Greetings from Brian Jackson and the 2011 Startup Bus Challenge team from Baton Rouge.

As some of you are already aware, I was selected along with 4 other people from Baton Rouge to take part in the 2011 Startup Bus Challenge. Basically 30 strangers get on a bus in Miami, come up with 6 ideas, develop them, and enter a challenge to pitch these ideas in Austin at SxSW. We just boarded the bus and are about to start pitching ideas. Feel free to follow me on facebook and twitter (@MrBCFX) as I embark on this incredible 48 hour journey.

So here is the fun part! This is a big portion of the Startup Bus competition. There is a stock market game that is associated with all of the buses. Anyone can play (It's FREE). Please pass it along to anyone you think would be willing to help.

To do so - go to this link:

http://www.startupbus.com/ref/24

You need to register on the site (you can do it through Facebook)

Once you register, go to http://startupbus.com/game

Click on "Startups" in the top right of the page.

Scroll down and find "Year to Go"

That's my company. Please buy as many shares as possible in the stock with the money you were given when you registered (probably $100). If you want to really play the game, click on your name in the top right and it will bring you to your profile. If you click on the link at Firm Experience or Badges, it will tell you what you can do to get more money and advance in the game.

Here's more in-depth information from the founder of Startup Bus:

There are two reasons why we have developed this game:

1) we get you as buspreneurs focussed on certain activities that matter and

2) to get an audience involved in this experience as, well -- why not.

You can read the game rules here: http://startupbus.com/game/rules

Basic concepts you need to understand

- Your startups share price grows at 1% an hour, but if you achieve milestones, it grows faster. Your share valuation is based on your share price and the *number of shares people hold in your startup*. So it's like a very simplified version of demand and supply (maybe too simple) and it's probably better regarded as a confidence metric in your startup by the audience. Meaning, the more people that buy stock in your startup, the more impressive you are.

- As a team, you want to ensure all the milestones are met. For example, here is an example list of milestones for one of the teams: http://startupbus.com/game/startup_game_profiles/39. Note that these milestones may change and more be added

- As a player, people will try to raise money by completing badges (listed on your user profile -- here's mine http://startupbus.com/game/user_game_profiles/58). However the goal of the game is to make as much money as possible, so simply generating cash won't do that: you need to invest it. That's why players need to smartly invest so they can maximise their investment. Some startups may grow faster than others (like how NYC has as they were setup earlier) and some may experience some bad luck through an Act of God (which results in a drop in share price - TBD).

We've put a lot of thought into the game mechanics, so we hope this game will be fun for people not on the bus. But I won't go into that as I don't want to encourage you: the entire point of the game for you as a buspreneur is to meet the milestones. And for what other better reason then to make you grow more to make your shareholders happy.

How to meet your milestones

- do what it states. Don't get it from reading the rules? Email team@staetupbus.com and we'll explain it. For example, you need to create a Twitter account so emailing us the alias means we can register it in the database.

- email team@statupbus.com with the evidence or the details. This goes out to me and all the conductors and we'll action it as soon as possible.

- if necessary, we may need to get your conductor to physically verify.

One last thing. As I've already told you, we have a sponsorship commitment tied to the game. So you could all *please* log into the game with your accounts, and request the cash linked to a Hollrback account creation as seen in the header of the game https://skitch.com/liako/ruag1/mail-1012x420 (previously was at the footer as a firm upgrade).

And please, tweet about the service and encourage people to sign up to it via (http://hollrback.com/startupbus/). Note: if you want the cash as a player, you need to log into the same email as the one used on StartupBus.com

Good luck.

Elias Bizannes
http://eliasbizannes.com

Coming to a freeway near you: http://startupbus.com