Self Debugging

WeekendApps is a new experiment in entrepreneurship that 4 friends and I are organizing on February 22-24. It can be described as a weekend incubator, the mission of which is to launch as many startups in a short period of time as possible. We’re targeting Facebook applications because they’re easy to build and launch in one weekend and they have great potential. We’ll have Chris Field from Orrick on site to help with legal aspects and incorporation, an impressive list of speakers, a core team of designers and marketing experts, and we’re giving out $2000+ worth of software for the lucky winners, courtesy of Adobe Developer Connection. All this, you get for free if you sign up before 2/18. And, we’re also planning an ad-exchange program among applications to give everyone a free way to promote their apps.

The plan is simple: Start on Friday, release on Saturday, and go viral on Sunday.

Presentations:

• Facebook Platform and Applications, by Dave Morin from Facebook.
• Incorporating your startup, and other legal details, by Chris field from Orrick.
• Going from Zero to 1 Million Page Views in One Month, by Siqi Chen (App: Friends for Sale).
• How I reached 5M installs, Nicolas Kokkalis (App: Who’s your perfect match)
• Promoting and Monetizing Facebook Apps, by KW Low (App: My Heros Abilities).
• Flex on Facebook: Flex Apps on FB Platform, by Alex Notov, founder Shockapps, and editor at Startupism.

Panels:

• Micropayments in Facebook: as a revenue source and to simplify personal transactions.

Gifts and Giveaways

• One copy of Adobe Creative Suite bundle to the lucky winner from the Designer s Team. Your choice of Web Premium, Design Premium or Production Premium (retail price $999).
• 2 Copies of Adobe Flex Builder 3 Pro (retail $699 when it launches) to the lucky winners. Gifts from Adobe.
• Free dinner, courtesy of our sponsors.

So, why WeekendApps?

Back in November, I attended an event that really highlighted for me what Silicon Valley is all about. Especially for someone who’s new to the bay area. That event was Startup Weekend, a weekend-long gathering of entrepreneurs, developers, graphics designers, …etc. to start and launch a startup in one weekend. We released a product, got TechCrunced, and most importantly, it was a great way to make new friends, experience the most intense team work environment ever, and simply have a lot of fun.

Then, there was a class at Stanford in which students built and released Facebook applications that reached over 15 million users. I attended their showcase and was blown away by the level of success they achieved in such a short time.

So I got together with friends that I met at Startup Weekend and we decided to create something new that takes the best of both worlds. And that’s how WeekendApps was born. If you’re an entrepreneurs, I encourage you to check it out. I promise, you’ll be glad you did. And, remember, the free ticket are available until 2/18 only.

Our event page on Facebook here, and you can get tickets here.