Tim Skaggs, founder of DeskHero – one of our portfolio companies, recently announced a new event he is creating in Bloomington, CodeandBeer. CodeandBeer is a weekend exclusively for designers and developers to come together, build beautiful prototypes, and have a few drinks.

Developers and designers like to have fun, constantly learn new skills, and some of them like to do all of that while enjoying a refreshing beer. CodeandBeer will bring together all of these and by the end of the weekend will get a working product completed.

If you’re one of the fortunate that have learned to code or design, signup at CodeandBeer.com and join the first StartupWeekend-Hackathon type event this Saturday, May 19th. The event is focused on the product, get a alpha/beta/prototype/gen-1 launched and working, and keeping monetization for the very last.

CodeandBeer Requirements:

• Must to have a skill in design or development

• Love to innovate and making products work or look pretty

• Monetization is an afterthought, product first

• Enjoy beer, but that’s optional

• Really want to make a product in a weekend

• Want to learn or improve skills

CodeandBeer hopefully will help bring awareness of all the possibilities for designers and developers when they get involved with others and get cracking on awesome ideas.

Make sure to follow CodeandBeer on Twitter and get your ticket now!

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In 2007, two strangers were on the same journey, but neither of them expected for it to continue years after. PathWrangler founders, Doug Heinz and Eric Remza, met between camps on Mt. Everest. The two shared the love and passion for adventure travel. They also shared the frustration of planning such travel. The pieces fell into place for the idea of PathWrangler, and both Doug and Eric started the adventure of their lives.

PathWrangler has been quite the adventure so far. If you think about it, planning and starting a company is just like planning an adventure trip. A client of PathWrangler, actually one of their early adopters, Matt Walker, author of Adventure in Everything, lists The 5 Elements of Adventure as:

1.    A High Endeavor                                       4.    Tolerance for Adversity
2.    Uncertain Outcome                                   5.    Great Companionship
3.    Make a Total Commitment

The guys were able to apply these to how they formed PathWrangler. PathWrangler, like all startups, had an uncertain outcome. It was founded by two guys who loved the thrill of adventures and knew all the trouble people have to go through when planning them. They wanted to solve that problem and make it easier for people. PathWrangler couldn’t have expected after being in private beta for just a short time, they would have helped people get to all seven continents. They are still growing and setting goals for exploration travel, and other exciting adventures for the year!

Another one of the 5 elements that fits the journey PathWrangler has endured thus far is the team making it a total commitment. Eric spends at least half of the year traveling, being a guide, and learning hands on about the business. For Doug, it was a total commitment more than just as a career but everything to do with his life. He sold every asset just to make sure PathWrangler got off the ground and help it become what it is today.

PathWrangler has experienced tolerance for adversity as well. They have had to overcome many obstacles during the whole process and knows there will be many speed bumps, avalanches, and various other things thrown at them. For example, a trip to Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia was planned. Just three weeks before the trip was suppose to take place, Eric was informed the helicopter the group would use was grounded. Through PathWrangler, Eric was able to make special arrangements for the trip to still happen. Without PathWrangler, he wouldn’t have been able to communicate with the group about all vital information they needed. He had to instruct them about the obstacles and challenges they would endure during this excursion, like possibly sitting down with Kings of tribes before permitted to pass, acquiring the necessary equipment, and hiring a company to help lug the equipment and food along the trip. Again, without PathWrangler, this trip wouldn’t have been able to be done.

The last of the 5 elements might be the most inspiring element and is what holds PathWrangler together. Great companionship, is needed for everything in life and is how PathWrangler began in the first place. The day, Doug and Eric met, they each had taken a photo: Eric at the summit and Doug on his trek up had stopped for a photo with the summit in the background. After some research, they realized these two photos taken by two strangers had been taken within only 45 minutes of each other. It was as if fate put them together.

Once the idea of PathWrangler was formed, finding the best team was very important. They experienced some ups and downs with this but currently have settled into a great team, including SproutBox assisting with design and as advisors to them.

PathWrangler is unique; there aren’t apps like it out there. Think about back when horse and buggies were around and if you told people there would be something that could fly people around the world, they’d think you were crazy. That’s like how PathWrangler is for some people. There is now a way for people to do travel the unknowns, to go places people haven’t yet, or to go to places some might think they wouldn’t ever be able to. Now those resources are all put together and PathWrangler can make it happen.

So if you are traveler and understand how frustrating it can be or want to begin adventure traveling, sign up for PathWrangler! Even if you aren’t a traveler but would love to start the guys will get you all set up for an adventure of a lifetime.

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Today is the day we’ve all been waiting for…For months, the SproutBox team has been working hard developing VaultWorthy, a secure online document storage platform, and it is now live! VaultWorthy is like a virtual safe. You can store your important documents like insurance policies, tax returns, banking information, and other personal documents online and only allow access to your most trusted advisors, partners, and family.

Worried about the safety of your documents? That’s not necessary because all your documents are stored using 256-bit AES encryption with high redundancy across multiple physical locations in Tier 3 data center facilities. In addition to that, VaultWorthy also performs frequent audits and also runs other security provisions to make sure your documents are stored with the highest form of security.

VaultWorthy was developed in an effort to decrease the amount of time spent searching across different storage locations such as email, dropbox, folders, filing cabinets, when trying to locate your documents. Now at any time and at any place you and your trusted advisors can access these documents.

For just $12.95 a month, you can store up to 50 documents and can allow access to up to five different “VaultTrustees”. The time you’ll save with this new easy storage platform is well worth the money. Sign up now, your first month is free!

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