Coming Around Again

By Mike / On / In Appsterdam

Maybe I’m getting old, but it seems the time has been flying by. It’s hard to believe it’s been over a year since we moved to this city, a year since we launched Appsterdam, a year since Sofa was acquired by Facebook.

It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since the last StartupWeekend Amsterdam, but we just had another one. That means, as hard as it is to believe, another iOSDevCamp is right around the corner.

At StartupWeekend, the focus is on building teams, with the ultimate victory being the fantasy of quitting your job and launching a startup.

At iOSDevCamp, the focus is more on clever projects, impressive demos, and amazing hacks. You get bonus points for depositing your code in the open source bin on your way out as you head back to work on Monday.

The other big difference is that, while both events are worldwide, iOSDevCamp happens simultaneously. That means demos from Amsterdam are competing with cities all over the world. There is some serious pride on the line. Somewhere on the timeline of building the tech scene here, one of our apps is going to have to win.

I’ve been involved with iOSDevCamp since way back in my Valley days. These guys are friends of mine. Dom Sagolla was with me the first time I came to Amsterdam. He thinks the founding of Appsterdam was a personal favor to him, and he’d love to see Amsterdam take the gold. I’d love to see Amsterdam take the gold. We all would.

So pack up your skills, gather your best ideas, update your copy of Xcode, and come on down to Appsterdam Centraal at BounceSpace for a weekend of kicking ass and making apps. Forget Sparta. This is Appsterdam.