Startup Weekend is my company… I wasn’t there to be a guest, I was there to make sure it was a success. Once I found out what was pulled, I focused my efforts on future weekends, and to provide what I could to all the participants.

I didn’t sign in for shares when I wasn’t working on the product, so fear not.

I did not call you dishonest. I feel there was some major miscommunication between the organizing team and the founders, that many people took as dishonest, but I don’t think for a second your intentions were malevolent or dishonest. The question was, what can we do to make sure the weekends never fall into the hands of ‘dishonest’ organizers (not calling you dishonest at all). If I organize these weekends, I need to make sure the structure is set up to protect from the chance someone wants to use this concept as a form of free labor or tricking people into building a product for them.

The bigger point is- what if the intentions of the organizers were drastically different than the reason why most people signed up? I have received 15 emails from people who signed up for the weekend that were greatly disappointed in the 11th hour legal forms and organizing. So I had the option, do I just let everything pass or do I be open and transparent on what happened, and take action on how to make sure the trust is held for future weekends.