Before I finished writing Green Entrepreneur Handbook, I made the decision to donate all of the proceeds from the sale of the book to two organizations I care deeply about: Kiva and Startup Weekend.  In this post, I want to share a bit about why I chose Startup Weekend and how you can also get involved.

Entrepreneurship and Me

In retrospect, it isn’t surprising that I was drawn to Startup Weekend — from an early age, my family had always encouraged me to earn money from jobs like starting a lemonade stand, selling cookies and drinks to golfers on the neighborhood golf course, starting a small consulting company in high school to help my dad out, and building web pages.  But I never really saw myself as a full-time entrepreneur… especially as I launched into my career.

Fast-forward to about 10 years into my career where I was working as a technology lawyer.  I began to work closely with startups and startuppers (those folks involved with startups as entrepreneurs and early-stage employees) and I found myself drawn to events for startup people.  I was usually the lawyer in the room, but always felt akin to the startup guys and gals.  That said, it was a bit like the outsider looking in…

Why Startup Weekend?

That was until I started getting the real entrepreneur/startup bug via Startup Weekend.  My first Startup Weekend was held in Seattle at Google’s offices where I got to be a part of a project for the weekend.  It was a great experience but our team didn’t continue after the weekend.  Well, a few months later, I was introduced to the guys that were taking over Startup Weekend — Marc Nager and Clint Nelsen.  They were extremely passionate and we were connected so that I could help them as a lawyer with a few of the items they needed as they began to run the organization.  I worked with them pro bono and became friends and a trusted advisor of these co-founders.  I even agreed to participate in my second startup weekend held at Microsoft where I pitched and built Learn that Name (which went onto become a real part-time venture that we eventually sold to Gist.com).

From there, I was hooked.  I became a board member, counsel, judge, attendee, and regular fan of Startup Weekend.  I even believe that Startup Weekend helped convince me to join Appature.  That’s why I am such a supporter — because the personal experience and story I had is had thousands of times over by other attendees of Startup Weekends.

Green Entrepreneur Handbook, Entrepreneurship, Startup Weekend and more

So why am I donating half the proceeds to Startup Weekend (the other half is going to Kiva.org — which is discussed in another post)?  The reason is simple — this organization is changing people’s lives and helping spread the lessons of entrepreneurship around the globe.  We all agreed on the mission of the organization at our first board meeting: Experiential Education for Entrepreneurs.  And Startup Weekend’s goal is to be the best source of that in the world.

Startup Weekend is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit — so these efforts aren’t being done to make the team rich or famous.  Instead, it is being done to help others and help the ecosystem.

That’s why I’m a supporter with my time, my money and my passion of Startup Weekend.  I hope you too will support the organization by sponsoring an entrepreneur in need to attend the event, by attending the event, or by spreading the word.  It’s a great organization dedicated to helping entrepreneurship.

If you want to know more, attend an event and you’ll see why Allison and I are donating money to the cause.  Go ahead and make a donation — $100 sponsors an entrepreneur to attend one of these events around the world.