Ken Kesey's famous bus. Photo: Wikipedia

They say that getting there is half the fun. And that age-old adage certainly could apply to the StartupBus.

Haven’t heard of this new-fangled group of merry pranksters?

Well, it’s a pretty bizarre and ambitious experiment (minus the psychedelics, we presume) in entrepreneurship. Groups of people are set to load on buses in various cities early next month and test out their entrepreneurial ideas as they travel to Austin, Texas for the SXSW festival.

Described as a “mobile hackathon” of designers, thinkers and do-ers, the StartupBus challenges teams to build a viable startup in three days while moving at 60 miles per hour.

This marks the third voyage for the StartupBus, which last year included more than 150 “buspreneuers” on six buses traveling to Austin. (Sounds a bit like the StartupWorkaway concept that Seattle entrepreneur Tony Wright participated in last year in Costa Rica).

This year 10 buses will be running, including teams from LA, Las Vegas, Cleveland, Florida and even Mexico.

Seems like Seattle and Portland got left off the bus this time. Too bad, as I know a few entrepreneurs who’d love to escape the rainy Pacific Northwest at this time of year and travel to warmer destinations while cooking up some new ideas.

Oh well, here’s a good one for the mix along the way.

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