Thousands of developers, hackers, and crypto and blockchain enthusiasts are coming to Denver, Colorado in the United States for the ETHDenver conference from February 24th to March 5th.
With accommodation a limited resource in Colorado’s capital, many choose to escape the crowds and tight quarters in “hacker houses” – where sleep is optional and networking is the goal.
Jessy, the name behind one such house – Jessy’s Hacker House – manages four “hacker houses” that host 50 participants from the ETHDenver conference and BUIDLWeek – a series of workshops and events as well as BUIDLathon allowing teams to compete for prizes and investments.
Meeting with Cointelegraph at one of the houses on February 28, Jessy and co-organizer Waylon Jepsen kept busy setting up posters and checking the comfort of guests.
Eth Denver was great this year! We have many amazing residents @wehack247 this year. I am very happy to call you all my friends. Be bullish on the future we are all building ❤️ pic.twitter.com/nlFkzx8dzO
— Waylon Jepsen (@0xjepsen) March 6, 2023
According to the hacker-house host, he was already working for a venture capital company in 2022 during the last ETHDenver conference when some people living abroad posted on social media that they were looking for a place to stay in the Colorado capital. Like many who attended the 2022 event, Jessy and her houseguests tested positive for COVID-19 but were still able to network and develop projects.
“My previous motivation was like ‘hey, this is a cool guy – let’s host and get to know him’,” Jessy said. “For the longest time, it was a vehicle to find my own founders and discover what ideas I wanted.”
“Magic happens when you bring in the most relevant people […] We bring different groups of people. We have people who are very crypto natives, we have people from academia who do cryptography and specialized research […] You have people who are like 19, 18 years old – the new ones – who are just starting their careers.
Four “hacker houses” scattered throughout the Denver Metropolitan Area are home to more than 50 people as well as several visitors during the week of the conference. About 300 tech-minded people applied for a place to sleep and networking opportunities at the houses, funded by sponsors in the blockchain space and overseen by Jessy and Waylon.
Although Jessy says there are some financial incentives to attend the hacker house — such as connecting with VCs and potential founders — guests can also benefit from the experience.
“You’re here to make long-term friends,” Jessy said. “I think one model we have is to play the long-term game with people who have been around for a long time. Part of the interview process is that we choose people who we think fit the vibe, the original – the scrappy original in the space.
related: Fake Ethereum Denver website linked to a well-known phishing wallet
ETHDenver ends on March 5, but other big conferences related to crypto and wallets in the future include Paris Blockchain Week and Consensus in Austin, Texas. Although ETHDenver had not released official attendance numbers at the time of publication, more than 30,000 people were reported registered for the conference.