We’ll meet tonight at Lafayettech HUB to review what happened over the weekend and to make plans for NEXT ROUND to spend the next three months for free at the hub, in a new office where they could grow their new business from.

Congratulations to the other winners: @StartupStack, @JobMensch, @TownTools, @Mikopome. New startups, new jobs, new additions to the local tech eco-system. Thanks to all attendees, speakers, mentors, judges, sponsors, partners, organizers!

Special thanks to Denver Hutt for providing the best support over the weekend, as the official Startup Weekend facilitator.

Check out event’s highlights: https://gimmebar.com/collection/4f35dfc72f0aaad86800005a/greater-lafayette-startup-weekend-2012

Watch what local Mayor Tony Roswarski had to say about Lafayettech HUB on Saturday: http://qik.com/video/48034477

Follow the #GLSW news: https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23glsw%20OR%20startuplaf%20OR%20lafayettech

Thank you all for a great weekend! We’ll follow up with special thanks and news soon.

Read more about the Startup Weekend in Greater Lafayette at http://greaterlafayette.startupweekend.org

First evening was awesome, today is amazing. Teams had formed up and are now brainstorming intensively to create new products to present in front of the judging panel tomorrow evening.

We are using a local Lafayette cool startup to share the news around #GLSW, we will continue to stack up snapshots and snippets on our Startup Weekend on Gimme Bar. Make sure you follow it, as well as also the live feed on Twitter.

Also watch Lafayette city mayor Tony Roswarski talking to the great group of entrepreneurs attending the local Startup Weekend at Lafayettech HUB: qik.com/video/48034477

Great vibe here, we’re all enjoying it!

Here are some final details for you:

• Doors open tonight at 5:30 PM. The location is Lafayettech HUB (580 N 36th St, Suite A, Lafayette, IN 47905), right behind Eastside 9 theater.
• Look for parking spots all around the building, and also behind the Eastside 9 theater. There should be plenty of space to park, feel free to tweet us @Lafayettech with questions.
• Pizza (Bruno’s) will arrive around 6:00 PM and we will kick things off officially at 6:30 PM.
• As soon as the first speakers are finished, we will jump right into pitches (roughly 7:30 PM or sooner). We will explain how the pitching process works, but here are some things to begin thinking about:
• Pitches are 60 seconds.
• You may have one or multiple chances to pitch, depending on how many people want to pitch tonight. So pitch your best idea first.
• No Powerpoints will be used – just your voice and body language.
• We will be closing the Hub’s doors at midnight on Friday and Saturday, but remember to rest up ahead of time! The weekend will fly by.
• If you purchased student tickets, please remember to bring your student ID.

If you have any questions, email us at greaterlafayette@startupweekend.org.

See you in a few hours!

Please look out for emails from us, across the weekend, we will keep you posted with the latest news and updates.

For a start, you may check out the proposed schedule of activities. You will also notice mentions about prizes for the winning teams (thanks to Amazon Web Services, Lafayettech HUB, Armstrong Law Offices and Milestone Advisors) and prizes for all participants, the lists of mentors, speakers and judges.

Thanks to the Startup Weekend global sponsors, there are a number of high-value resources available to help get your Startup Weekend business from concept to reality as soon as possible, take some time to check them out. Please check your email to find the flyers we sent out with discount codes.

The official hashtag on Twitter is: #GLSW

You may follow the news about the event on our media channels on facebook.com/StartupLaf, facebook.com/Lafayettech, twitter.com/StartupLaf, twitter.com/Lafayettech or meetup.com/Lafayettech.

If you have any questions, email greaterlafayette@startupweekend.org.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

PRIZES FOR THE WINNING STARTUPS:

• 3 months of FREE office space at Lafayettech HUB. Privacy and free knowledge for your growing startup.
• 4 hours of legal consultation, provided by Armstrong Law Offices.
• Free setup of QuickBooks, provided by Milestone Advisors
• Amazon Web Services - $200 credit to the 1st place team.

PRIZES FOR ALL PARTICIPANTS:

• A book for each participant: “How To Take A Company From Concept To Creation In 54 Hours“, by Marc Nager, Clint Nelsen, Franck Nouyrigat, co-directed by StartupWeekend.org.
• Twilio provides a web-service API for businesses to build scalable, reliable communication apps! The deal: $50 credit using code.
• Amazon Web Services - $50 credit per team + an additional $200 credit to the 1st place team.
• Microsoft BizSpark is a global program designed to help accelerate the success of early stage startups, providing software, support and visibility.
• CloudMine provides a better backend for your mobile apps. Spend time building your app, not building the server-side platform required to run it. The deal: $50 credit.
• OpenTok by TokBox allows developers to build live group video chat into their Webexperience using an extensive set of Javascript or AS3 libraries. How it can help: use it to seamlessly add video chat to your site or mobile AIR app. The deal: It’s free!
• O’Reilly Media - one free e-book of your choice.

TAKE-AWAYS:

• Meet your next team member.
• Collaborate with other local developers, designers, engineers.
• Learn new things from amazing mentors.
• Meet investors and angels.
• Hear great speakers talking about entrepreneurship topics.
• Showcase your talent(s).
• Time management, team management, business management.
• Learn what’s next to do to grow and market your startup.
• Be part of a magical weekend.
• ____________________________________.

RSVP at http://glsw2012.eventbrite.com.

Enjoy it, and good luck!

Special guest, Jan 16: Patrick Nycz (@pnycz)
Patrick will offer a thoughtful talk on a topic we’ve heard many local entrepreneurs expressing interest in learning more about: “10 Steps to Marketing a Startup v1.0: The Story of Potential” – the approach is related to both customers and investors. Patrick will also be a mentor at the upcoming Startup Weekend event.

Special guest Jan. 23: Christopher Beltran (@beltranchris) of Passageways. Chris plans to cover these topics and Q&A session: Leadership in Startups (Leading a group of people towards a vision in a small startup requires a different set of skills and a nontraditional approach to leadership than in larger companies. Join us and learn more about leading a company from day one.) and Pivot or Persevere (If there is one thing startups have to do right more often than not is to learn when to pivot. This is oftentimes one of the most challenging lessons learnt. Join us to find out about knowing when to change direction and making the hard decisions that come with those changes.)

Special guest Jan. 30: Michael Wilson of Pfizer. Michael’s topic make sense to any savvy entrepreneur: “11:11 {Even a broken clock is right twice a day}”.

Special guest Feb. 6: Xiyang Chen, amazing local software developer, participant at previous editions of the Startup Weekend in Indianapolis. He will share his thorough experience with kicking off neat tech startups.

Weekly chances to win free attendance to the SW event or a book: “How To Take A Company From Concept To Creation In 54 Hours”, by Marc Nager, Clint Nelsen, Franck Nouyrigat, co-directed by StartupWeekend.org. Check out the previous winners here.

Learn more on the hub’s group on Meetup: meetup.com/Lafayettech.

To give you a better idea of what Startup Weekend is all about, I thought it would be a good idea to share some videos from other events. Enjoy!

Startup Weekend Philadelphia

Startup Weekend Seattle

Thank you Michael Dick of ISPhotographic for the great professional pics, Nathan Pritts of Time Keepers Productions for the video interviews (will all be published soon on our media channels), and Lafayette PC, Julie and Jason Rubsam, for being so supportive and for believing in Lafayette’s contributions to emerging technologies.

For those of you who attended last night but haven’t signed up yet, please enter the provided discount code to get $10 off.

Please continue to follow the local Startup Weekend’s online channels to learn more about the event and hear the latest news:

• Twitter - @StartupLaf
• Facebook - facebook.com/StartupLaf
• Web/Mobile: greaterlafayette.startupweekend.org

Your suggestions are more than welcome, please write us at greaterlafayette@startupweekend.org with any advice or idea you may have for this event.

Thank you all!

Let’s get together for a quick chat about the upcoming Startup Weekend – before it will happen!

We welcome local developers, designers, engineers, technology students and enthusiasts, startup lawyers, entrepreneurs, investors and angels:

Register for the FREE pre-event: http://pre-glsw2011.eventbrite.com

Learn more and register for the actual event at:
http://greaterlafayette.startupweekend.org/tickets

That’s a question I’ve asked myself about coming to startup weekend. I think I have an answer. It might surprise you though. If you really have a million dollar idea, then don’t share it at Startup Weekend. But you only have a million dollar idea if someone has actually given you a million dollars for it because ideas are worthless. If you have the million dollars, then your VCs and partners probably won’t appreciate you breaking NDAs with all of us.

So just because your idea isn’t (yet) worth a million dollars there still five reasons to come share it with everyone at Startup Weekend.

1. Your mediocre idea + somebody else’s mediocre idea = Brillance!
2. Getting shot down at startup weekend might save you months of working alone in the wrong direction.
3. Getting your mom and best friend to help out with your startup idea is easy. Get a couple of strangers to spend 54 hours over their weekend tells you that you might just have something.
4. Your final business will look nothing like your initial idea. Get through the first iteration (or two!) as quickly as possible.
5. Leave the weekend with more than just an idea. Leave with a business. Now that’s worth something.