{"id":230,"date":"2011-03-29T19:23:23","date_gmt":"2011-03-29T11:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gergely.imreh.net\/blog\/?p=230"},"modified":"2016-04-28T10:43:51","modified_gmt":"2016-04-28T02:43:51","slug":"hopped-on-a-bus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gergely.imreh.net\/blog\/2011\/03\/hopped-on-a-bus\/","title":{"rendered":"Hopped on a bus"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been about two weeks since I came back from the adventure that is called the\u00a0StartupBus<\/a>. Things just start to sink in, soon the glare will fade and see what remains of the total awesomeness that is the Bus. I think a lot will stick with me, it was just way beyond what I could have imagined and I can already feel the changes the trip & the people made to me. The best possible changes, to say. :)<\/p>\n

So, the StartupBus in a nutshell: 6 buses from all around the US set off a journey, with about 30 “buspreneurs” on board each, who ideally don’t know each other or haven’t worked together before. First, whoever has some business\/product ideas, can pitch to the others. Groups are formed and everybody starts to make their idea into reality – and have to do that frantically, since there’s only about 48 hours before the buses arrive to their destination. Sounds like fun? If it doesn’t, you should just give it a try :)<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Palm Springs morning before heading out.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I had no idea what to expect and when I heard the pitches that Tuesday morning, rolling out of San Francisco on the highway, I was thinking to myself: what do I do here? What can I contribute? There are just so many amazing developers, setting the bar. But I could choose a project in the end, something that was close to my heart since I do love to travel: Fly By Miles<\/a> (the site went back to pre-launch mode for a bit, but that’s where it will be ;) – a site that wants people to use their frequent flyer miles well and easily. Our team had 8 members altogether: 5 developers (with yours truly), 2 designers and a business strategist. Of course these are lines drawn in the sand, everyone chipped in a bit in each role.<\/p>\n

I have to say, thos ~3 days are close to a blur now. Should have continued writing my journal but there was just no chance for that. We were mostly hopping from co-working spaces to hotels and back, all through California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. I should know where, I wrote the Android app that told the map<\/a> where we all are. There were some very nice places, interesting scenery that I haven’t seen much of. There were\u00a0challenges\u00a0like walking up to people in Santa Monica and getting feedback on our project – and taking a video of it (before this I’ve never thought I could do that. But got our 3 recorded videos and a few people’s thoughts off-the-record). There was always something to do and I enjoyed being left to my own devices and coming back with a solution. Not the best solution usually, so there were usually more than one iterations for solving each of the problems I tried to tackle, but at least there was a good modus operandi: give Greg a task, some time, maybe a couple of Red Bulls and he’ll come back with something.<\/p>\n

By the way, Red Bulls: don’t let them anywhere near me for the time being. Lost count at 7, but the shakes stayed for a couple days after I stopped so it must have been more than that. Haven’t had it since high school (which has been a while) and under this hackathon circumstances they are very addictive…<\/p>\n

\"Startup<\/a>
Life on the bus: laptops, getting contacts on phone, powernaps… Intense and awesome.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Well, after a few hotels and sleepless\/frantic nights, we arrived to Austin. Finished up a proof-of-concept, working prototype and got some sleep. The next days were about taking Austin in, with Ignite<\/a>, with SxSW<\/a>, flashmob<\/a>, friends, places, food… There was some programming as well, since Fly By Miles got into the semifinals, then into the finals, held in the Hilton. It was great, I really enjoyed it, an albeit we didn’t win, there was a lot to take home. Also, since that was my last night in Austin, I haven’t actually slept (again) and it was surreal to leave the place at 5am. Missed our CNN interview, but well, if we do it right, there will be more than enough to make up for that. ;)<\/p>\n

What do I think I learned:<\/p>\n