The third StartupCampWaterloo will be starting soon—kicking off with a panel discussion of "why start a startup?" Maybe some startup founders will say that they needed some convincing on that question, but I suspect that if it's something you need to have answered, then maybe creating a startup isn't the best thing for you.

It's always going to be easier being employee #57 or #5,700 where you can have your job description and be given tasks to perform—maybe in a skillful way, but within a framework that is planned and managed by others. Every two weeks, money gets deposited in your bank account, even if you've been in a rut and have only been moderately productive. Want to go to a business event? Feel too sick to work? That's fine, you still get paid your full salary—no money comes out of your pocket. On top of that, you're guaranteed a paid vacation every year and probably have at least a basic benefits package.

It's a pretty good deal and one that most people are happy to take.

Forget all of that with a startup, at least at the beginning. But that's a big part of the appeal. You don't have a job description (or, if you do, it's pretty fuzzy) and you get to do things that no one in their right mind would hire you to do—developing a lot of new skills. You don't have to write a resume and go on job interviews to be asked silly questions hoping that someone will recognize your talents. You work with people you want to work with on the products of your choosing (preferably with a lot of market input) where you get to decide the strategy and how you'll execute. And you never have to stare at the clock and wish it was 5pm.

It's not for everyone, and if your startup grows into a bigger company, some of the freedom of the early days goes away, but for many people who have been there, there's no going back to being employee #57.

Tuesday was StartupCamp Waterloo #2 and we had over 100 people there. It was a pretty cool event. Here's links to some feedback/reviews/etc:

• Colin’s Sandbox: StartupCampWaterloo2

• StartupCampWaterloo @ Tungle.blog

• Photos on flickr from William Spaetzel

• StartupCampWaterloo2: focus your ideas and do your research from Who You Calling A Jesse?

• Photos on Picasa from Ghoti's Public Gallery

• The event Wiki page and Facebook page

PS Someone video taped the whole thing and we're hoping he'll put it all up online!

PPS If you have more links can you post them?

PPPS There's a discussion forum for all waterloocamps events here on WatStart forum

UPDATE: majidbajid has started posting his videos of StartupCamp on YouTube!

The first StartupCampWaterloo was held last night at the Accelerator Centre with a strong turnout of about 60 people—around double the number who attended BarCampWaterloo last month.

It seemed like everyone had a good time. It was a enjoyable night with presentations and networking time to give people a chance to talk to each other. All of the presentations generated responses from the audience and led to discussions, which is the atmosphere that the event was designed to establish.

StartupCamp and BarCamp are both held in the "unconference" style where the agenda is shaped more by attendees than by an organizing group. Anyone who wants to make a presentation or an announcement, or wants to discuss a particular issue, can put it on a white board and—if there are more items than there is time (which hasn't happened in Waterloo yet)—there is a collective decision about which ones the group wants to include.

In theory, BarCamp focuses on technology and StartupCamp on the business of technology. StartupCampWaterloo got off to a great start with a presentation by Well.ca founder Ali Asaria on his experience in dealing with investors and trying to raise funds. In a very engaging talk, Ali made it clear that raising money for a startup isn't fun. As a founder making presentations to potential investors, you may find yourself being treated like a beggar by some smug, self-important people and will need to develop a thick skin. He told the story of being called "smarmy" at one meeting (and this was a group that had just been in to see me trying to get more prospects sent their way).

Ali also talked about how some investors will feign an understanding of his technology, and told the story of how he once told a VC that men and women could be distinguished by odd and even IP addresses—and that he wasn't challenged on the statement.

From talking to Ali, I know that his talk could easily have gone twice as long as it did without dragging. His experiences aren't atypical, and he presents them in a way that other founders can relate to and learn from. I wished we had the talk recorded, although Ali might be relieved that we didn't. It was definitely the highlight of the evening.

Albert Lai—best known for MyDesktop and BubbleShare—was also scheduled to give a talk, but wasn't able to make it after his flight from California was delayed. He was just in town three weeks ago for a talk during Entrepreneur Week and offered to return to make up for last night (he felt very badly about missing the event).

The rest of the night consisted with some networking breaks and a series of brief presentations, which included everyone who signed up on the white board. While it's possible to present technology and do a demo in a few minutes, it really doesn't work the same way if you're trying to present a business and get meaningful feedback. You can't understand a business without discussion of market need, target market, business model, and go-to-market strategy, and you just can't cover that in three minutes. In some cases, it seemed the presenters wouldn't have been able to say much about those issues even if they had been given all the time they wanted. So this became BarCamp Redux rather than StartupCamp. Still enjoyable—interesting to see what people are working on—but there wasn't a lot of "business" on display. That didn't stop anyone from providing feedback—some of it very emphatic.

Among the attendees were several who are creating real businesses. Along with Well.ca, other startups represented at the event included ProductWiki, AideRSS, Terapath, Suited Media, and Semacode (among others) that could all contribute to substantial discussions around making a business out of a technology and what founders have to do to go beyond the "playing around in their spare time" stage to creating a real business.

The next StartupCampWaterloo is scheduled for February.