The local tech community held a milestone event today. TechCentralSF and Craig Newmark invited local military veterans to take part in the first ever San Francisco Startup Veteran's Weekend / Hackathon. It's telling that TechCentralSF had to specify that this was intended for military veterans, because professional techies and entrepreneurs often refer to themselves as "startup veterans" with no reference to the original meaning of "veteran."
I absolutely had to take part in this event. I even pitched an idea on the first day but I couldn't convince a critical mass of programmers to get excited about coding it. I'm going to keep it close to the vest until I've refined it some more. I did spend some time talking to other teams about their ideas. The one team I really liked was launching The Peace Academy. Their concept is to run an art auction both physically and online but enable it with a quantum tunneling processor that directly channels human consciousness. This concept is pretty far out and it will take a while for most people to catch on. Stay tuned for more details as I get a better understanding of how they plan to execute.
These kinds of events should be a regular part of the local tech scene. Separating military veterans have plenty of skill but little opportunity to use it because of a wide gulf between the veterans community and the business community. Veterans are easily trainable and work long hours with little regard for personal reward. Those traits make them ideal employees for tech startups. Word of veterans' abilities will soon spread with a few more hackathons.
I was slightly disappointed that Hermione Way did not appear as scheduled. She is a babe and you can see for yourself by searching for her online. I was hoping she would appear garbed in her famous microphone outfit (you'll see what I mean) but it was not meant to be. Maybe she'll show up at the next veteran's hackathon. That's reason enough for me to return.
I absolutely had to take part in this event. I even pitched an idea on the first day but I couldn't convince a critical mass of programmers to get excited about coding it. I'm going to keep it close to the vest until I've refined it some more. I did spend some time talking to other teams about their ideas. The one team I really liked was launching The Peace Academy. Their concept is to run an art auction both physically and online but enable it with a quantum tunneling processor that directly channels human consciousness. This concept is pretty far out and it will take a while for most people to catch on. Stay tuned for more details as I get a better understanding of how they plan to execute.
These kinds of events should be a regular part of the local tech scene. Separating military veterans have plenty of skill but little opportunity to use it because of a wide gulf between the veterans community and the business community. Veterans are easily trainable and work long hours with little regard for personal reward. Those traits make them ideal employees for tech startups. Word of veterans' abilities will soon spread with a few more hackathons.
I was slightly disappointed that Hermione Way did not appear as scheduled. She is a babe and you can see for yourself by searching for her online. I was hoping she would appear garbed in her famous microphone outfit (you'll see what I mean) but it was not meant to be. Maybe she'll show up at the next veteran's hackathon. That's reason enough for me to return.
