startup weekend redmond: day 1

i had the honor to participate as a technical advisor for the teams coming together at startup weekend redmond and hopefully contribute to a team leaving with $5000 to get their idea going. i met everything from developers and designers to marketing people and lawyers. the excitement really started when the teams had to pitch their startup idea in about 2 minutes and convince a room full of smart people that they wanted to be on their team. the ideas were all great and the final 15 ideas were voted on and team selection began. i was amazed when talking to the teams that most were all talking about the microsoft platform (i think windows azure was the hottest topic in my discussions) and the potential that it brought.

this went late into the night (at least for me since i flew in yesterday from chicago and my body was still on central time) and the teams continued to flesh out their ideas and prototype well into the wee hours of this morning.

today (day 2) is when these teams will come together and really start building out their ideas. make sure you are following the action on twitter at #swredmond.