Blitzweekend is scheduled this spring (March 1st and 2nd) in Montreal, Canada. We expect it to be a very exciting and innovative event. Developers, designers and entrepreneurs are invited, in the spirit of StartupWeekend and rails rumble, to team up and build a product in just 48 hours.

Why should you be there?

1. For innovation

We will have geeks, gurus and entrepreneurs eager to work on latest technologies and try to come up with new software, algorithm, and designs of their own. Cool? You bet!

2. For the challenge

Do you have what it takes to design, build and deploy in 48 hours? Can you quickly solve technical problems? What about team dynamics? This is most certainly not an easy feat, and you will need to deliver your best and bring your best tricks. Excited yet?

3. For the experts

Each team will have “joker cards”, allowing them to call an expert in technology, design, marketing, business plan, finance, interface design etc. Do you feel that the challenges are overwhelming? Just raise the joker card, and you’ll get expert advice, allowing you to go forward in no time.

4. It’s an unconference

We won’t select attendees. We won’t ask for your resumes, your past experience or diplomas. Instead, we view each attendee as a co-organizer, bringing his or her own experience and skills and making blitzweekend the best event ever. Did we mention it’s free?

5. To learn

Blitzweekend will be an ideal opportunity to try out technologies and frameworks you never had time to try out previously. We will also be planning keynotes during the event, given by select experts and professionals.

6. To connect

Needless to say you will work, meet, and mingle with the most talented people in design, programming and in business. This, in itself, is worth the trip. If you are looking for co-founders, for a project or if you are hiring gurus for your startup, this is most certainly the event to be at!

7. Launch pad for you startup

The most promising teams who want to take their project to the next level and start a company will have access to resources such as venture capitalists, angel investors and business consultants. Got a good idea? Prove it!

8. Because it’s the future

Do you think people can’t build something in 48 hours? We don’t think so. Think rapid development frameworks like Ruby on Rails, Django, Merb and so on. Leaders like Facebook, Netvibes, Apple or Google released APIs that allow third-party developers to quickly develop an application on their platform. We think that it’s just the beginning, and we will see in the near future extremely rapid and agile tools allowing developers to launch applications in just a few days, if not hours. Come explore this world with us!

9. For the freedom

We will provide facilities, rooms, wireless access and food during the event. There are no rules on the projects themselves, apart that they should be in technology and they should be innovative. You can choose to either experiment or make stuff. If you want, you can write a business plan and create your own startup! It’s your choice!

10. For the fun

Yes, fun is they keyword here. If you go through the official website, you will see that it’s designed to be a game where teams compete to make something in a pre-determined amount of time. Attendees will get to vote on the most promising project at the end. We will even have a fun prize for the winning team.

So if you are in Montreal or planning to visit the city on March 1st and 2nd, then blitzweekend is a must attend event. For those of you who are interested, you can register on www.blitzweekend.com (it’s a wiki, so you can simply add your name)

Graham Hill started the night with his lessons top 9. I was too busy listening that I forgot to take good notes but basically, what I remember (and I guess they are the most important ones) is that regardless of what people will tell you, it’s the market who will decide whether your idea is great or not. So forget about focus groups and such. I don’t agree 100% about this but I’d say he’s 80% right. If everyone says your idea sucks before it’s even out there, it probably does (the converse would not be true however). Then it was about network, network, network (as in the computer is the network). I guess we already knew that, but perhaps VC’s didn’t know so that’s a great reminder for them. The future is obviously “online” and things like Gmail, Google Docs, SlideShare and so on are the early pioneers of something bigger. The last thing I remember is that you never sell a company; you’re bought by someone else. You never want to sell as this like saying to others that you failed. I never really thought of it that way but it makes sense. If you’re successful then people will come see you. And who wants to sell something successful anyways? No one. So if you’re selling, then it seems like there’s a problem underneath.

After Graham’s Top-9 list, 5 companies presented and had to answer questions from the audience. Some questions were very tough in my opinion but most managed to get answered. Being a CEO means you must know everything about your company and your competitors too! While I won’t go through each presentation, I must say that I was impressed with the quality of the offerings/products/services. Here are some thoughts in no particular order.

I only knew about Tungle and unless you’re a professional, you won’t really understand the value behind the product. I get frustrated almost every day when I try to setup meetings between different vendors and partners that are not on our Exchange server. This is very neat and I hope Microsoft buys them and integrates that stuff into Outlook.

Then I was surprised to hear that iGotcha was actually from Montreal. I’ve seen some news coverage about them but I’ve never seen anything in real life. Perhaps their pilot in the subway was just for a few days. I take the subway everyday and haven’t seen any of their stuff. Oh well. Even if some members of the audience hesitated, I think this technology rocks and I do see completely computerised windows in the near future (instead of mannequins – or even worse, half clothed mannequins). However one word of warning. I’ve seen this technology in Japan roughly 8 years ago at the Shibuya crossing (it was not a touch screen tough but it was covering multiple stories) so I would be surprised if they didn’t have this by now.

Regarding Cozimo, as I don’t face this pain, I don’t really understand how different they are from vendors like Citrix who already offer many similar products (GotoAssist and GotoMeeting). Then again since I don’t have collaborative problems at work, I can’t really say if the market is really $2.5B. I think it’s a bit high and would be cautious about those numbers.

My expectations were very high regarding YourTeleDoctor. I know the team very well and I do believe in them as they are backed by a very good and trustable advisors. Unfortunately, their presentation probably caused confusion in the room (as someone actually told them). The good news is that they have a beta coming soon and 30 or so patients will test the system. While their presentation wasn’t perfect, I give them points for their idea and I know it will succeed. This is a pain that I have (as a father of 2 daughters) and would definitively use this. They are focusing on an interesting market, especially in the paediatrician area as most first time parents often panic when their baby has a simple issue. Instead of heading to the emergency and waiting for hours, they could get an online check up.

Finally, Albert Lai had a very interesting presentation about his failures. I think that a successful entrepreneur must realise that failures (and I put an S) are simply part of the normal path to victory. And even when you had a victory (like Albert) you can still fail miserably after (roughly 12 times to be exact). Part pessimist, mostly optimist, his speech was very interesting and reminded me of Sylvain Carle’s latest presentation. So what are you waiting for? Go work on your startup now!

Update: Sylvain Carle has a post on the event as well

I will keep you updated right after the event. Keep reading for more details!

1 – Cozimo
2 – Tungle
3 – Streametrics
4 – iGotcha Media
5 – YourTeleDoctor

Selected companies will each give a 10 minute presentation, then they will receive 5 to 10 minutes of feedback and questions from the audience.

There are still “paying tickets” available (service providers @ 200$ and sponsors @ 1000$) so if you want to participate as a service provider or as a sponsor, please do not hesitate as there might be  startups looking for help (lawyers, accountants, consultant and so on).

Non presenting startups will still have the chance to present their company informally so please join us!

So far, companies who will participate are:

• Kryptiva
• Streametrics
• YourTeleDoctor
• MP3.net
• YulNews
• Praized Media
• Akoha
• TimmyOnTime
• Earideas
• CentPapiers
• See Your Hotel
• Cozimo
• SEO ROI Services
• Roll A Name
• Defensio

An updated list can be obtained directly on the site.

A Guru is an individual who may not have their own startup, but who have experience with startups and want to help by providing advice and guidance. This includes investors.

This is amazing and I believe it shows how important this event is to entrepreneurs. There are, however, many seats left for startups but hurry up!

I spoke with the Embrase folks whom are organizing the event along other very fine and interesting folks yesterday but Sebastien Provencher got the scoop out first.

This will be an exciting event where 5 lucky startups will be choosen and will be invited to “pitch” in front of an audience.

As most “startup” related events, this will take place at the SAT [map] on January 23rd, 2008 (6-10pm).

Think of it as a BarCamp for Entrepreneur. It will be very interesting and if you want to come, hurry up as seating is limited. You can register using EventBrite.

My startup, YulNews will participate and I hope to be chosen as one of the lucky ones but even if I’m not selected, I know this will be a great even to socialize and meet great people. Come on, come all!

As far as I know, there will be an elimination process so that only the 5 best companies will be allowed to “pitch” in front of the audience. Why only 5? Well this is to keep the event challenging and interesting for the audience. Remember, unlike geeks, business people are busy and want to go “to the point” :)

I believe the event will be recurrent so don’t despair if you are not selected as a nominee. Picking 5 startups by itself is a challenge. As mentioned by Heri, Embrase is going to sponsor the event. For those who don’t know Embrase, they offer a concept that I think is similar to the Y-combinator (by Paul Graham) called the “Green house”.

Even if you are not nominated, please do not hesitate to join the event!