Startup Weekend West Lafayette

At 8:30 am the first group rolled back into the Startup Weekend space in the basement of the Krannert School of Management, with 4 full hours since the last person left progress is starting to be made again.

West Lafayette - Startup Weekend is online!

http://scrolltalk.com/

As everyone fades out for the day, a feeling of accomplishment is mixed in with thoughts about the challenges the aggressive time line of the weekend brings.

A few founders still linger around, discussing initial designs for the site and color themes.

Today, we had a great discussion about ideas, and a scare that we would not find a idea by the end of the day.  Miraculously an idea emerged and the group rallied around it without even a vote.  Enthusiasm grew and grew for the new idea throughout the rest of the night.

A name has been picked, hosting is being setup and by morning the company founded by Startup Weekend West Lafayette will present its first face to the world.

Development Team met with the Usability Team for about an hour and great progress was made on the idea, now code named “squirrel chat”

The Usability Team is working with the PR Group right now and the Development team is off in some discussions about architecture add backend systems.

People are frittering out slowly, but a core team is still energetically working.

There was no formal vote, no single decision maker, just minds coming together iterating a idea with every new comment.  All of the sudden a decision was made on the idea to pursue, as a group, over a very interactive discussion that emerged at the chalkboard. Very cool experience.

We have an idea!

West Lafayette Official Start Time - 5:05 pm
West Lafayette Official Idea Decision - 10:05pm
(there was zero discussion about the ideas to pursue before the weekend)

Similar to the swear jar, we found a new funding method for Startup Weekends:  Anytime you say Facebook you have to put a dollar in the funding jar.

The list of ideas was narrowed down to a final three, competitive analysis was done, variants were discussed and then… we decided to wipe the board clean and brainstorm some new ideas.

The Purdue/IU rivalry is alive and well even in the startup world -

“Whether it is done in this format or through our own devices, I’m determined to organize a similar event here in Bloomington in the spring.”

http://www.blogschmog.net/archives/1412

No clear leader among the ideas is emerging. Every idea seemed to have real flaws at first, but the creative minds are melding and new twists on each idea are creating the opportunity for some real unique offerings.

Don’t worry http://birthday-reminders.com/ we just eliminated a possible new competitor to your service from our list of ideas.

3 ideas left on the list, opposition research underway now.

Can a rural university surrounded by corn really launch a startup and gain the worlds attention all in one weekend? Only time will tell..