Douglas Craver · Rise up Cleveland and support Startup Weekend!

December 31st, 2008

When I fired up my email this morning I shouted WOOHOO at the following news I got via an email from Andrew Kavanaugh. Great news to start off the pending New Year!

I know I’ll be getting involved and I hope Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown and the general NEO area will rally around this. Done right this could be the tipping point for the region from a tech standpoint. If CSU and Case Western Reserve University are smart they’ll lend full resources to Startup Weekend Cleveland.

Startup Weekend is an intense 54 hour event that brings together developers, graphic artists, business & marketing, legal and more for a fun filled weekend of pitching ideas and bringing the popular ideas to life.  There have been nearly 30 Startup Weekend Events in the United States, Canada and, most recently, in Greece – including an event in our backyard (Columbus).  After a great run of votes on http://startupweekend.com/cityvote/ – I’m happy to announce that we’re bringing the party to Cleveland.

If you’d like to read Andrew’s full email and find out how you can get involved and help, click here to visit my blog techbytes.biz.

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Category: Cleveland, Economic Development
7 Comments »

7 Responses to “Rise up Cleveland and support Startup Weekend!”

  1. Andrew Kavanaugh Says:
    December 31st, 2008 at 2:47 pm

    Hey Everybody -

    Andrew Kavanaugh here, Lead Organizer of Startup Weekend – Cleveland, Startup Drinks – Cleveland and Ignite Cleveland. I’m building out the organization team right now, but will need people to blog about the event and a few volunteers on the day of the event to help with registration & cleanup. If you’re interested in being kept in the loop about all of our events, shoot me an email for now. I can be reached at: desk (at) andrewkavanaugh (dot) com.

    I wish we had enough jobs to get everybody involved, but hopefully all of you will attend as all of the events will be great.

    Thanks,
    -Andrew Kavanaugh

  2. Chris Miller Says:
    December 31st, 2008 at 2:54 pm

    This is awesome news! Even though I’ve moved to Los Angeles (to work for a Startup, no less), I’d be happy to help spread the word. If there is anything else I could do from a distance, I’d be happy to.

    I really wish I could attend in person, but for now, I’m there in spirit.

  3. George Nemeth Says:
    December 31st, 2008 at 2:56 pm

    @codeshaman you’ll always be a CLE blogger to me, no matter where you live.

  4. John Ettorre Says:
    January 1st, 2009 at 9:00 am

    I have to say that I came away wholly underwhelmed as I poked around their site and studied the various projects that resulted from this initiative in other cities. Many of the websites apparently no longer exist in any recognizable form that was consistent with the description, and I can’t offhand think of even one of the initiatives that had a website that seemed to suggest it had achieved much traction. It’s possible I didn’t spend enough time looking at it, so I’ll make a point of setting aside a dedicated half hour this weekend to give it a second chance. Meanwhile, I’d be interested in anyone else’s take on that.

  5. Andrew Kavanaugh Says:
    January 1st, 2009 at 2:01 pm

    Hi John,

    The weekend is about more than just the traction received by the businesses created – it’s about building a community that supports the entrepreneurial spirit. I would also hope that many of the businesses have evolved from their original intention & description – they must evolve. Paypal, for instance, started off as a system to transfer money between Palm Pilots and evolved into what it is today, and took a while to get there; so I wouldn’t dismiss the businesses that were created and still trying to find their niche.

    The businesses that get created during the weekend require continuous effort to evolve, grow and maintain after the weekend is over; the contacts, support and open communication that spawns from the weekend is meant to make that process easier.

    I hope you come out to the Cleveland event and give this a shot, look forward to seeing you there,

    -Andrew Kavanaugh

  6. John Ettorre Says:
    January 1st, 2009 at 3:37 pm

    Good answer, Andrew. I’m down with all that. Happy new year to you.

  7. Carla Rautenberg Says:
    January 2nd, 2009 at 5:32 pm

    Start-up Weekend folks: Check out the George’s “Wishes for Cleveland” entry on BFD December 24, and the 35 ensuing comments. Just a thought. Happy new year everyone.