This month’s See Magazine is all about the power of compassion. It’s definitely worth your time to read.

My article this month focuses on Startup Weekend. What happens during the weekend and what happens when you win!

Here’s a sneak peek:

“I think you guys might be the dark horse”, Chris declared on Sunday morning as he checked out my team. Turns out he was right… We won Startup Weekend.

 

Startup Weekend is a 54-hour competition where 100 people turn ideas into companies.

 

Here’s how it works. On Friday night, everyone that has an idea pitches. Then, we vote and slash the ideas to around 12 that form teams. The teams work their booties off until Sunday night building a prototype and validating the market. On Sunday night, the teams pitch to the judges, a panel of successful entrepreneurs and investors.

 

Winning is a big deal.

 

Zaarly won a year ago and is now in Fast Company as one of the “Most Innovative Companies”.  The top three winners from last Startup Weekend, Look.io, Skilloop, & Omaze have all raised money and two are available to the public. LA Startup Weekend winners excel so people in the startup scene pay attention.

 

In August last year, I stressed, cursed, cried, and learned through my first Startup Weekend. My team placed fourth. Since then, I’ve started my company with Ben so I didn’t even want to go to this weekend. Ben talked me into it, saying I’d learn something. Oh my, was he right.

 

Friday night, Gregg pitched an idea for a visual shopping cart widget that would go on a single shopping site. Yawn. He asked me to join his team and I said yes only because we are friends. The rest of the team was Scott, a marketing/biz guy, Jake, another dev, and Nina, a 17 year-old with her own fashion site.

 

To the whiteboard!

 

As we were talking the idea out as a team, both Nina and I were adamant that cross-site shopping was how we really shopped online. I whipped out my “Kristi’s Wedding” doc that had multiple outfits and accessories from multiple sites to show the guys how women really shop.

For the full article, check it out in See Magazine. It starts on page 22.

Our Winning Feb 2012 LA Startup Weekend Pitch

Thanks TechZulu for making this!

Here are the Tips from Tyler We Tried to Follow

I say tried because we didn’t get them all right. Startup Weekend is fast-paced and there’s very little time to truly polish the pitch. I only had 10 minutes to practice the demo part…

The tips from Tyler are the headers and bullet points. My thoughts are in the paragraphs below each.

1) Create a Story

• Use a persona – tell a movie about John, Joe or Jane.
• What do you want the audience to think or feel a week later?
• Never say “we” or ‘I’ – use the Company Name instead.
• Keep the story dramatic.
• As a hack, use a judge/person in the room as your main character.

I think we got about half of these right. I was terrible at saying the Company name. Also, I was the persona and the presenter so I said “I” a lot. However, I think it worked well for our situation because I am also the target user and could believably tell the story of trying to online shop with my bff Liza. People related to the story and me as the teller pretty quickly. The visuals helped a lot there but if there was more time, I’d spend more time on this portion of the pitch.

2) Get Right to the Demo

• Everyone is there to see the demo.
• If your demo can’t tell its own story, you’re probably in trouble.

I think we nailed this one. We got to the demo pretty quickly and it told the story pretty well.

3) Make the Audience Feel like They are Part of the Meeting

• Make sure they are talking with you or engaged.
• Leave out some things that they can ask. They will.

4) The Q&A is a “Startup School” Gauge

• In the Q & A, they are trying to figure out where you are from Kindergarten to PhD in “startup school”
• For example, say they ask “What are you going to do when Google does it?”
  Kindergarten answer: Google wouldn’t do it.
  PhD answer: Google’s already working on it (that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be too)

I think our Q & A went pretty well. Gregg and Jake had great answers and I got a compliment from a judge on my “We have the Snazzy Bar” comment. He said it was the perfect way to handle that. Woot!

A BIG Thanks to Tyler for sharing! I know he shared more than that and I just didn’t write it down so if you ever get to hear him talk about it again, listen.

Good luck during your Startup Weekend pitch or any other pitch you give!

Also Check Out

5 Lessons from my Aug 2011 Startup Weekend

7 More Lessons from my Feb 2012 Startup Weekend

#1 – Have your Wallet Ready.
Tickets Sell Out in 10 Minutes.

Seriously, one of my friends went to get her wallet and by the time she got back, tickets had sold out! I hear that it’s not like this at all Startup Weekends but for #SWLA it is. If you want in, you better set an alarm and have your credit card handy.

#2 – Pitch your Idea

Get over your fear and pitch Friday night. You’ll regret it if you don’t because by the time you’ve listened to all the pitches you’ll find yourself thinking “My idea is better than all of those!” And remember, it’s only 60 seconds of your life and if your idea isn’t picked, you still get to work on something cool.

If you want to practice, follow the tips from Tyler on creating a story and don’t forget to mention what kind of help you need (marketing, dev, design, etc).

#3 – If You Pitched the Idea,
Lead the Team or Choose a Leader

This didn’t happen in our team but I’ve seen it in other teams at both Startup Weekends I’ve attended. The person who pitches Friday night isn’t really ready to lead a team. Maybe they are a developer that prefers to code all weekend or they hate speaking or hate taking charge. These teams flail.

If you’re that person that doesn’t want to lead, pitch anyway. Then, go find a leader for your team. You’re looking for someone cool that can listen to a lot of input make decisions fast. Maybe someone with a project manager background. And of course, someone that loves your idea.

If you do want to lead the team, then lead! Accept the responsibility. Make the decisions. Say no. Coordinate people and tasks. Make sure things are being executed with a goal of having a solid demo and presentation ready on Sunday night.

#4 – Hash out the Idea Friday Night
then Become a Secret Agent

Matthew Fox from Vantage Point or as a Startup Weekend Secret Agent

You only have TWO DAYS. There isn’t time to be brainstorming for half of it. So, set aside Friday night to brainstorm and get the ideas out. If your team isn’t agreeing, the leader needs to take charge. By the end of Friday night, you should have a game plan for getting you to winning O’s – preso with demo.

Then guard that plan like it’s the President and you’re the head of the Secret Service (black suits optional).  Your team members, investors, other entrepreneurs, and super successful people will come around and inject their thoughts into your idea. Of course these ideas will be great, these are very smart people. Listen but reject 97% of them for the weekend. Unless the suggestion totally blows your mind and it really can be done in the time you have, SAY NO. Otherwise you might find that trying to implement these ideas totally derails your ability to deliver your big O’s.

#5 – Bring Your Own Snacks and Advil

Unless you live well on Redbull and chocolate, you’re going to be outta luck. Also, it’s loud there so headache medicine is helpful. Extra points for bringing enough for your team. Triple points if you share with Avesta, Cam, Chris, Bex, Tyler, and any other organizer. Quadruple points if your snacks are from Healthy Surprise, an Aug 2011 LA Startup Weekend company that’s growing like crazy.

#6 – Learn and Teach

With such a small team trying to do so much in a short time, there’s gotta be something new for you to learn and someone that needs to learn what you know.

The other dev on my team taught me the basics of coding MongoDB, a NoSQL database. Together we learned how to deploy to AppHarbor. I taught one of my friends some new CSS tricks and helped one of my team members write her first lines of C#.

Even if you’re not a techie, there’s gotta be a business or marketing technique you can learn and/or teach. Do both.

#7 – Take Pictures and Video

So that you can write awesome blog posts and share. I forgot this time and am regretting it now!

More on #SWLA from Around the Web

Those are my tips but don’t just listen to me. Check out what others are saying.

Susan Emmer’s Experience - 10 Lessons from a SWLA Virgin

Simon Christian’s Experience of the Weekend

My Experience from the Aug 2011 SWLA 

My Experience and What Happened after Winning Feb 2012 SWLA

TechZulu’s Recap

The Official Recap from Tyler Koblasa, Startup Weekend LA Co-organizer and Founder/CEO at Mingly

All the Final Pitches

My team, Snazzy Room, starts at 1:22:48

See Magazine March 2012

It’s time for another issue of See Magazine! I just finished reading it and am so very inspired by the women featured this month.  Dr. Catherine Hamlin’s created a hospital in Africa that helps women deal with something most of us could never imagine. It stole their lives, forcing them to live in shacks as outcasts. Dr. Hamlin gives them their lives back.  [starts on page 4]

And then there’s 16 year-old Nicole Muller’s Neighbor-4-Neighbor program has helped feed so many people in need of food right here in the USA. This amazing young woman was cold-emailing governors to get her program spread to every state. [starts on page 10]

Of course, it also includes “Diary of a Startup Gal”. This month gives you an insight into my history and how it took me 4 years to figure out what I really wanted. It was a struggle and I hope you can’t relate. For those of you that can, hang in there. [starts on page 19]

There are so many great things in this magazine! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I do!

New Setup with Surf Shelf

It’s been a month since I setup my treadmill desk so I thought I’d share what I’ve learned so far.

Setup Changes with Cost and Height Updates

In the original setup, the monitors were too far away. So, I ordered a SurfShelf Treadmill Desk and Laptop Holder from Amazon and now, it’s much better. It only holds my laptop so I don’t have my second monitor. Surprisingly, I don’t miss it as much as I thought I would.

With the new surf shelf, I got to take everything back to Home Depot except the shelf for my keyboard. That made my total setup cost about $50, not including the treadmill.

A note about the right setup for you. I’m 5’1″ and the monitor and keyboard are at a perfect height for me. If you’re tall, this setup may not work for you. A 6’3″ friend used the desk and he was more comfortable using the keyboard on the laptop instead of  the one I use on the shelf across the treadmill handlebars. Of course, this meant he was looking down at the screen, which isn’t ideal. Also, the treadmill deck (mine is 55″) was a little short for him with the keyboard on a shelf across the handlebars. So, finding the right setup for you may take some adjustments.

Stats, including Weight Loss

In total, I walked 20 days out of the month. I logged a little over 65 miles which averages to 3.25 for each day that I walked. The least I walked one of those days was .6 miles. The most I walked in one day was 6.66. I almost always walk at 1 mph since I’ve found it’s the best rate for me.

I’m estimating that I burn about 125 calories per mile walked, therefore 65 miles is 8125 calories burned. Since 1 lb = 3500 calories, I should have lost about 2.3 lbs. I lost a little more than that, around 4 pounds. I think that’s because my cravings have changed so I’ve been eating differently. It’s weird but when I walk for a long time on the treadmill, I’m not as hungry that day. And when I am hungry, I crave meat and veggies instead of my normal sugar cravings.

Other Observations

Besides the change in my cravings, I’ve noticed a few other things that are interesting.

• My skin looks much healthier. I haven’t been wearing makeup as much lately because I don’t feel like I need to… and I’ve had men comment on how good my skin or makeup looks! Woot!
• I’m sleeping much better. I’ve always been a good sleeper but in the past month, I’ve noticed I feel ready to sleep at bedtime instead of staying up watching tv or reading. As a result, I wake up much more refreshed.
• I have more energy overall. That’s been really great.
• My knees don’t hurt as much as they did when I was sitting all day. Now, if I sit for too long, my bootie starts hurting!
• I shower more often.  Since I work from home, if I wasn’t meeting people, I might skip showing for the day. That doesn’t happen if I log several hours on the treadmill.

Overall, it’s been awesome! I really, really love my treadmill desk and recommend it to anyone that can do it.

FAQs

People have been asking me all kinds of questions so I’m going to answer them here. If you have more questions, write it in the comment and I’ll do my best to answer it.

How fast do you walk?

I’ve tried several speeds and 1 mph works well for me. At that pace, I don’t really notice that I’m walking and it doesn’t affect what I’m doing.

What is the fastest you can go and still actually do something?

2.5 mph is the fastest for me. Faster than that and I can’t read.

Aren’t you distracted by the walking?

Sometimes. I find that I can easily do stuff I have figured out but if I need to think or solve a serious problem, I have to stop the treadmill. Other than that, it’s not distracting at all.

How loud is it?

It’s not that loud. There’s a low hum the entire time, sorta like white noise. It’s not distracting and I don’t usually turn my music up any higher than I used to. I’ve also done speaker phone calls without a problem.

Does it make your electric bill go up?

If it does, it’s not significant. My electric bill for the month I had the treadmill was less than the previous month (and I was out of town for a full week the previous month). However, I haven’t been in this apartment for over a year so I can’t compare to last year’s bill.

Can you  really get work done or just surf the web?

You can really get stuff done. A lot of it actually. I’ve been very productive in this month, launching and supporting 3 different websites, one that was fully coded during that time. I think the treadmill desk helps with productivity.

That’s it for now! If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments.

First, the URL is wrong. The base should be http://www.imnicamail.com/v4/api.php – not what they have listed.

Second, if you use the JSON result, they add a “true(” to the beginning and “)” at the end (both without quotes). Again, no where in their documentation.

Third, you need the List ID, not the name. While this is mentioned, it’s confusing and sorta hard to find if you’re not technically inclined. Here’s how you find it. Navigate to you list and then grab it off the url. Show in this screenshot:

So, I thought I’d try and save you some time and give you the code I used to integrate as I didn’t find any when I googled.

Here it is. You’ll need to get a JSON deserializer, I used SimpleJson which you can install with NuGet.

One more note: This will return true if the user is a new subscriber or already subscribed.

//API Reference: http://support.imnica.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=32&nav=0,4
private bool ImnicaSubscribe(string email, string listID)
{
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(email) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(listID))
    {
	return false;
    }

    //This variable is specific to Rackspace Cloud Sites, you may want to use another
    string ip = string.IsNullOrEmpty(Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_X_CLUSTER_CLIENT_IP"]) ? "127.0.0.1" : Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_X_CLUSTER_CLIENT_IP"].Trim().ToLower();

    string url = "http://www.imnicamail.com/v4/api.php";
    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
    sb.Append("Command=Subscriber.Subscribe&ResponseFormat=JSON&JSONPCallBack=true&ListID=");
    sb.Append(listID);
    sb.Append("&EmailAddress=");
    sb.Append(email);
    sb.Append("&IPAddress=");
    sb.Append(ip);

    string sret = string.Empty;

    try
    {
	WebClient client = new WebClient();
	client.Headers["Content-type"] = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
	byte[] bret = client.UploadData(url, "POST", System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(sb.ToString()));
	sret = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetString(bret);

	//Imnicamail likes to wrap its JSON in a "true()" so let's remove it
	if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(sret) && sret.Length > 7)
	{
	    int l = sret.Length - 6;
	    sret = sret.Substring(5, l);
	}
	else
	{
	    throw new Exception("value returned is formatted incorrectly = " + sret);
	}

	//Deserialize the JSON
	dynamic a = SimpleJson.SimpleJson.DeserializeObject(sret);
	if (a["Success"])
	{
	     return true;
	}
	else if (!a["Success"] && a["ErrorCode"] == 9) //9 is already subscribed so it's ok
	{
	    return true;
	}
	else
	{
	    throw new Exception("Imnica Mail Exception - " + a.ErrorCode);
	}
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
	//log for manual investigation
    }

    return false;
}

Hope that helps! If you can make the code better, please feel free to leave it in the comments.

Https Issues

Launching an ASP.NET MVC3 site on Rackspace Cloud Sites has been mostly easy. Mostly. There are a few ‘gotchas’ that make it painful. There’s no need for you to waste time I’ve already spent figuring this stuff out so here’s what I’ve learned the hard way.

ASP.NET 4.0 isn’t the Default

You’ll see this manifest itself with an ugly configuration error when you try to visit your site. This one is easily fixed, just open a ticket or start a chat and ask them to move your site to ASP.NET 4.0. It takes them about 10 minutes if you ask via chat.

You Must Do an MVC Bin Deploy

Another ugly configuration error will happen when you try to visit your site. Luckily, VS2010 has added a feature specifically for including the MVC deployable assemblies. Right click on the project and select ‘Add Deployable Assemblies’ and you’ll see the dialog. If you have any problems, follow the instructions in this Haacked.com article. Phil did a great job writing that up so I don’t feel the need to repeat it.

Get the User’s IP Address

This was another fun one. I kept trying to use Request.ServerVariables["REMOTE_ADDR"] or Request.ServerVariables["X_FORWARDED_FOR"]. Neither worked. Finally, I wrote a little method that looped through all the variables on the server and found the one that worked.

Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_X_CLUSTER_CLIENT_IP"] is the one you want to use to get the client’s IP address.

Email Limits

I didn’t read the Acceptable Use Policy closely enough to see that there are limits of 5,000 emails per day and 250 per 20 minutes. I found that out the hard way when I launched something that generated lot of confirmation and welcome emails. Enough to break that AUP. That night, I answered a LOT of support tickets from unhappy customers and eventually took out the account confirmation until the traffic died down. Live, learn and use Sendgrid.  Rackspace Cloud Sites has a special deal set up with Sendgrid for 40,000 emails per month. Use it. Sendgrid takes about 24 hours to get all set up and provisioned but it’s worth it. The email insight is very helpful and you can see who’s blocked you and get all that sorted out.

Get HTTPS Working

The first thing you need to do is install your certificate. This is pretty straightforward in your admin area. Click the security tab for your domain and follow the instructions.

Then it gets tricky. I naively thought that simply adding the [RequireHttps] attribute would work. Boy, was I wrong.  I keep getting This webpage has a redirect loop” error in Google Chrome or “Firefox has detected that the server is redirecting the request for this address in a way that will never complete.”  in Firefox. Some googling led me to figure out that it has something to do with proxy servers but nothing on how to fix it.

After much searching, I finally found an article on Rackspace’s Knowledge Base, How to Force SSL on My ASP.NET Cloud Sites article. I tried to follow the third set of instructions for MVC3 to be able to use the [RequireHttps] attribute. That failed miserably and I was still getting redirect errors.

So, of course I start up a chat with the usually very helpful Rackspace. This time, not so helpful. The first help desk person I got that thought code went in the web.config file. Um, wrong. It took me a while to figure out that’s what he thought. Once I asked for someone else, I got it resolved quickly.

Here’s How to Get it Working

Use the first set of instructions and include the web.config code from the knowlegebase article. In my VS2010, it shows this as an error but do it anyway. Then remove any [RequireHttps] attribute that you had in your code. This will force your entire site into Https. I still haven’t figured out how to only do certain parts in https. For now, I’m fine with that but if you know a solution, please leave it in the comments.

Hope this helped you deploy your ASP.NET MVC3 site on Rackspace Clouds. If you have any other tips, please add them in the comments.

See Magazine Feb 2012

My dear friend, Lori Lewis, has created a new digital magazine, See Magazine. Its mission is  ”celebrating the accomplishments and contributions of strong girls and women the world over and the pursuit of mass media reform to correct inaccurate and damaging representations of girls and women.”

Check the magazine out along with “Diary of a Startup Gal”, a new monthly installment by me that covers my journey into entrepreneurship. This month is all about facing fears. It starts on page 16.

I’m honored to be part of it and hope you will enjoy it!

Great Round 1

It took almost all day, but my Treadmill Desk is complete! There are some adjustments I need to make, but overall, a fantastic first start. I’ve been walking for about 30 minutes between 1 and 1.5 mph now and haven’t really noticed.

The Idea

I sit all day, every day at a desk. Sometimes, I don’t even leave my apartment for days in a row. Code has a way of crawling into your brain and not letting go for hours. I’ll look at the clock and hours have passed and I haven’t moved. This alone has made me want a treadmill desk for a while but I never quite got around to doing it.

But lately, a new problem has reared its ugly head that motivated me to actually go through with the treadmill desk idea. You see, most of the time I spend sitting is with my legs criss-crossed since I’m too short for normal desks and chairs. My knees are protesting. Loudly!

That was enough to push me over the hump and treadmill shopping.

The Setup

First, I obviously needed a treadmill. A few things were important to me. It needed to be quiet since I’d be on it a lot. The arms needed to be as close to parallel to the ground as possible so that I didn’t have to worry about a keyboard sliding off. It had to be able to run under 1 mph. And it needed to be less than $800. The Proform 505 CST Treadmill was the winner! I paid $599 and Amazon delivered inside my two story apartment for free. Yay for Amazon Prime!

My mom got me a wireless keyboard and mouse for Christmas, which I needed to be able to set the keyboard on a board across the treadmill arms. It makes it a really good level to type easily.  (Thanks Mom!)

Now, I assumed that there would be times that I would want to sit down to work. So, I wanted to keep my desk. The idea of building a desk topper that would raise my monitors and be easily removable was born. Off to Home Depot.

But first, some measurement questions…  How high do the monitors need to be? How wide did something need to be to set the monitors on? How long did the board need to be to go across the treadmill arms? I should have also measured the width of my desk but didn’t think of it until I was in Home Depot searching for a way to raise my monitors high enough. This was the hardest part. There weren’t any great options so I ended up with two step stools and a board (thanks Dad for the  idea). I also grabbed a shelf to go across the treadmill arms. Total: $35.

That’s it. I put it all together and hopped on!

Thoughts so Far

My monitors are too far away from me. I’m squinting or zooming which is very annoying. To fix this, I ordered a laptop holder from Amazon ($39) that is supposed to attach directly to your treadmill. That may sorta solve the monitor problem, but it give me another on since it will only bring one monitor close. I may end up building shelves an putting my treadmill closer to the wall but that would make swapping from desk to treadmill harder. I’ll have to see how things progress.

I’m now at 1:15 minutes and 1.425 miles. Wow! This may also help me keep track of time. I really haven’t any problems. I’m walking barefoot so that’s kinda fun. I sorta feel like I’m swaying…. there’s a nice rhythm to it.

Also check out the 1 Month Update

The Countdown is ON!

It has all the makings of a great party… loud music, loud people, all the tech gear you can think of, food, beer, movies, more men than women (good for me!), frantic atmosphere, cameras, video recorders, and a whole lot of fun. But, instead of being a raging night, it was 2.5 days of everyone hustling to make the next great company.

Friday

Startup Weekend kicks off on Friday night with everyone pitching their ideas rapid-fire style. 60 seconds is all you have and yes, there is a timer ticking. 34 pitches later, it was time to vote. 12 (or was it 14?) ideas made the cut and teams began forming. Developers were in high demand, especially iOS devs and common web languages such as PHP. Designers that rock were in even higher demand.

Lesson #1: Start pitching and forming your team before the official pitches begin.  Get a designer and dev(s) on-board early.

I joined team Swaydar because I loved the idea and I love the team. We were pretty well balanced… Jon – the idea master, Keenahn – the ninja dev, Jay – the wise designer, Nick – the hustler, & Me – the marketer (yes, yes, I know I’m a techie but Keenahn & I code different languages so marketing was a better fit for the team).

Post-It Notes Fly

We jumped right in to building Swaydar. The post-it notes were flying! We didn’t leave until we were kicked out and then we kept going on the street. Good for us, bad for the neighbors ‘cause I’m loud. I finally made it to bed around 3 am but of course my mind was all a flutter with excitement about Swaydar so sleep didn’t come easily.

What is Swaydar? Let me tell you. Actually, let me let our landing page tell you:

Isn't it pretty?

Cool idea, right? Yeah, I think so too. Sign up if you want to learn more but for now, back to Startup Weekend.

Saturday

Saturday morning I dragged myself out of bed at 7 am because my commute to the event is 40 minutes and they were opening the doors at 9.

Lesson #2: Come to Startup Weekend well rested and stay nearby because you aren’t getting much sleep.

Saturday was a blur of work.

"Here's What I Think..."

Keenahn and Jay started creating a damn sexy product and got lots of help from Rahim, a Twilio expert.  The rest of us got to work on proving that there was a market. Brian, a jack-of-all-trades showed up at some point and joined the team.

After creating our unique selling proposition and marketing message, Jon and Nick pounded the pavement looking for any business owners they could talk to while Brian and I began the online blitz – video, survey, landing page, and Tweets!

Between the four of us, we validated the market – what kind of business they own, how they want to be contacted, and how much they’d pay.

We used that info and put our ask in gear and signed our first paying customer by the end of Saturday! That’s right, we were profitable within 24 hours. Coffee is for Closers people.

Lesson #3: Hustle pays.

Bleary-eyed and caffeine-fueled, we were kicked out again but our faithful street was still there. Bed time was around 3 am again… with the mind churning. It’s such a crazy environment during the day that it was impossible for my mind to stop.

You see, Startup Weekend is awesome but also very rowdy. It’s loud. Like, really loud. You’ll want your headache medicine of choice. There are cameras and people taking video at all times. That may not bother you but it added a thread of questions that constantly ran through my mind. Am I sitting up straight? Is my hair ok? Am I dropping too many f-bombs? You get the idea. Add that to the fact that you’re trying to win a competition and you can see how it’s hard to fall asleep.

Sunday

The lack of sleep mixed with a non-stop brain action and the deadline made Sunday even more of a blur. The presentation was the focus of the day and it was a mad rush. What to put in it? What to leave out? So many questions. I won’t lie… it got intense. So intense that I ended up outside for some fresh air and a quiet place to cry (thank you to my friend that fielded the teary call).

The crying came to relieve the stress. And there was stress… the normal things happen in a startup still happen but much more quickly and with an immediate deadline looming.  Decisions must be made quickly. Personalities come into play and you don’t know these people well enough to work with their quirks in a productive way.  Some group decisions were hard for me to accept at the time, especially when I got outvoted.  There are so many questions and you don’t have the answers.

Thank God we had Jay there. He not only make our preso look ah-may-zing but he knew what to put in and keep out because he’d done Startup Weekend before. His wisdom was invaluable.

Lesson #4: Having a Startup Weekend alum on your team pays off.

With our deck ready, we found some quiet space at a diner and Jon practiced non-stop (about an hour) until it was time for all the presentations.

Presentations

As I watched the presentations I was FLOORED at the amount of talent in the room. Just floored.

Healthy Surprise made over $500 that weekend. Drugkick really made life easier for people who wanted help.  Escrow Snap’s design was stunning.  I couldn’t believe the Look.io tech guys got so much done so quickly. I was signing up on Omaze and Skilloop as they spoke. Everyone was just really impressive.

We were up last. Jon killed it. Of course, so did several others so I had no idea if we would place. This competition was fiercer than Christian Siriano.

Check out all the presentations yourself on TechZulu.com (Swaydar is on video #2 & 3).

The Results

Swaydar Team

When the judges came back and announced us as 4th place honorable mention, with a “the judges wanted to make sure we got these guys up there”, we were super excited!!!

3rd place went to Omaze

2nd place to Skilloop

1st place to Look.io

After that, we all headed to the bar where I drank delicious lychee martinis and met so many more amazing people…

The People

The people rocked! Everyone is friendly and supporting. I felt so blessed to be around them. The quality and amount of help we received was incredible. Everyone gave insightful feedback – from the Coloft owners (the always incredible Cam & Avesta), to VCs, to successful entrepreneurs, to Startup Weekend Alums. The support and teamwork inspired us and made Swaydar better. I have no doubt that the people I met will solve the world’s problems.

Lesson #5: Talk to all the people in the room smarter than you. There are plenty.

Final Thoughts

Is Startup Weekend insane? Yes. Bottom line is you are in a competition and the stakes are high. Your idea and work is being broadcast to 50,000+ people. You want to impress. You want to win.

Is Startup Weekend worth the time, money & energy? YES!!!

If you’re reading this far that means you’re not a normal person… Normal people don’t spend their weekends trying to start a company. They go to the beach or watch movies. Not you. You make things happen. So do whatever it takes to get yourself to Startup Weekend. Even if you don’t move forward with your project, you will learn so much in one weekend your head will spin. And that’s always worth it!

Keep Reading

7 More Lessons from my Feb 2012 Startup Weekend

Turning 4 Pitch Tips into a Startup Weekend Winning Pitch