Launching Haiti Startup Weekend
We have received a lot of support early on for this initiative and are really excited to see where it leads. There is an element to Startup Weekend that leaves me in awe each time I catch a glimpse of it and that is the amount of power that exists when the community as a whole bands together to support an initiative. Based on the feedback that we’ve been getting thus far I think there is a real opportunity to have a profound impact on the entrepreneurial community in Haiti.
If there is one thing that we do really well within Startup Weekend it is bootstrapping. We are masters when it comes to providing incredible value on a shoestring budget. Our goal is to raise as much money as we can and then deploy it in a manner that will have far reaching impact within the community in Haiti. Our goal is to help create new startups in Haiti and to support the entrepreneurs behind them as well as tell their story. Startup Weekend is the perfect vehicle to help in situations like this. While most of the time we are forming new web 2.0 startups or working on new apps, Startup Weekend at it’s core is a forum where passionate people can come together and collaborate on problems. Our hope is that we can have a measurable impact with entrepreneurs that are trying to rebuild in Haiti.
Please donate to this initiative. We will spend every dime on helping launch new sustainable businesses in Haiti and will document the people and startups that we’re investing in. We’ll provide full documentation on how much money we raise as well as document line by line how the money is spent. We are planning on conducting fundraising efforts from now until after SXSW (South by South West). During SXSW, Microsoft and Piryx are co-sponsoring a party along with Startup Weekend to raise money for Haiti. At the event at SXSW we will be donating all of the ticket proceeds to Haiti, we’re hoping for 400 attendees at $20 per person or $8,000 for Haiti.
From there our goal is to organize an event in Haiti and allocate dollars raised to support new businesses in Haiti. Please contact us if you’d like to get involved. We’ll be disemminiating more information regarding when we’ll go down there as well as give updates on support we are receiving. Things that would be helpful:
1.) Donate
2.) Spread the word
3.) Contact us if you have support you’d like to lend. This could be press, supplies, anything number of things.
Thank you for your support! I’m eager to tell the stories of the impact the community will have on Haiti.
