A Reflection on the StartupBus Experience

I’m behind on my blog posts because  I decided to enjoy my time in Austin as wifi wasn’t exactly readily available.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

After leaving Nashville, we made our way to Baton Rouge.  We did get to see a strip mall outside of Graceland and an RV park somewhere in the swamp, but we spent a lot of our time on the bus due to a detour.  After a three-hour delay from our trek through the back roads of Louisiana (the bus driver didn’t have a GPS or maps), we missed our final event at Rackspace in San Antonio.   We spent Friday morning there instead before making our way to Austin.

The last couple of days on the bus are a bit of a blur.  During our decision to pivot, the team decided to enjoy the experience and not worry about the competition.  It was actually one of the best choices that we made because I remember seeing strip malls and “living the brand” more than sleeping in shifts and drinking cases of Red Bull.  Not that those Buspreneurers didn’t have a great experience, they just had more tangible take aways from their journey.  I had a lot of laughter, tweets from the road, and a group that was open to making our own path and deviate from from some of the bus craziness.  I was extremely lucky to find my teammates in the back of Cincy StartupBus and am grateful for the fun-loving and hilarious trip to Austin.

What I Learned (aka What was the point)

I learned a lot about forming and launching a startup, but not just the lessons that the bus may have intended.  I learned some of what I didn’t know and how to fix that ignorance in myself (i.e. time to learn more about coding).  I was reminded that the journey was more important than any competition and how a well-chosen team can make all the difference (seriously, best team ever!).

I found excitement and enthusiasm in Austin and feel refreshed and ready to tackle my next adventure.  It’s time for me to make some changes in my life and the StartupBus gave me the kick I needed to do so.

So thank you to Zach, Jerry, Tara, Tony, and (Hipster) Nick for making my StartupBus experience awesome.  Long live Dare Decathlon.

Check out our final presentation video below!

*Photo courtesy of Thomas Mulready of CoolCleveland.com.

A Seriously Long Day

As day one comes to an end, I am able to take a moment (a rare one with Wifi access) and reflect on the looooong day and many miles traveled.

We arrived at Tech Columbus at 5:30 to meet the bus, meaning a 4am wake up call at a hotel by the airport to cab it over to meet the rest of the bus crew. Startucks doesn’t open that early in Columbus, which was a definite setback for me this morning.

After getting acclimated to the bus we started to pitch as we made our way to Youngstown. Each person paraded to the front of the bus, grabbed the mike, and introduced themselves and pitched if they were so inclined. After the pitches ended we formed teams. I was able to join a fantastic group of people out to save the world with a great idea to save local economies. Unfortunately, we were unable to find a way to monetize this model and after hours of debating we switched directions completely. Instead of saving the world, we are now working on Dare Decathlon, which in a few words is friends creating humiliating experiences. Snarkiness has trumped saving the world, at least for the next few days.

I can’t express how much I’ve enjoyed working with my team. At no point did we fight or insult each other. All notes were constructive and when something wasn’t working, we were able to take a step back and find something that we can enjoy and have fun with on the way to Austin. Dare Decathlon won’t save the world, but it will make it a hell of a lot of fun.

After an hour and a half with our new concept, I pitched idea 2.0 at the Brandery in Cincinnati. (Yes, we drove from Columbus to Youngstown and back to Cincinnati.)

After our stop we have been working for the past few hours to get organized and winding down the day. I am ready to get off the bus for the night and not have motion sickness (seriously, this thing is like a boat), but we have some time before we get to Nashville.

I will continue to blog as we go, but I would love your feedback on our idea and any dare suggestions you can come up with. Visit daredecathlon.tumblr.com for more info on our bus creation!