “no dead weight” theorists above.. maybe no 100% dead weight, but if someone codes 30% of the app and someone else writes a few blog posts plugging it, that doesn’t exactly seem fair to get the same equity…)

SF’ers feel free to ping me at: shantibraford (at) gmail

Two comments:

1) the video feed sounds like random electronic sounds to me, what’s up with that?
2) seriously, 70 people? according to the mythical man month, this thing is never gonna be finished.

Derek: Google had significant differentiation, which is something that most Web 2.0 copycats, like VoSnap, lack. As part of a graduate research project at Stanford, Larry and Sergey developed a search algorithm (PageRank) that provided what many consumers obviously felt were better results (by the way, this algorithm has a patent, so there’s defensibility). At the same time Google was getting off the ground, the major search engines, like Yahoo, were becoming behemoth portals. Google leveraged its better technology and a simple interface that focused solely on search, to differentiate itself from the leading search players at the time.

The bottom line is that too may Web 2.0 startups are attacking the same “problems” but are failing to understand how crucial differentiation is to success. In markets with low barrier to entry, differentiation can’t be slight or superficial - it has to be significant. There is plenty of room for success in competitive markets. First-mover advantage has actually been shown to have little impact on long-term success, but entrepreneurs should not underestimate the importance of differentiation.

I think this is a fabulous idea. It was fun to read the blog, and I even learned a thing or two and got some ideas for my own business.

Being a part of so much creative energy would surely be a thrill. I think the product itself is less than secondary. Sometimes in life it’s the trip, not the destination. And what a grand trip.

Way to go team!

Despite my pointing out the competition, I think the whole idea of people getting together in this way is great. There’s no better way to get to know a bunch of new people than actually working on something together.

Now, the whole blog/promote/post/stream thing seems a little “precious” to me, but hey, have fun.

Sometimes its just the process. Sometimes its the baking, not the selling of the cake. Sometimes, its ok to just do something.

To understand it, experience it. Go do a startupweekend. Its free, can be done with any amount of people, and the end goal can be anything. There is no barrier to entry. There is no reason to not do it in your neck of the woods. Get out from behind your keyboards and blogs, and go do it.

At the end of the day, its an experience. Which, by definition, is always great for some, mediocre for some, and sucks for others. And will always be critiqued, positively and negatively, by outsiders.

Plus, everyone who was not there, but wanted to share in the experience in some way shape or form, was given the opportunity through the live feed and blogs. And, all feedback was read and evaluated. In the spirit of startupweekend, if you are wanting to have one in your town, Im sure the participants would be happy to discuss what they thought went well and what could have been done better.

Talk from experience about experience. At the end of the day, if you feel like you missed out, then go do it your way. We did it our way, and not one person walked out disappointed in the experience. Its 2am Monday morning, I have to get up in 4 hours for work, and I am still thinking about the people I met (not the company we built) in last 3 days. How many times in one’s life is that true?

“Our appologies for not having something for you right now. We will launch soon.” It should be live by now… what a joke

@Derek: ‘native’ refers to that into which we are born, hence I am a native of Colorado being born here. But since you ask, I am of Cheyenne blood by my great-grandfather! My mother lived on the reservation until she was 14.

Your comment is so typical of the ego-driven intelligence that shackles you.

Thanks for all the horsepucky ‘marketing’ you’ve done helping spammers in your so-called career.

I’m only just hearing about this and think it’s great. Wouldn’t it be nice if would-be programmers and designers from smaller towns and other cities (not necessarily technology centers) get together and do something similar?

Say what you want about the group’s choice of product. If you are focused on that - you completely missed the point of the startupweekend exercise. I walked in the door on Friday knowing nothing about the people I’d be spending the rest of the weekend with or what their areas of expertise would be. The fact that a group of 70 people were able to come to agreement in a few hours on a single idea, narrowed down from 50 is an accomplishment by itself. When is the last time your company was able to do that? Even more amazing, we had the talent and drive among the group of volunteer participants to actually have a reasonable chance of succeeding in launching a fairly technical product.

I had a fantastic time participating in Startupweekend. I witnessed (and hopefully contributed to) some pretty amazing discussions and decision making. On Friday, I walked in the door hoping for no more than good experience. If the product actually proves to be successful - BONUS!

@Matt - I hate spammers and am buddies with the lawyer for the RBL. Good enough for you? In fact, I helped convince her to move to Boulder… from CALIFORNIA!!!

ego-driven intelligence that shackles you

Is there any other kind?

Add I’m from Georgia BTW.

@Patricia (Comment #10) - Thanks! I’m hoping to do a full redesign soon

60 founders to start a startup in 60 seconds.

wow, so the idea of the company is to provide a service that strips away people’s priviledge of thoughts and decision making? People who use it might as well tattoo “dumb” on their forehead

I found this on a bulletin board and decided to try it. A little while back, I was browsing through
newsgroups and came across an article similar to this that could make you thousands of dollars
within weeks with only an initial investment of $20.00! So, I thought, “Yeah, right, this must be a
scam”, but, like most of us, I was curious, so I kept reading. Anyway, it said that you send $10.00
to each of the 2 names and addresses stated in the article. You then place your name and address
in the bottom of the list at #2, and post the atricle in at least 200 newsgroups. (there are
thousands). No catch, that was it. So after thinking it over, and talking to a few people first, I
thought about trying it. I figured: “what have I got to lose except 2 stamps and $20.00, right?” Then
I invested the measley $20.00. Well GUESS WHAT!!…within 7 days, I started getting money in
the mail! I was shocked. I figured it would end soon, but the money just kept comming in. In my
first week, I made about $100.00. By the end of the second week, I had made a total of over
$1,000.00. In the third week, I had over $10,000 and it’s still growing. This is now my fourth
week, and I have made a total of just over $42,000 and it’s still commong in rapidly. It’s certianly
worth $20.00 and 2 stamps, I have spent more money on the lottery!! Let me tell you how this
works, and most importantly, why this works…Also, make sure you print a copy of this article
NOW, so you can get the information off it as you need it. I promise that if you follow the
directions EXACTLY, that you will start making money that you thought possible by diong
something so easy!
Suggestion: Read this entire message carefully! (print it out or download it). Follow the simple
directions and watch the money come in! It’s easy, it’s legal, and your investment is only $20.00
(plus postage).
Important: This is not a rip off; it is not indecent; its not illegal; and it is virtually no risk-it really
works!!!
If all of the following instructions are adhered to, you will recieve extraordinary dividens.
Please Note:
Please follow these directions EXACTLY, and $50,000 or more can be yours in 20 to 60 days.
This program remains successfull because of the honesty and intregrity of the participants. Please
continue its success by carefully adhering to the instructions.
You will now bewcome part of the Mail Order business. In this business, your product is not solid
and tangible, its a service. You are in the business of developing Mailing Lists. However, the
money made from the Mailing Lists is secondary to the income which is made from people like
you and I asking to be included in that list.
Here are four easy steps to success:
Step One: Get 6 seperate pieces of paper, and write the following on each piece of paper
“PLEASE PUT ME ON YOUR MAILING LIST.” Now get 2 U.S. $10.00 bills (or 4 $5.00), and place one (or 2)
inside each of the six pieces of paper so the bill will not be seen through the envelope (to prevent
thievery). Next, place one paper in each of the 2 envelopes, and seal them. You should now
have 2 sealed envelopes, each with a piece of paper stating the above phrase, your name and
address, and a $10.00 bill. What you are doing is creating a service. This is absolutley legal. You
are requesting a legitimate service, and you are paying for it! Like most of us, I was a little
skeptical, and a little worried about the legal aspects of it all, so I checked it out with the U.S.
Post Office (1-800-725-2161), and they confirmed that it is, indeed, legal! Mail the two envelopes
to the following addresses: .

1.)Marie Bedford
19 Long Plough
Aston Clinton
Buckinghamshire
England
HP22 5HB
2.)Daniel Vargas
34 Third St
Wharton, NJ 07885, U.S.A

Step 2: Now take the number one name off the list that you see above, move the other names up
(2 becomes 1,)and add YOUR name as #2 on the list.

Step 3: Change anything you need to, but try to keep this article as close to the original as
possible. Now, post your amended article to at least 200 newsgroups. (I think there are close to
24,000 groups.) All you need is 200, but remember, the more you post, the more money you
make!
This is perfectly legal! If you have any doubts, refer to title 18 Sec.1302 & 1241 of the Postal
Lottery Laws. Keep a copy of these steps for yourself, and whenever you need money, you can
use it again and again.
PLEASE REMEMBER that this program remains successfull because of the honesty and integrity
of the participants and by them carefully adhering to the directions. Look at it this way, if you are
of integrity, the program will contionue, and the money that so many others hace recieved will
come your way, too.
NOTE: You may want to retain every address and name sent to you, either on computer or hard
copy and keep the notes people send you. This VERIFIES that you are truley providing a
service.(Also, it might be a good idea to wrap the dollar bill in dark paper to reduse the risk of
theft.)
So, as each post is downloaded, and the directions carefull followed, 2 members will be
reimbursed for thier participation as a list developer with $10.00 each. Your name will move up the
list geometrically so that when your name reachs the #1 position, you will be recieving thousands
of dollars in cash!!! What an oppurtunity for only $20.00 ($10.00 for each of the 2 people listed
above.) Send it now, add your own name to list, and your in business!
~~DIRECTIONS~~FOR HOW TO POST TO NEWSGROUPS~~
STEP 1: You do not need to re-type this letter to your own posting. Simply put your cursor at the
begining of this letter and drag your cursor to the bottom of this document, and select “copy” from
the edit menu. This will copy the entire letter into the computers memory.
Step 2: Open a blank “notepad” file and place your cursor at the top of the blank page. Form the
edit menu, select “paste”. This will place a copy of the letter into the notepad so that it can add
your name into the bottom of the list, and then change the numbers on the list.
Step 3: Save your new notepad file as a “.txt” file. If you want to do your postings in different
settings, you’ll always have this file to go back to.
Step 4: Use netscape or internet explorer and try to search for various newsgroups (on-line
forums, message board, chat sites, discussions).
Step 5: Visit these message boards, and post this article as a new message by highlighting the text
of this letter and selecting “PASTE” from, the edit menu. Fill in the subject, this will be the hedder
that everyone sees as they scroll through the list of postings in a particular group, click the post
message button. Your done with your first one! Congratulations…Thats it! All you have to do is
jump to different newsgroups and post away, after you get the hang of it, it will take about 30
seconds for each news group! **REMEMBER, THE MORE NEWSGROUPS YOU POST IN,
THE MORE MONEY YOU WILL MAKE!! BUT YOU HAVE TO POST A MINIMUM OF
200** That is it! You will be recieving money from around the world within days! You may
eventually want to rent a P.O. Box due to the large amount of mail you will recieve. If you wish to
stay annonymous, you can invent a name to use, as long as the post man will deliver it. **JUST
MAKE SURE ALL THE ADDRESSES ARE CORRECT**
Now the why part: out of 200 postings, say I only recieve 10 replies (a very low example). So then
I made $100.00 with my name at #2 on the letter. Now, each of the 10 persons who sent me $10.00
make the minimum of 200 postings, each with my name at #1 and only 10 persons resopnd to each
of the origional 10, this is an additional $100.00 for me. So either way your ganna make a profit of $180 dollars, The thing to remember is: do you realize that thousands of
people all over the world are joining the internet and reading these articles every day! JUST LIKE
YOU ARE NOW!! So, can you afford $20.00 and see if it really works?? I think so…People have
said, “what if the plan is played out, and no one sends you the money?” Well they won’t be getting any money, because the original poster of this document will take them off the list if they do not send the money and Anyway, it is
only $20.00 for a chance at thousands. Estamites are at 20,000 to 50,000 new users, every day,
with thousands of those joining the actual internet. Remember, play fairly and honestly, and this will
really work. You would not want someone to cheat you the same way you may be cheating.

An attempt to create working project in a weekend is amazing thing. It’s fun event. But I totally agree that in this case focus lays on _event_ and _fun_ more than on value and results.
To acheve results you need something more.
http://gtd-tools.com