Douglas Craver · WE NEED YOU for Startup Weekend Cleveland Nov. 20-22 – 20% Early Bird Discount Ends Tomorrow!

October 29th, 2009

I’m on the organizing committee for Cleveland Startup Weekend November 20-22nd in conjunction with Global Entrepreneurship Week. You may have heard of Startup Weekend as it is a national organizing non-profit based in Seattle that has been around for a couple years and has gotten a lot of press.

At the beginning of the year Cleveland won the national vote for the next location (as reported here in BFD earlier this year).

I’m on the committee because I believe in the event. Not necessarily for launching new startups (which is definately a goal) but in helping to strengthen startup cultures in cities like Cleveland by connecting entrepreneurs and their ideas. I also like the event because it is BIG on action and has no room for small talk. In fact, I know of no other tech event to happen in Cleveland where ACTION has the upper hand on talk and planning. My good friend Jack Ricchiuto calls it Strategic Doing 365…or in this case in 52 hours!

Got an idea? Then convince others, pull your team together and in 52 hours have a working prototype that has been validated by user feedback. The winner is based on both offline and online votes. Doesn’t get any more simple than that!

There are 3 ways you can help (see links below for supporting docs):

  • First, attend with your idea and/or team. We have 75 slots open at $75 each that we need to fill to create the startup teams. Signup up by end of day tomorrow and get a 20% early bird discount (we also offer a student discount)! Attendees can register http://bit.ly/swearlybird before Nov 1, or at  http://cleveland.startupweekend.org/tickets/ after.
  • Become a sponsor at one of the following levels: Presenting Sponsors $5,000, Platinum $2,500, Gold $1,000 or Silver $500 (the docs below list what you get in return for your sponsorship).
  • Help spread the word on your blog and through social media via Twitter, Facebook, etc.

If you have any questions please comment below or ask (and follow) us on Twitter @swcle. Here are the links to those documents I mentioned above:

Cleveland Startup Weekend One Page Overview
Global Entrepreneurship Week Startup Weekend CLE Press Release
Presenting Sponsorship Form ($5,000)
Platinum Sponsorship Form ($2,500)
Gold Sponsorship Form ($1,000)
Silver Sponsorship Form ($500)

Thanks for your help!

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13 Responses to “WE NEED YOU for Startup Weekend Cleveland Nov. 20-22 – 20% Early Bird Discount Ends Tomorrow!”

  1. Rick Pollack Says:
    October 30th, 2009 at 2:10 am

    A year ago people on BFD voted for a Cleveland Startup Weekend. http://www.brewedfreshdaily.com/2008/start-up-weekend-in-cleveland

    MakerGear is a Silver Sponsor. I will also be participating and taking open source hardware opportunities to the event. Anyone else care to step up?

  2. Rick Pollack Says:
    October 30th, 2009 at 10:49 am

    A recent interview with the head of Startup Weekend:
    http://www.stumbleupon.com/s/#2hoO7j/www.designglut.com/2009/10/clint-nelsen-of-startup-weekend/

    The interview was conducted by the people in this video: http://www.brewedfreshdaily.com/2009/would-you-like-to-be-able-to-do-this

  3. Douglas Craver Says:
    October 30th, 2009 at 1:20 pm

    Thanks for your sponsorship Rick. Other progressive companies like MakerGear have signed on but we have room for more.

    I look forward to meeting you. You definitely “get it!”

  4. Douglas Craver Says:
    October 30th, 2009 at 1:20 pm

    P.S. Thanks for sharing the great links!

  5. Rick Pollack Says:
    October 30th, 2009 at 3:12 pm

    Doug – Kudos for your contribution to bringing this event to fruition.

  6. Rick Pollack Says:
    October 30th, 2009 at 3:12 pm

    Cleveland Startup Weekend

  7. Rick Pollack Says:
    October 30th, 2009 at 3:13 pm

    Startup Weekend Cleveland

  8. Rick Pollack Says:
    October 30th, 2009 at 3:15 pm

    A year ago people on this forum were voting for Cleveland to get a Startup Weekend.

    “…into the top 5″
    “…just a few hundred to go…”
    “This would be a great thing”
    “Keep it up. Pass it on. This is great.”

    Where is that support now? The event is less than a month away and there are only half a dozen sponsors and twenty-five people registered????

    On this forum – in particular – people have complained for years how other people have not done enough to create jobs and how other people have not done enough to support entrepreneurship. Here is an opportunity for anyone who posts on this forum to directly participate. To see first hand what it takes…

    - Buy a ticket and go. Share your experience. Buy that ticket today! Show that enthusiasm. You don’t even need to start a company. Just go and help where you can.

    - Sponsor the event $50, $100, $500, $1000. If you can’t go. Show your support through sponsorship.

    - Purchase a ticket for someone else. Buy it and give it away.

    And just to add insult to injury…I don’t see a single female name on the registration list.

  9. Carla Says:
    October 30th, 2009 at 8:31 pm

    Here’s a hint about the lack of response: under Douglas Craver’s last five posts on BFD, the fourth most recent was “Startup Weekend_Cleveland.Update #1 – January 8th, 2009.” Shortly after Cleveland “won” the vote for a Startup Weekend, I tried to get information about when it would be and basically was told “later,” and “we’ll let you know.” No one did.

    Now, three weeks before the event, we are informed that it will be the weekend before Thanksgiving. Just to add insult to injury, some of us have longstanding plans to leave town that weekend to visit family for the holiday.

    It’s very disappointing, but really, there could have been some notice of Cleveland Start-Up Weekend between January 8th and now.

  10. Douglas Craver Says:
    October 30th, 2009 at 10:56 pm

    Rick, thanks again so much for your passion. We’re actually right on pace with attendance and sponsorship compared to previous startup weekend events in other cities. In fact, we continue to see tweets like the following:

    simmons3ksimmons3k: Thinking about skipping So.Cal vacation to attend Cle Startup Weekend… though choice.

    So we know we’ll reach our goal. It is what it is. I’ve worked on other much larger events and have learned that you can’t please everyone. Carla we’re sorry you didn’t get the word earlier but you’ll have other opportunities.

  11. Rick Pollack Says:
    November 1st, 2009 at 9:57 am

    These guys are bringing something positive to the area and the only response is a complaint about the timing? Appalling

  12. Carla Says:
    November 1st, 2009 at 7:53 pm

    Too bad that the planners didn’t choose to communicate the dates for Start-Up Cleveland earlier, even to those who had expressed interest very early on, but as Doug Craver says, “It is what it is.” Some people in Cleveland actually have lives, Rick, appalling as you may find it.

  13. Rick Pollack Says:
    November 2nd, 2009 at 9:30 am

    Carla – Having a life and supporting Startup Weekend are not mutually exclusive.