Ask HN: First visit to the Bay Area – How do I make the most of it?

[MichaelEHowe]

Hello, After a long time coming, I'm making my first trip to the Bay Area (second to the US) between the 24th - 27th of this month and I'm wondering how I make the most of my time there?

I'm aiming for this to predominantly be a work trip to generate interest in my company OtusLabs.com (a consumer profiling company) and I already have a couple of meetings set-up. But I'm wondering if there are any must visit locations / events where I will meet / bump into other funded start-ups?

Also in the UK a lot of founders are happy to meet for a quick coffee to discuss if our platform would work for them + give feedback. - Is the same true for SF & if so any recommendations on the best approach (Twitter, LinkedIn, Email, Intro Only, etc.)?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Mike

[jonathankau]

Just started using Weave (http://weave.in/) around SF and there are tons of founders/tech enthusiasts on the network that might be willing to grab a coffee with you :)

[MichaelEHowe]

Looks awesome, Thanks for the tip - I'll download it now.

[alex_mil]

Enter a bunch of startup competitions like VC Task Force and have some write down what the judges critique, we won second place at a big one and got a TON of comps, + even if you lose you get to know EXACTLY what VC people will ask you at the big meetings (Big wigs)!

Meeting other founders will lead to you going to "tech mixers" a bunch of people begging for money or talking your ear off about stuff no one cares about, and newsflash, startups are typically broke as shit, so you're gonna have a hard time finding customers by going to startup stuff

My best days have just been working from coffeeshops

[MichaelEHowe]

Thanks for your suggestions - I'll definitely check out VC Task Force and look for some other's (any others that you would suggest are worth it?)

Yeah, "Tech Mixers" are probably something I want to avoid if they are just people hustling for their first investment. Where do the funded guys hang out?

Any key areas / coffee shops I should hit up?

[rgovind]

+1 for VC task force. They bring in quality VCs for you to practice on.

[rajacombinator]

I agree avoid mixers/meetups in my experience they are useless. If you have any friends that work at mega tech co (goog, fb, etc), get an invite to their offices to marvel at the splendor and eat the free food!

[MichaelEHowe]

I have an invite to Apple so I will make sure I hunt out the free food!

[alex_mil]

Bring money and go to the marina

Or hit up mission at night, lots of fun, non-snobby bars.

I like the tech scene, during the day, but they're total lame-asses to party with and sausage fest city if you're doing the whole tech mixer stuff

[MichaelEHowe]

Thanks for the tips - I'm staying near the Mission so that sounds like a plan!