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"Last year, six fledgling startups were unleashed on the world after a three-day road trip to Austin on a WiFi and power-equipped bus during the StartupBus's maiden voyage. For round two, StartupBus founder Elias Bizannes has turned the hackathon-meets-accelerator bus ride into a massive six-city competition.\nOut of more than one thousand applicants from six cities \u2014 Cleveland, San Francisco, Chicago, Silicon Valley, New York City and Miami \u2014 150 were chosen to take the three-day ride on six buses, one departing from each city, to SXSW. Their mission: to form teams and build and launch a startup before reaching Austin.\nThe six different busses carried 38 teams that successfully completed the challenge. Now just 15 semi-finalist teams remain. Some will be chosen to compete as finalists in front of panel of judges during the grand finale on Monday.\n\"StartupBus is a resource to help future entrepreneurs,\" explains Bizannes, who also believes the six-city effort will help raise the profile of less recognized technology hubs in the United States. \nThe short time frame, self-organized teams and space constraints give rise to stronger teams and more effective products, he says.\n\n\n\n\nBizannes believes that at least four of the applicants will grow into legitimate startups. Several teams have already been in talks with investors, and one has even been offered $10,000 in seed funding, he says.\nStartupBus will eventually grow into StartupHouse, a communal living situation that hatches new born startups. \"It will be like Y Combinator and American Idol in a blender,\" says Bizannes. \nFor now, keep your eye on the finalists. Some, if not all, of these less-than-one-week-old startups have a shot at turning the machinations of a road trip adventure into successful business endeavors.\nImage courtesy of Flickr, Marianna Maya Photo"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/03/14/startupbus/>