Episode 101: Startup Weekend Detroit, LawnGuru, Hacks Around the Web and More

Despite the fact that we were completely exhausted from the activities starting Thursday and running through the weekend, our broadcast of Episode 101 of our live weekly podcast with Startup Weekend Detroit and Lawn Guru came together nicely with some great conversations, some information about our upcoming events, what our guests have going on in the area and more…

20150720_202420As per usual, we started things off by talking the events of the past week that have caught our attention.  From our event this past Thursday at Blackfinn to our live broadcast from the Converge security conference that was a TON of fun and our first foray into recording live commentary for professional wrestling (long story…) on Saturday, and then of course we couldn’t resist talking about what a fail Amazon’s Prime Day event turned out to be, the Ashley Madison hack, cosplayers at San Diego Comic Con trying to charge people for taking pictures, the anniversary of the moon landing 46 years ago, why a 33 year old toy is causing some idiot parents to have heartburn, some whacky mayhem in Seattle with…odd things hanging from electric wires and more.

IMG_20150720_205829Segment two was all about Startup Weekend Detroit, a place where in 54 hours, thoughts are turned into teams that develop ideas and launch a product.  One of the coaches, Scott Kloustin, joined us in-studio to tell us (and you) all about it.  Startup Weekend attendees’ backgrounds are roughly 50% technical (developers, coders, designers) and 50% business (marketing, finance, law). What unites all attendees is a common interest in entrepreneurship: whether a serial entrepreneur or new to the startup scene, every attendee is interested in working with a like-minded, motivated and skilled team to develop a product or business in one weekend. It’s a really cool concept, and a great way to see if your idea has any merit to it, or to keep your skills sharp as a developer, or just to roll up your sleeves and dive in with others in the community.  Check them out at http://www.up.co/communities/usa/detroit/startup-weekend/4904

IMG_20150720_205755In our third segment, we chatted with a group of folks who have may just have something for you that’ll free up some time on weekends…particularly brutally hot weekends like this past one where you really don’t want to go outside but the grass needs mowing.  The guys from Lawn Guru have built an Uber-esque service for your lawn care and snow removal needs.  Download the app, see if any of their service providers are in your area, and if you make a request by 3pm, your lawn will be cut that day…weather permitting, of course, so don’t hit them up during a thunderstorm expecting that they’ll be there.  They’ve got a really cool concept going…and growing…so while they’re predominantly running on the west side at this time, they’re already talking with people and companies to expand their services further East.  Looking forward to having them in my neck of the woods.  Listen to how it all got started, and then check them out at http://lawnguru.co/

Segment four…well, remember how up above it got mentioned that we were exhausted?  Cards on table, it probably showed a bit during segment four.  As we recapped the night’s discussions and tackled a few new topics like Amy Schumer’s Star Wars based photo shoot…and Disney’s reaction to it…it was definitely time to wind down and head home for the night.

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As always, thanks again to our guests for joining us, and we’ll see you next week for episode 102 as we’re joined by TEKSystems and the former CSO for the state of Michigan.

Our guests from tonight’s episode can be found at:

Startup Weekend Detroit: http://www.up.co/communities/usa/detroit/startup-weekend/4904

Lawn Guru: http://lawnguru.co/

As always, we can be found:
On the web: http://www.ITinTheD.com
On Meetuphttp://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=91763

On Facebook: 
http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD 
On Twitter: 
http://www.twitter.com/ITintheD