For us as organizers Startup Weekend is not just one weekend. We spend about three month preparing for one of these events. But all this work is very rewarding because we have the chance to meet many amazing people that really get why we are doing this. These people are not only all of you that show up on Friday night but also all those that support Startup Weekend Hamburg as sponsors because they really step up to make this possible.

Today we are proud to announce a group of people that is really helping out with Startup Weekend Hamburg 2012. alstria office REIT-AG with their CEO Olivier Elamine is Platinum Sponsor for the weekend in June. alstria is a largest German office real estate company, listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange. We just had to share with you the great answer Olivier send us to the question why alstria decided to support swHH12:

“Our business is as old as it can be, as we literally are brick and mortar. However, we do feel very close to the start up eco-system for a number of reasons.

First, we are a kind of start up ourselves, as six years ago alstria was just a PowerPoint presentation (in the old economy, we still use Microsoft product and think this is cool, but we are old, so this is ok). We lived through the numerous challenges we hope every start up will have to deal with. Changing organization, office space extension, need for additional capital, recruitment and retention of talent, building a new culture…

Second, and probably more importantly we believe what is done today in the start-up scene is the future of our business tomorrow. In the last few years, the only sectors that needed additional new office space where one way or another related to the new economy. We are hopeful, that one day in the future a number of the Startup Weekend participants will need to rent 10,000 sqm of office space in Hamburg and elsewhere in Germany and abroad. We are planting today the seeds of tomorrow’s jobs and economical growth.

Whenever you will be looking for office space do not hesitate to ask us. We might have just what you are looking for.”

We couldn’t be happier with this great sponsor. You can follow them on twitter @alstria_REIT and check out their website www.alstria.de. We also really want to recommend the alstria corporate blog alstria.blogspot.de. This is one of those companies that really gets it. So think of Olivier and his team when you are looking for that first pad for your startup.

As always send us your questions to hamburg@startupweekend.org. Get your ticket now. We are looking forward to meeting you!

Michael, Startup Weekend Hamburg 2012