The sceneYAMU really began at the Colombo Hackathon two years ago. We’re proud to host the CMB Hack this year, starting this Friday at 5:30 PM, continuing 24 hours till something awesome happens. You can register here, on MeetUp.
That’s the press version. Here’s something true.
For some reason no one thought of organizing this annual thing since last week and me and Lahiru of Takas have somewhat foolishly decided to front it and convince you to come. What we can offer is our time, some advice, and hopefully some advice from some smarter people than us. The winners also automatically get into Venture Engine, where you actually get money to start a business.
Let me tell you a story about that. Two years ago YAMU (a cab app at the time) won CMB Hack. It felt awesome. Then we were promptly rejected at Venture Engine and had to start over, eventually emerged as the self/family funded review site you know and hopefully love.
What we’re grateful to CMB Hack for is not the money, which we didn’t get, but the opportunity to get out there and talk about ideas. It forced us to stop imagining and hoarding ideas in private and actually get out there and make them happen. This meant risking people ‘stealing’ ideas or hating them, but it was that first step that got YAMU started as a public business. Hopefully this CMB Hack can be the start of yours.
Register! And show up also.
This years Hackathon starts at 5:30 PM on Friday May 30th. You can come with a team or form one there. People work through the night getting ready for a presentation the next day. The winners get some prizes, are automatically qualified for Venture Engine, and – most importantly – get started.
