There is No Finish Line, the Journey is the Reward

We are now a T+7 days after the phenomenal InOneWeekend event -- and without a doubt, the event exceeded everyone's expectations. The title for this post is from a poster I received when I was at Apple Computer in the late 80's -- and it clearly rings true for InOneWeekend. It did not end on Sunday and for 100 people, their journey continues, hopefully much richer and more interesting than before.

LifeSpoke.com will continue to form and evolve with the help of all IOW's. More importantly, there are 100 people who are more aware, more confident and more energized about how start-ups work. It is not rocket science -- it is elbow grease - physical and intellectual -- that creates companies. Now there are 100 people who are ready to try it out.

There are 100 people that have learned to fail fast (we did it many times over the weekend.) Here are three quotes that illustrate the core of InOneWeekend:

"I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward."
Thomas Edison

"Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must first be overcome."
Samuel Johnson

"The follies which a man regrets most, in his life, are those which he didn't commit when he had the opportunity"
Helen Rowland (1876 - 1950), A Guide to Men, 1922

One final note. This was an incredible team effort. It may seem that some contributed more than others and vice versa. But there was no scorecard about the number of ideas, who coded the most lines of code and who put in the most hours. Your presence at the event was valued! The measure of success lies in the future. Did LifeSpoke.com succeed? How many derivative ideas, companies, start-ups, efforts came out of this weekend. Is Cincinnati better than it was before July 11, 2008?

These questions do not necessarily need to be answered -- but for all of them, I believe the answer is very positive.

Good luck on your journey!