On the Road with the Startup Bus

Since early Tuesday morning, I’ve been on a bus heading East to Austin for the South By SouthWest Interactive conference. I’m on The Startup Bus, which has been receiving hype for the past few weeks on various tech rags.

For those of you catching up, the Startup Bus is an experiment in which twenty five tech industry whiz kids have been put on a bus for three days with the task of creating and launching six startups to be pitched to venture capitalists at sxsw. Today is day three. We arrive in Austin this evening.

So far, it has been an exciting experience representing GWOS in this project. The energy here is alive with creativity. Despite close quarters, spotty wifi and sleep deprivation, many of the projects are moving ahead with impressive speed.

When discussing my “real job” with my peers on the bus, I’ve been honored by some of the compliments I’ve received for GroundWork. With our mention in the Wall Street Journal this week, the placement in the Gartner Magic Quadrant, and our impressive increase in our customer base, GWOS is seeing the payoff that comes from hard work and that start-up spirit.

Like the startups being built on this bus, GroundWork was formed by a couple of guys with a great idea, whose best resources were creativity and hard work. Next month will be my fourth year working at GWOS and I’ve been present for many exciting milestones.

One of the startups on this bus will get venture backing. I suspect the others will not make it further than the weekend. The desire to try something that hasn’t been done, or in a way that hasn’t been done will continue to bring great ideas to fruition.

This is Amy Abascal, signing off for now from a bus about three hours East of El Paso, Texas.