I’m helping with finding sponsors for Startup Weekend Los Angeles. Here’s a little FAQ I put together. If you are interested, send me a message at pat@usabilitycounts.com.

First off, thank you for your interest in Startup Weekend! Many of our potential sponsors have questions about the weekend, so we’ve put together a little information below that explains the weekend, and the potential benefits.

We also have sponsors such as Microsoft and Blankspaces working with us to support the event; we hope that you will too!

What is Startup Weekend?

Startup Weekend is a intense 54 hour event bringing together brilliant tech minds (developers, designers, marketers, etc.) together to create a company (or as many as the community wants) from concept to launch! The best and brightest people together in a local office space to select the concept, break into teams, and develop the product, marketing and revenue model. Sixteen ideas are refined until a group of four or five make the final cut.

What’s the benefit for the participants?

The participants come from all walks of technology, so they get to experience what needs to be completed and considered in starting up a company, something they don’t usually get in their normal 9-to-5 jobs. This experience will allow to see their role in the company process in a different light, and many of the participants are entrepreneurial themselves, so they might learn from the weekend and start their own companies.

What’s the benefit for the sponsors?

It depends on the sponsor. Some, like Microsoft and Blankspaces, see this as a way to educate potential clients and technology developers on the advantages of using their services or products; others, like some of the recruiting firms we are talking to, see it as a way with connecting with candidates or people who are entrepreneurial in nature and may make great resources for their company or orgnization. Some are doing it for community outreach. In any case, all money generated goes to the cost of supporting the event.

We’re already halfway to our goal, please help us help entrepreneurs in Southern California.

We have sponsorship levels of:

• $1000 Platinum Sponsor
• $500 Gold Sponsor
• $250 Contributing Sponsor