one cool idea

When Erika Brunke ran Garage Technology Ventures' Bootcamp for Startups, her mantra was ‘lean and mean.’ “I didn't want to charge [attendees] a penny more than I had to.” One of the ways she saved money was by recruiting cash-poor entrepreneurs as volunteers. “We always had people who could not afford the conference but [who] asked if there was any way they could come, or how they could help,” Brunke says. Not to miss an opportunity, she would select two volunteers and comp their