And so it began.  The NEPA StartUp Scramble is a no-holds barred, balls to the wall, action packed startup event that brings together some of Wilkes-Barre & Scranton, Pennsylvania’s foremost experts in various subject matter with up-and-coming entrepreneurial startup hopefuls.  The goal of the event is simple.  Start “something” within 54 hours.  So you want to know how it went?

In the weeks leading up to the event I became more and more excited and nervous.  In my lifetime of living in the great NEPA area I have never been surrounded by so many well-known entrepreneurial experts in one place.  Compound the fact that I am scheduled to give a presentation on leveraging social media for brand building (one of the most useful and important topics at the event if you ask me) while experts and entrepreneurial hopefuls watch on can be a tad unnerving.

My close, personal friend Kris Jones delivered the keynote.  Kris wasn’t able to stay too long after giving his keynote because he had to head out for vay-kay with the fam. However, prior to Kris delivering his keynote I first had to find a way to make it to the Scramble.

Due to my excitement of attending the Scramble I left the office rather early for the 5:30 PM social pre-game.  I decided to check out the local SteamTown Mall.  Now, I have hit numerous curbs in my life with my car.  But when pulling up to the Mall this was one curb that seemed to have “hit back”.  Thank the Lord for Molesky’s Service Station and my close entrepreneurial buddy, Scott Carey from Breaker Boy Drums. Molesky’s was there within minutes and Scott came to pick me up so I wouldn’t have to role on the spare tire.  ”Riden on rims, bitches!”

Scott and I arrived to the Scramble and we were both greeted by Young Impact’s Chief Impact Officer, founder and organizer of the StartUp Scramble, Stephen Douglas.  Stephen is an incredibly driven individual who understands the important of disrupting the status quo to ensure that bureaucratic bull shit doesn’t continue to stifle the entrepreneurial drive as it has to NEPA’s finest over the last decade.  The entrepreneurial community of Wilkes-Barre & Scranton need more people like Stephen.  Not only was I greeted by Stephen but my good friend Karla Porter, The HR Guru of NEPA and Social Medialite extraordinaire.  It’s always great to spend time with Karla.  It’s not often when you find real like-minded people who say the same exact thing you were thinking and when Karla and I get together much knowledge is flying through the air.

Stephen introduced Scott and myself to local business attorney and tech lover, Brian Petula.  Brian brings mad amounts of tech startup love mixed with business law along with a whole gamut of experience from his endeavors to the Scramble.  Dude just “knows shit”.

After getting settled in, Kris arrived.  The attendees of the event were provided with an incredible gift of Kris’s updated edition of his best selling book, SEO: Visual Blueprint. I’ve been trying to connive KJ for a hand out since I found out he was updating the book.  I’ll be doing an UNBIASED review of the 2nd edition in the next few weeks.  Prior to Kris and I becoming good friends I read the 1st edition of his book and chose the book as my company’s bible for SEO/SEM.  Now all I need to do is figure out how to get Kris to use a screenshot of my website in the 3rd edition.  I’ll keep you posted

So I finally arrived to the event, got settled in and began networking with other experts and professionals in the entrepreneurial community.  On top of that, I was able to grab my copy of Kris Jones’ updated book, SEO: Visual Blueprint.  So how did the first night end up going?  I’ll be posting my take on the Scramble over the course of 3 days.  Next, I’ll be writing about Kris’ keynote, initial pitching of ideas and the controlled chaos that ensued!