And we’re back from a busy week of investor meetings, pitching, and conference-attending in the ever gilded (or should I say siliconized? ok, bad pun, starting off strong…) Valley. A list below to collect my thoughts:
1. Consistent with the hullaballoo, this IS startup central. Nearly a year ago, during the game-changer trip that got us to this point today, I came here for the first time in the context of being a startup founder. The original plan was to spend some time in the Valley, osmos-ify the energy/talent vibes, and go back to Hong Kong stronger & better (harder, faster)…but all the tech people I connected with unanimously advised posting up in New York “for the fashion”. So obviously we figured our shit out and did just that - no regrets. But going back to San Francisco, this time with a fresh pair of eyes, made me re-think not fighting more to spend time here. Maybe not initially, but it has become abundantly clear that there is value in being in this scene if you are doing something relevant to tech. Plus, I do like me some Philz and flannel…
2. Vegas is only an hour and change away. SFO from the city is a relatively painless 30 mins on the freeway, and while public transportation kinda sucks, the litany of car share apps makes traveling bearable. And now they have scooters too! Not that you’d scoot to the airport.
3. To your utter displeasure, the homeless people WILL go out of their way to harass and harangue if you’re not careful to avoid them. I had my share of fun crackhead encounters to last me for a while this time around. One meeting we took was in the Mission (not the nice part), and for lunch another day a friend insisted we go to the Tenderloin. The Vietnamese food was pretty bomb, but walking even two blocks from parking meter to restaurant was not. On my last night, I got held up by an uncomfortable exchange with a beggar on a bike (mobile bum?) as my Uber ran late, struggling to find my location in Oakland. At risk of continuing this point and sounding like a wuss, let’s just say I have had better conversations under more savory conditions. And yes, having spent time in Hong Kong aka the safest city in the world ever, might have something to do with my lowered threshold for danger, but come on even New York isn’t like that (if you never go above 80s. ha)
4. Asian chicks don’t have to be totally whitewashed to have white boyfriends here. In contrast to the two other extremes I’ve lived, in Asia where dating “Asian” really means local girls are the trend du jour or the (north) East Coast where the awareness of Asian roots is typically limited to Chinese takeout menus…the California pairings I’ve seen show a nice balance of both without compromising either identity too much, and that is something I can appreciate.
5. So the main reason we made the trip in the first place was to pitch as a finalist in the Women 2.0 competition for startups. Made some good connects, heard some inspirational talks, met likeminded people blah blah blah…who were all women of course, because it was a women-oriented conference. Will share my thoughts in a separate post about this, but coming to this event was a direct reaction to having bad experiences networking with (a few, and likely outlier) men in the industry. Having been to two of these women’s things already this year, I can’t unequivocally say that they’re better or safer or more productive; they actually feel kind of limiting as a young, single, relatively commitment-less woman aka no known physical/mental incapacities and no (known) babies…yet (just kidding about the babies, mom!). More on that later. Much more.
Basically, SF is a place that makes you feel like you should be working 5x as hard and talking 10x as big because that’s how they do. But it also feels like this golden land of opportunity, one that probably won’t last forever, so you can bet that delicious artisanal locavore meal that we’ll be back soon!
