When I attended the inaugural Startup Weekend in Boulder, I did so with a stated purpose of going to meet people and network. I’ve built startups in the past, and had no delusions about what could and could not be created in the span of a weekend. To that end, I’d like to report back on what I consider to be a great Startup Weekend success story.

Like most small businesses, Crowd Favorite has need of legal counsel from time to time. Finding a lawyer who is a good fit for you and your business isn’t easy.

Ryan Howell of Hedberg | Howell, LLC decided to come to Startup Weekend and provided the legal services for us, making VoSnap, Inc. a real company (with all of us as shareholders) by the end of the weekend.

During the craziness that is a Startup Weekend, we had a chance to chat a couple times. I had a few general legal questions that he answered for me, including one that he looked up and got back to me on.

Since Startup Weekend, I’ve had need for a lawyer on several occasions and Ryan has been a tremendous help for me. We’ve created a couple of standard contracts for us to use and most recently he’s been helping me through the process of getting some office space for our growing team.

I give Startup Weekend the credit for my relationship with Ryan. Because of Startup Weekend I was able to see that he was a hard worker, reliable, interested in technology and willing to work with small businesses like mine. This is what Startup Weekend gives you that a tech meetup doesn’t. You actually get to see how people work and what it is like to work with them.

Besides, how many lawyers do you know that take PayPal?