Startup Weekend – Winston-Salem, NC

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My Startup Weekend began with a trip to Washington DC. The day before I had driven to Washington DC to meet with the  programming team at OmniTi.

We needed to re-evaluate our scope and focus on the next release of the Pass The Plate. With the “Launch itus” issues experienced with the first release, it was important that we have a clean transition into the second build-out.

Friday morning, I had a meeting in Washington DC called Ask a VC DC.  This was an event where there were several venture capital groups. The idea was that startups could ask them questions in an open round table format. When the event ended at noon, I drove back to Winston Salem.

Oh yea… when I drive, I listen to Audible (books on tape) this trip the selection was ScalingUp by Verne Harnish. This is a book written for the Gazelle training group and part of which included the Rockefeller Habits.

This background is to help frame my mindset as I was entering into the Startup Weekend. I had spent the past 2 days in intensive meetings relating to all things Pass The Plate and was looking forward to 54 hours of insanity. -lol

To cut to the chase, first things first… Startup Weekend is a great experience for anyone that wants to learn more about the Startup process.  Even if you are a seasoned entrepreneur, this experience is worth the time and effort. I recommend everyone to go through a Startup Weekend as a participant. Chances are you will come back, either to participate again, or to coach.

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I took away several items from Startup Weekend. First and foremost, I learned how to compact a learning curve from hypothesis, to test, to results to MVP. This will be very important as Pass The Plate goes through future iterations. Second, I learned that there is lots of talent in my own backyard.

It was a pleasure to see two North Carolina A&T students banging out their project. They outworked everyone else and stayed the night Saturday working on their project. It was exciting to see a Wake Forest grad student propose an idea that he had been brainstorming – he got teamed up with an experienced bio medical professional to put a project in motion that could speed up drug trials using computer science.

To make things even better, a member of my own team was a IT recruiter, and one of the coaches that worked with our group ran a local design and marketing firm.

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At the time of this writing, Pass The Plate has contacted the two seniors from NC A&T and has an interview with them next week for them to work on a small project as in interview. We look forward to hiring a few talented individuals, and the Startup Weekend provided great contacts in that area.

– Graham Treakle

 

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TechBreakfast – Philadelphia, PA

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Heading off to the Philadelphia TechBreakfast, I was a little apprehensive. Pass the Plate has just released its first version into “Open Beta” and we were working out the kinks.

TechBreakfast is a show and tell, not a pitch, thus not having a product that worked caused concern. My fears were put to rest immediately when I arrived early to the presentation to speak to Rob from TechBreakfast.

“Oh you have ‘launch itus’. You know, it happens whenever you launch.  Everything works just fine on the test platform and then when you press the go button… things happen.”

Ahhh…

Flashback…The flight from Greensboro, North Carolina had been uneventful, and I used Uber for the first time flawlessly.

My driver Cal gave me a good tour of the city as we drove to the hotel which was near Drexel University and walking distance to several great restaurants. I was able to track down a good Phily Steak & Cheese from the Varsity. The sandwich was good but the fries were too greasy to eat.  Overall a good experience.

In the morning of the Pass the Plate presentation at TechBreakfast, I was able to walk to the location at the Drexel University Paul Peck Alumni Center. We were in a historic building with amazing architecture.

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The presentation went well to the 40 or so people in attendance. One person asked how we were going to work with foundations, and another asked about our go-to market strategy. Overall the feedback was positive and understanding of the issues we were having with our open beta version of the Pass the Plate application.

After the breakfast, I was able to meet with several people who offered valuable feedback. Since that time, I have appointments to follow up with two people from the breakfast.

For my trip home, I elected to take the train to the airport. I am not a big city person and do not get to ride a train often. I am fortunate to have visited this wonderful city several times and my stay in Philadelphia once again was a great experience.

– Graham Treakle

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