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Vote for Grand Rapids

joeDowntown

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joeDowntown Metropolis

joeDowntown

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One of my co-workers attended Startup Weekend a week ago and the idea sounds brilliant:

Startup Weekend recruits a highly motivated group of developers, business managers, startup enthusiasts, marketing gurus, graphic artists and more to a 54 hour event that builds communities, companies and projects.

The founders that attend a Startup Weekend decide what they want to tackle over the weekend and come out at the end with a developed company or project. Attendees are responsible for bringing the same desire and passion to the project and walk out of the room with the task at hand, in a short 54 hours. Sound intense? It is.

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Parhelion Whistle-Stop

Parhelion

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If anyone has connections to the Downtown Alliance, the GR convention organizers, The Right Place, or similar community-oriented groups, please pass this along! The highest vote total is still really, really low, so we could get a lot of votes if the city rallied.

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joeDowntown Metropolis

joeDowntown

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24 votes so far. Keep up the good work and keep voting! As we shed some of our manufacturing roots, we need both medical and technology based jobs. I've always said that the next big company is probably in somebody's head, or their garage. This is a perfect opportunity for GR to shine. This event is watched by large VC firms, tech companies and Tech Crunch (the defacto "IT" factor for web startups).

http://startupweekend.com/cityvote/

Joe

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joeDowntown Metropolis

joeDowntown

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I'm sure they track IP addresses, so I think it is a quality issue, not sheer quantity. I would encourage everyone to only vote once, but pass it on to people who think this would work in GR. 84 votes so far, keep them coming.

As one of my friends who is a great developer and not native to this area said to me, it would be much easier for him to raise $100,000 for a drill press than it would be to get people to invest $100,000 in a really good internet startup. Grand Rapids needs to change that sort of thinking.

Joe

No, there doesn't appear to be a limit. I voted for Austin 350 times today. (Yes, I have waaaaaaaaaaay too much time on my hands today.) If all the GR forumers started doing this you could pass Atlanta in no time. Just copy and paste an email address, hit enter and repeat!
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joeDowntown Metropolis

joeDowntown

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Keep it going people. 181 votes!

So here's the big question. If Startup Weekend were to come to Grand Rapids, do any of you have a big pitch to throw out there? The next killer app?

I've been thinking of various ways to improve communication and also getting access to (even more) data online. Basically ways of making the big mess of information mine (but not just simple RSS feeds, tweets, personalization tools).

Anyone else have any ideas brewing? I think there are a lot of areas that could follow the City Press or Kodak Easy Gallery model of on demand delivery of custom items. The possibilities of this new fangled Internet are endless. ;)

http://startupweekend.com/cityvote

Be sure to vote if you haven't (and are interested in this sort of thing). I still think 500 unique votes will beat out 10 people clicking 100 times. Make your vote count. :)

Joe

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joeDowntown Metropolis

joeDowntown

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We're gaining on Cincinatti with 249, but it's slowing down. I also see Detroit has a Facebook page for getting a Startup weekend. Add to our friendly East-West rivalry by throwing a vote in for GR. :)

http://startupweekend.com/cityvote

Joe

237 Grand Rapids

269 Cincinatti

Email'd my whole office so we'll see how many votes we get

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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I just hope some of these 249 voters step up to the plate when it comes time to host this shindig. I was reading about the Ann Arbor one:

http://startupweekend.com/ann-arbor-summary/

Not bad, nothing earth-shattering. I was thinking that with the talk of the possibility of peak-oil and skyrocketing oil prices over the next 10 - 20 years, has anyone put any thought into the billions of barrels of oil that have gone into and are to go into producing plastics that make up computer components, monitors, iPods, cell phones, etc..? Is there a company out there that not only refurbishes used electronics, but can repackage entire systems within the housings of old devices? I would imagine it would hit computer makers pretty hard if the cost of plastic quadrupled in a short period of time. Plus, with all the talk of going "Green", it seems counter-intuitive that the best and brightest in this country burn through electronic equipment so regularly, most of which goes right into landfills.

Another business idea was given to me by the fine folks at WZZM: With the entire country switching to digital signals in 2009, it will make hundreds of millions of analog TVs essentially obsolete. Even with the ability to use an analog-to-digital converter box, most Americans will pitch their old TVs for new digital models. We're talking hundreds of millions (3 or 4 on average per household) of TVs with tubes in them going to the landfills. What an environmental nightmare.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa52...07/ai_n21251187

Especially if landfills in Michigan start banning the leaded glass tubes. Necessity is the Mother of invention.

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