I'll be in San Francisco in two weeks (late June / early Aug) to connect with law firms and angels for my web gaming startup (not ready for VCs yet). Any suggestions on who to meet with? Any other ideas for things to do in SF?
My web gaming startup is far enough along to start seeking investment. First step is to meet up with lawyers and potential angel investors. I'll be in San Francisco from July 27 - Aug 8 doing just that. Though I have a few appointments already lined up, if you has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them, even if it's just a recommendation of something to do while I'm in the area.
And many thanks to Leon Ho <http://tinyurl.com/66hjq8> for the idea to ask this on LinkedIn.
Relevant links:
- www.jadetower.com
- www.cubiclemuses.com
Location specific: United States
Good Answers (3)
Nina Y
Business Attorney, problem solver, bottom line watcher, risk manager. Linking only with shared interests, please.
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Aaron,
I have no specific referrals for people to meet with, but I can tell you about common mistakes that people make when coming to the SF bay area that have nothing to do with business and everything to do with weather and culture.
First of all San Francisco and Silicon Valley may look close on the map, but they are somewhat different worlds. And Silicon Valley isn't really a uniformly defined place. Depending on where you live out here, you might define it as the triangle made by highways 101, 880 and 237 (if you want to follow on a map), or it could extend from about Milpitas on the north east around through San Jose, up to Palo Alto or Menlo Park on the north west.
So if you're actually going to the city of San Francisco, plan a trip down to the Silicon Valley area. If you're coming to Silicon Valley you may get some push back if you call in San Francisco.
SF is a city. Silicon Valley is a big suburb with a sort of city (San Jose) and miles and miles of high tech campuses. That impacts the culture. SF is more formal (not as formal as NYC) SV is less formal.
And now for the weather. The saying "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco" was inaccurately attributed to Mark Twain but it is pretty accurate in terms of what tourists encounter if they think they are coming to summer in California. Today the high in SF will be 62. The high here in Milpitas, a mere 35 or so miles away will be 80. (I love living in paradise).
For someone who's not been to this neck of the woods - how far apart San Francisco and Silicon Valley are is sometimes a shock. Sorry if you know this - but it's one thing I've noticed around here.
If you have more specific questions about this neck of the whacky world of high tech, feel free to send me an email at nina@buslaw.com.
Good luck Aaron, I'll be back in china then, but good to make the rounds. Lets connect up back in china/hk.
Tiffany F
Lead Contract Recruiter at Bebo
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Look into VLABs and contact Haas School of Business (at UCBerkeley) and Stanford School of Business and inquire after other networking groups. There are a number of regular groups that bring VCs and entrepreneurs together for such introductions.
And I'd also recommend you just call a few of the VC firms in Palo Alto and ask them for their suggestions as well. They'll give you some great ideas.
If you are looking to hire consultants or technical staff to grow your company please keep me in mind. I work with a lot of start-ups in the Bay Area, Southern California and New York/ New Jersey. My contact info is in my LI profile.
