Community / event organizing
San Francisco hacker house
I thought my friends and I were splitting an Airbnb. Then 180 people applied. I organized a three-day hacker house for nineteen people in San Francisco, with about $15,000 in sponsor support.
Putting the house together
Two LinkedIn posts turned our plans around YC Startup School into an independently organized three-day gathering. I read applications for nineteen spots, thinking about people’s projects and personalities. I handled participant selection, sponsor outreach, and arrangements for food, lodging, and programming.
Finding sponsors
Andreas, a Mayfield Fellow I interned alongside at Buildforever, told me how his cohort found sponsors for their summer housing. I tried that approach. Hundreds of cold emails and conversations at hackathons and demo days brought about $15,000 in support from sponsors including Tether and ElevenLabs. Some sponsors visited, and attendees could pitch ideas to investors and get feedback.
Taking on the remaining planning
I had assumed agreeing to co-host meant we had agreed on who would do the work. As the weekend approached, I took on the remaining sponsor communication and arrangements for food, lodging, and programming. It changed what I need to ask before relying on a shared plan: what can each of us actually commit to doing?
What happened afterward
I made introductions and left room for people’s own plans. Two attendees who met there began working toward a startup together; others started collaborating on research.