Filed in Starts and “Entrepreneur Experiences”
Summer in the San Francisco Bay Area is Filled with Low Cost Events
Event curation is something of a hobby for me. I pay attention to entrepreneur themed events and pattern recognize the best events for founders.
Many people are envious of the networking that goes on at Stanford University or Y Combinator. Here are 7 experiences that are low cost, high in networking impact and ones that I am paying attention to (obviously, I do not stand to financially gain. Obviously, I am neither selling tickets nor vested.) Here are the events approximately 30 days out so you can plan your travel plans.
-1- Yelp’s 10 year anniversary.
Yelp got its start when the co-founders of Yelp did live events to drive Yelp registrations. Well, this year marks their 10th anniversary. Beginning late July, there will be a smorgasbord of events (pun intended). These parties are mostly free and the space for RSVP is first come, first-served.
Yelp was started by PalPal alumni. These alumni are very engineering major and engineering as-a-profession friendly. Bring your resume, maybe a business card and a smartphone to do some great netwoking because other PayPal alumni will be there. For example, Keith Rabois, Luke Nosek and Ken Howery.
-2- W Hotel for After Parties.
In Los Angeles, afterparties involve bottle service at a club or tables with alcohol behind velvet ropes. Well in SF, the tech elite congregate in the lobby of this property. They eschew bottles and substitute asian fusion food served in tapas-portions. Bottled italian water with lime is the house drink. Most on a budget will just drink San Francisco tap that is piped in from the Rocky Mountains or the Sierras.
-3- Famed Sand Hill Road
70% of the United States of America’s venture capital sits between the 2000 block of Sandhill and the Stanford University Shopping Mall. When Sandhill Road hosts a party, you would think that founders near and far would fly in for it.
You’d be wrong.
Sandhill Road is discreet and while VCs crave and yearn to meet founders like yourselves… They do not have the distribution mechanisms in place. For example, August Capital is hosting a party on August 1. People balk at the price tag. It is eighty dollars. I calculate a return on investment to occur by 5:40pm (the party starts annually at 5:30).
-4- Interns hosting interns.
In the bay area, interns quickly become the celebrity founders. For example Brian Wong. For example, Cory Levy. For example, Ryan Shea. Well, this summer on July 22, Cory Levy is hosting interns at Broadway Studios in SF. RSVP via Cory Levy’s twitter feed or on Julia Hartz’s Eventbrite site
http://2014interns.eventbrite.com
-5- Napa Launch Party.
The old launch parties were lavish and wasteful. The new launch party takes place on a vineyard. Here is some insight for you, VCs took their management fees and plowed that money into wine. The result is a launch party for the 2010 Cab that Silver Oak is launching.
The annual launch party takes place after the August Capital event on August 2, 2014. Silver Oak is off the Silverado trail.
-6- The AirBnb pop up party.
Remember, there are big discounts to hotels via the Yelp anniversary party. But in case that, and your free nights awards from Starwood’s American Express (no application fee and no annual fee) are still too onerous to ‘pay’, you can book airBnb housing. SF also has a public spaces initiative where you can host a small pop up party of your own.
Think “Mininum Viable Party” that is parallel with the entrepreneur concept of ‘Minimum Viable Mini Company Concept’ (LCMCC). The best way to have an impact is to host a mini live event in the real world. This is what Yelp and PayPal both did to get started. This is what start-ups do to get initial traction.
-7- This is the party that is curated in my social media feed.
You are welcome to scour and search for the multitude of Silicon Valley events. For example, Twitter, Facebook, Eventbrite and Plancast. Google+ has my locations as well.
Enjoy this summer and feel free to comment on good events that you hear about.
This is part of the 31 envelopes method.
Larry speaks on stuff they don't teach in B-school to help you get street smart in doing business. In college, he started a business that helps college students with their FICO score. He loves entrepreneurs, Ben and Jerry's ice cream and after parties. You can reach him at:
