Ask HN: First time in SF today and tomorrow – can I visit your startup?

[davewasmer]

Hey Hacker News: it's my first time in San Francisco this weekend, and I'd love to get a taste of the startups in the area. I'm a frontend developer working at a startup in Boston, and I'm always up for meeting new people and exploring a new city! Feel free to shoot me an email (davewasmer [at] gmail [dot] com).

[machrider]

If you (or any San Franciscan developers/gamers) would like to visit Goodreads, you should come by Tuesday night for our startup game night: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5047240432/estw

[davewasmer]

Unfortunately, I fly out Sunday night (if Boston Logan is cleared out by then!). Thanks for the tip though, wish I could make it.

[d0m]

I had the chance to visit last year, It was an awesome trip. I visited HackerDojo, YC (Sneaked my way in a party.. but shh :p), Sendhub and randomly attended a trivia-party full of apple/google/linkedin employes, fun time. I wish you have as much fun as I did. Make sure to take coffees a little bit everywhere and pay attention to the conversations around you.. most of the time you'll hear business pitches which is fairly normal in this area.

[davewasmer]

Sounds like you had a fun time! Any tips on discovering those random trivia parties (or YC parties to crash ...)?

[d0m]

It's all about the people you meet. Be cool, tell them you're looking to have fun and would love to visit startups and [xyz]. Feel free to email them before you're going there. There's a spot, I don't remember where exactly, where there are literally hundreds of startups. I'm sure there are lots of parties and cool hackaton or events to attend.

[alex_g]

I'd love to do this one day. Just out of curiosity, to you and/or any of the startups offering you a visit- what would you do while you visit? Just walk around the office and ask questions, or take a tour of some sort? I'd be interested to know :)

[davewasmer]

Honestly, I'm more interested in meeting the people. If they are up for showing off the office, that's fine, and a good way to break the ice. But I'm not an interior office designer - my interests are more with the people that occupy them :)

[alex_g]

So just asking questions and talking about their startup?

[davewasmer]

Yep, basically. Wherever the conversation leads. I haven't been disappointed yet!

[brandoncordell]

I once tweeted Tom Mornini CTO and co-founder of EngineYard to see if they had any stickers I could have to put on my MacBook because it was "too plain". Within a few days I had a box of stickers and hand-written postcard that said to give them a ping if I were ever in San Francisco. They said they'd be glad to show me around EY and take me too lunch. I still haven't been able to take up the offer (although I will one-day because they are on my dream-list of jobs).

Might be worth a shot seeing if you could drop by the office. They seemed SUPER nice. I still have the postcard tacked up in my office :D

[tmornini_ey]

I remember your tweet, glad you enjoyed the stickers and communication, and you're always welcome to stop by, and I'm hereby ENCOURAGING you to apply when we have open positions.

[davewasmer]

Haha - I actually ended up visiting Future Advisor ... across the hall from Engine Yard. The door to the office was shut, so I didn't get a chance to say hi :/

[tmornini_ey]

Oh, too bad you didn't get to stop in.

Engine Yard is always ready and happy for visitors. We have good work spaces, lots of fun people, and plenty of caffeine! :-)

[tjbiddle]

Great idea! I didn't make a post out of it, just had a few in mind that I wanted to visit, but it turned into me landing a job offer and moving across the country. If that's not what you're shooting for, I'm sure you'll still have a great time and meet some crazy awesome people. Good luck!

[southpolesteve]

I did something similar last year: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3216323

I met a ton of great people and everyone was extremely accommodating. I hope you gets lots of offers. I think I ended up with ~70 invitations.

[BrewerOnRails]

If you don't mind, I think I am going to steal your idea when I head out to SF in June!

[bradleyjoyce]

If you get down to SV I highly recommend connecting with the folks at SiliconHouse http://siliconhouse.us/ It's a great program and they are super connected around SV & SF. Let them know Bradley sent you!

[davewasmer]

I'll see if I can swing by - 48 hours is a tight schedule, but looks pretty interesting. Thanks for the tip.

[juanbyrge]

Not my startup, lol, we run a tight ship here.

I'd checkout meetups though.

[davewasmer]

Thanks for the tip about meetups - any in particular that you would recommend?

Not sure what you meant by running a tight ship. If you mean allowing strangers into the office, I understand - I mentioned the office only because it can be a good icebreaker meeting new people. If coffee shops would be a more comfortable meeting spot, I'm happy to buy.

If you meant something else, I'd be interested in learning what. I didn't think asking to meet new people would be off-putting.

[dmor]

Surprised you got downvoted, I've started to feel the same way about random drop-ins lately.

[nlh]

The downvotes are not because of a "random drop-in" (by definition, he's asking here first - politely - so it's not random) - the downvotes (at least mine) are because of the tone. "lol". So the guy asks to visit some startups, and the answer here is, literally:

'No, and I'm laughing at you, because we run a tight ship and are above this nonsense."

Everything about that response embodies the sort of negativity that folks are trying to avoid here.

[garg]

Better get back to work then.

[Jonovono]

ha I am pretty much in your same situation, but am looking for a job. Where are you staying?

[davewasmer]

Near Union Square - let me know if you'd like to chat at some point over the weekend!