A Decade of Entrepreneurial Odysseys
Introducing the leadership behind the 10th Annual StartupBus
Holy snap!
Have you seen the #10yearchallenge that’s been all the rage on social media? Right on cue, StartupBus — the “mother of all hackathons”— is also entering its 10th year as the most extraordinary entrepreneurial rite of passage in the world!
Ten years, seriously. Let that sink in. This is going to be our 10th friggin’ year.
In the spirit of the new year, let’s look back on our accomplishments so far and the challenges that lay ahead!
2010: The People Accelerator
The legend, so it goes, began in February 2010. Our founder Elias Bizannes handpicked 25 individuals to embark on the first-ever StartupBus going from San Francisco to Austin, TX. The high-tech modern twist of Odysseus was an instant hit: Strangers quickly turned into friends. Teams evolved into the founders of successful startups.
Since then, beyond keeping the excitement of our rambunctious road trip alive, we’ve also matured in numerous ways. We’ve proudly stayed ahead of the curve in terms of inclusivity, civic engagement, cutting-edge technologies, and social impact. And thanks to the support of our growing community of alumni, sponsors, and partners, we’ve become one of the most cherished and documented startup competitions — see TechCrunch, Gimlet Media, WIRED, and more.
2018: Bridging the Digital Divide
StartupBus North America 2018, held last May in New Orleans, marked a number of firsts:
- 🔗 Women+TGNC in Blockchain Bus: We made her-storical strides with distributed ledger technology, the most revolutionary technological innovation since the internet, courtesy of IBM! Check out this short documentary on NBC News and these articles from Buzzfeed and Forbes.
- 👩🏽💻 Nationwide Diversity Fellowship Program: With the generous support of our donors and community partners, 34 developers, designers, and influencers from backgrounds underrepresented in tech were awarded scholarships to participate, developing their entrepreneurial skills and network.
- 🌎 Reaching further: New bus routes were formed from Detroit, MI, and Dallas, TX, providing access to our entrepreneurial boot camp to over 10 regions across the country.
- ⚖ Changing the ratio: More than 40% of our organizing committee and riders were women and gender non-binary folks, setting us apart from major tech conferences and events.
2019: Democratizing the (Tech) Playing Field
This year, we will leverage StartupBus to spur economic development in under-resourced communities by connecting budding talents with technologists, investors, and community leaders across the country — literally, on a bus!
By helping these individuals establish genuine relationships with powerful people, we aim to help them advance not only in tech careers, but also entrepreneurship and leadership.
We are pleased to announce two national directors who will lead us in taking StartupBus to the next level: Madelena Mak, director of our previous competition, who will resume her role as senior director; and Colleen Wong, lead conductor of last year’s Women+TGNC in Blockchain Bus.
Together, StartupBus can bridge the digital divide across geographical, socioeconomic, gender, and racial disparities.
Get Involved
Keeping a fire alive for a decade is no easy task.
We need your help to make our 10th year our best year yet — and hopefully not our last!
- 🎟 Ride StartupBus! We’ll notify you when we’re ready.
- 👩✈️ Join us and become a legendary StartupBus conductor
- 💰 Sponsor a Bus
- 🤝 Contribute to our Diversity Fellowship Program
- 👨🏻🏫 Partner with us as a mentor and champion
- 🚏 Host a stop in your community
- 🐤 Share our story by publishing a tweet, article, podcast, or documentary
- ➕ Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Medium, Youtube, and Facebook!
See you on the Bus!
Cheers,
Madelena + Colleen
StartupBus
