Startup Weekend Atlanta

…may be hard to come by amongst a group of mostly strangers, but the beauty of Startup Weekend is that it happens.  Right before I left for the day last night, Lance said, “Come check this out.”  (He wouldn’t let me bring my computer, so I’m doing this from memory, but the impression is more important than what actually happened.)

Finally a bunch of people had hit a groove — they were rolling.  Someone was drawing things on the whiteboard.  A team of three was taking pieces of it and coding it in real time.  Problems were getting solved instantaneously.  Leaders had emerged, because they had figured out exactly how to communicate to one another to get the job done.

Similarly, among the PR/marketing team,  a massive to-do list was under consideration.  People stepped up and grabbed their assignments.  What looked like an impossibly long list transformed into a plan.

Sometimes the structure of the weekend makes it hard for that to happen.  Sometimes the personalities in the room make it hard for that to happen.  But with time and perseverance among those who stay (and sometimes it takes people going home, whether for the evening or because they’ve dropped out) the synergy always seems to eventually happen.  And it’s a beautiful thing when it does.