Season 1 runs with no sponsors and no prizes, on purpose. Self-motivation is the best filter we know. The people who show up for a rating and a published replay, rather than for a payout, are exactly the field a sponsor eventually wants to be in front of. Cash on day one buys a different crowd.
It also means you never have to sponsor a promise. By the time anyone is asked for money, four rounds will have happened in public: real entry numbers, every submission in a gallery, the judge's reasoning published in full, winners' replays prompt by prompt. You sponsor receipts, not a pitch deck.
Season 1 is finished, so you can see exactly what that looks like before any pitch: the season summary has the numbers, including the ones that are not flattering, and each round write-up has the verdicts verbatim, the corrections we published against ourselves, and the winning sessions in full.
The best early sponsorship is the thing competitors actually consume: AI or API credits, or compute, for the field or for round winners. It keeps the incentives clean.
Your name on one round: the drop, the results write-up, the winner's replay. One round, one sponsor.
Backing a full season or its finale, discussed with a season of real numbers on the table rather than projections.
No sponsor influence on tasks, judging, or rankings. The rubric and the reasoning stay published either way. No logo walls of companies that never said yes.
The conversation is open. Season 1 ran with no sponsor, and the whole season is in public for you to judge: four rounds, every entry playable, every verdict published. Season 2 dates are not set yet, which makes this a good time to say what you would want from it.
Useful to say up front if you get in touch: which of the four above interests you, and whether you would rather back a single round or a season. That is enough to start.
No rate card, no deck. Season 1's numbers are public.