Montreal Tech Watch

First, a little history:

The idea of organizing Blitzweekend was first thought about in early august last year. I have come to democamps and barcamps and I found them fantastic, and eye-opening on what can be done in Montreal. There is some little bit of magic on having developers, bloggers, coders, designers and entrepreneurs interact in an open setting and see what others are up to. It gives you invaluable feedback, you get to connect to talented people, and above all else, you get genuine interactions.

Now, what if we push the model further, and actually invite attendees to actually make and build during the event? Back then, StartupWeekends were making headlines, and initiatives like TechStars, ycombinator with their startup school as well. And so was born Blitzweekend.

I got quickly feedback on blitzweekend, and we have now Denis Canuel, Mehdi Akiki, Raymond Luk and David Massé working together to make this happen.

We have a date for blitzweekend, Friday 29th Fedb, and the weekend of March 1st and 2nd, and also have a great space to hold the event.

There is something candid, stupid, or call it craziness, in holding an event the like of blitzweekend in Montreal. This is the kind of event you only hear about coming from Northern California. Here in Québec, activity is an order of magnitude far less than what’s seen in the Valley or in Boston, and most days, people don’t have a f***ing clue what you are talking about when you mention Ruby on Rails or words like technology entrepreneurship. And it looks a loosing bet to think of gathering in Montreal 100+ talented developers, designers and entrepreneurs and challenging them to make a working product in just 48 hours.

But I am taking the bet. Yes, it’s crazy, but I also see something grandiose in holding blitzweekend in Montreal. And today, I am calling you to help us making Blitzweekend happen. One, you can blog about it. You could also tell directly your friends about. We have a website, and we also have a blog. Two, you can also register if you are interested. Even if you consider yourself just a potential attendee, please register.

I am reflecting today about the work we have done in Montreal for the past year, and I know we can’t make it alone further without your help. If you can do something, thanks in advance.

Now, to finish, there is only so much we can say, write or do. I know people who are not sure yet about the event’s format, and I am gathering feedback today. So here it is: my email is heri@madmedia.ca — feel free to contact me.

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