Boston Startup Weekend gets underway Friday night in Cambridge.
Startup Weekend Boston was a great reminder of . . .
- the ability of interested individuals to self-organize
- the way in which small groups of creative individuals can rapidly iterate, going from idea to fleshed-out concept in short order
- the passion and commitment that fuels people to work late into Saturday night and then be up and at it at 9 a.m. (or earlier) on Sunday morning
Few people better illustrate the opportunity that is Startup Weekend and the drive and creativity of the participants than Ray Crandall, a 21 year old developer who took the train in from the Berkshires for this weekend event. During his trip, he designed a personal business card and when he arrived had them printed. A short while later he was meeting people and handing out his cards as Startup Weekend got underway Friday night in Cambridge.
When I met him that evening he explained that, where he lives, there really isn’t much interest in doing start-ups, and that he hopes to move to Boston or Cambridge some day to be part of the start-up scene.
Fast forward to Sunday night and the presentations and judging: There he is—with three different groups. Turns out he pitched in not just in one team but three.
And after the presentations he told me that he was offered a lot of contract work from the leader of one of his teams, and as a result, he was going to quit his job and move to Boston now. is moving to Boston in January and supporting his current employer’s site remotely as he dives into the local Boston/Cambridge start-up scene.
Perhaps I should have seen it coming. After all, his business card included this: “Sounds difficult. Let’s try it.”
Words to live by.
