I'm coming to do a geek/startup tour of silicon valley... can you recommend any events/groups that don't suck? Because what you're describing sounds pretty similar to the worst of our local networking groups, and I get really irritated when I show up for one and its a bunch of guys trying to sell me management consulting and a 'startup' speaker that made millions selling used hardware.
It's hard for me to recommend anything, because I don't feel like I've gotten much out of the good events I've gone to. I'm not really an event guy. I'd probably be more useful in the negative for particular cases, like "that one sucks - definitely DON'T go to that one." Also - I haven't gone to any of these things for almost a year.
That said, SuperHappyDevHouse is the only event that is genuinely hacker oriented. Some of the particular tech specific meetups I've been to have had good presentations.
If you really want to network it's probably best to figure out where your favorite startups go out to drink beer on Fridays. If you're looking for hackerish, generally interesting things to do, events like Maker Faire are pretty good.
So you wouldn't recommend the entrepreneur educational events Stanford organizes? The tech stuff we have here, somewhat, although I'll be there for the Hadoop Summit. Was hoping to get a glimpse into people making all these connections that the valley is supposed to offer a startup.
Gonna catch an open coffee, but still looking for things to do relating to startup/biz side of things. I'm not looking to network for anything in particular so much as get a good sense of the environment.
But you're saying that cocktail hour by Blanko.com would not be a great networking event as it would be characterized by wanton douschebaggery? I'm trying to catch some of those too, just to experience them.
Sorry to pick your brain, but I'm 'exploring' valley/provincial market differences for fun.
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I'm coming to do a geek/startup tour of silicon valley... can you recommend any events/groups that don't suck? Because what you're describing sounds pretty similar to the worst of our local networking groups, and I get really irritated when I show up for one and its a bunch of guys trying to sell me management consulting and a 'startup' speaker that made millions selling used hardware.
It's hard for me to recommend anything, because I don't feel like I've gotten much out of the good events I've gone to. I'm not really an event guy. I'd probably be more useful in the negative for particular cases, like "that one sucks - definitely DON'T go to that one." Also - I haven't gone to any of these things for almost a year.
That said, SuperHappyDevHouse is the only event that is genuinely hacker oriented. Some of the particular tech specific meetups I've been to have had good presentations.
If you really want to network it's probably best to figure out where your favorite startups go out to drink beer on Fridays. If you're looking for hackerish, generally interesting things to do, events like Maker Faire are pretty good.
So you wouldn't recommend the entrepreneur educational events Stanford organizes? The tech stuff we have here, somewhat, although I'll be there for the Hadoop Summit. Was hoping to get a glimpse into people making all these connections that the valley is supposed to offer a startup.
Gonna catch an open coffee, but still looking for things to do relating to startup/biz side of things. I'm not looking to network for anything in particular so much as get a good sense of the environment.
Oh, actually that kind of thing sounds cool. I just haven't been. Stanford is great and is worth going to an event there if you're in the area.
But you're saying that cocktail hour by Blanko.com would not be a great networking event as it would be characterized by wanton douschebaggery? I'm trying to catch some of those too, just to experience them.
Sorry to pick your brain, but I'm 'exploring' valley/provincial market differences for fun.
Which groups suck? :)
I'd suggest Startup2Startup that's held in Palo Alto.
I attended the most recent one while I was out in the valley, and I thought it was really good.
Thanks, I wish I'd caught Steve Blank's talk, reading his book right now.