on the bus. Even though multiple start-up teams on the same
bus were, in fact, competing against each other, they would
also support each other. Caprio recalls a team with better
graphics support offering help to another team with a great
technical concept but zero graphics support. "That's exactly
the kind of thing we want to happen," he says, "because that's
community."
Mobile applications dominated the 2012 competition, but
the ultimate winner was more old school. A West Coast team
created Cerealize.com—an online business to custom order
your own personal breakfast cereal mix. Who wouldn't want
their own personal breakfast ƃakes? Only a week later, the
start-up was featured on ABC's The Chew. And Time.com did
a short video feature on the StartupBus competition.
Whether these start-ups attract seed investment and take
off Ƃnancially is, to some degree, out of scope, Caprio says.
"StartupBus is really not about creating companies or products. We are about accelerating people. We put them in the
crucible and temper them through these extreme conditions." What remains is a more conƂdent and invigorated
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