Last year I had the good fortune of being accepted into a group of miscreants known as buspreneurs, that is to say I was selected to join 29 other people to travel on the New York StartupBus. The premise is simple: build a startup in 3 days on a bus heading to Texas. Why would anyone want to do this? Because it’s awesome, that’s why.

The application

I can’t remember what it was that drew me to the site, but once I saw it I had to submit my application. While I filled it out I was incredibly nervous and second guessing myself. “Is it too late? Am I good enough? How am I going to manage this?” If you’re wondering these things too, apply for the bus. The worst that could happen is you don’t get in, but plan for the best and it might happen.

The interview

I made it! …to the interview phase. More butterflies, more nerves, and more second guessing but that was ok. My conductor made me feel at ease when he told me that I was in. He warned me that I might have to step out of my comfort zone and code a bit more on the back-end. This didn’t matter to me, I was in.

The lead-up

The application and interview process happened pretty quickly. I sent my stuff in and within a week I had been accepted and given my marching orders. Now I just needed to figure out how the hell this was all going to work. With a job, a daughter, a girlfriend, a life, I wondered how I would balance everything. Did I mention that this was my first foray into any kind of hackathon or startup competition? I was worried.

The calm before the road trip

My worries soon melted away. My boss was all about me having a great experience and maybe learning something new. My daughter’s mom and I sorted out the week I would be away. My girlfriend knew this was something I needed to do. My life? That was waiting for me on the bus.

The happy hour

I got to New York the day before we were supposed to leave and headed over to Twilio HQ for the meet-and-greet happy hour. This is where I met my conductor and a bunch of the other buspreneurs. All of the anxiety that I had was gone. I was here with other people who had the same thoughts as me. Who wanted to build awesome stuff, like me. I was pumped.