We had the very fortunate opportunity to participate as one of 20 groups looking for co-founder at FounderSoup's 2nd event ever. We were selected from a pool of 50 individuals, groups, and companies that applied for the highly coveted spots. FounderSoup has been sponsored by Andreessen Horowitz, and is run by successful entrepreneurs and talented students.
Each participant was given 90 seconds to make a pitch to the talented audience full of coders, engineers, business people, law students, and everyone in between, all looking to be a part of the next big thing. There was also a writer from TechCrunch in attendance, and we were featured in a post on their site.
We’ve been working hard to complete our proof of concept prototype and while we’re not there yet, we’ve made some exciting progress! Recently we went out to test the mechanical capabilities of the turbine. Drive tests are often used to test wind turbine concepts. How well the turbine performs while driving at a specific speed offers an indication of how well the turbine will perform at a similar wind speed. We were really happy with the results! Based on what we learned, we were able to verify some key functionalities of the design and perform some vital upgrades to the prototype. Check out the video of our drive test and don’t forget to contribute to our IndieGoGo campaign! Thanks for all your support so far!
You may have caught Joel Jean's blog post the other day, highlighting how refreshing it was to see an emerging product that isn't a website or app. We agree! We're even hoping that the cool, refreshing nature of this project extends into the energy sphere. Bring on the innovation!
Joel was kind enough to offer a few more words on the subject of energy, and more specifically how he sees wind playing a role in the field…
by: dean young & joel jean (Thu. 08/19/2011 01:15:00)
What is Crowdfunding and How Does It Give Us Power?
The crowd is an interesting thing. This summer I started working at a company that organizes and manages crowdsourced work. But hold on, let me go back a step and think about my first interaction with the crowd. If I had to point to one instance, I might incorrectly jump to the time when I applied to my summer internship. I hadn't given it much thought, and I would imagine most people might not give it a second thought either. However, I'm curious for a few reasons:
Services like crowdsourcing and crowdfunding still seem to be foreign concepts to many people despite the fact that the term "crowdsourcing" has been around since Jeff Howe first used the term in Wired's The Rise of Crowdsourcing in June of 2006;
Shouldn't people be more excited about playing a part in causes, especially since being a part of the "crowd" diffuses contributions more than other forms of participation (e.g. fundraising); and
Technology allows the "crowd" to connect faster and more seamlessly than ever before, so it should be a breeze.
For those that are new, welcome; for those that have been here before, welcome back! We’re starting our campaign on indiegogo.com today to raise money to complete and test our proof of concept prototype. Simply stated, we want to create an affordable renewable energy source that can compete with conventional power generation and we want to do so while remaining focused on elegance and functionality.
We know that what we’re proposing is ambitious but without goals like these, it's hard to imagine actually accomplishing something this big. We've already demonstrated several concepts that are integral to our success and our proof of concept is our chance to demonstrate that they can all work together as one product.
Aside from raising money, this campaign is also about you and your support. We're creating a product that’s different from what's out there and that’s going to require a different approach. We want your input and we want to keep you informed. We want you to see how much your suggestions, words of encouragement, and contributions are shaping the final product.
We'll continue to provide updates on our progress and tell you about major milestones. For updates, check the website, our Facebook page, and twitter feed. Thanks for joining us in redesigning our energy future!
D.C. Revolutions
