Silicon Valley has a contagious energy unique from any place I’ve previously worked. New York City was close, but it wasn’t focused on the tech industry. Palo Alto is the epicenter of this energy, but it spreads all the way into San Francisco, where I’ve been living for the last three weeks.
While the energy hits you right away, it’s the network that is the real value. After just a few weeks I’ve already developed more valuable relationships than I did in 3 years in Boston. For me, the best part of these relationships is exchanging marketing experiences. Every meeting with another entrepreneur or startup marketing leader yields new insights into powerful marketing drivers. And it is always a two way exchange of information. Meetings end with a genuine desire to get together again soon and enthusiasm about all the new tactics we’ll bring back to our ventures to test.
David Weiden from Khosla Ventures has made the most valuable introductions. And these introductions spread well beyond Silicon Valley. Yesterday I met with Jamie Siminoff, a serial entrepreneur based in LA with multiple successful ventures already under his belt. Jamie is one of the sharpest marketers I’ve ever met, despite never carrying a marketing title (he’s been the founder and CEO of his ventures).
Michael Mullany has been another great introduction from David Weiden. Michael was the early VP Marketing at VM Ware, which went public in 2007 and is currently valued at $23 billion. His knowledge around product marketing blows me away. Given my core-competency in customer acquisition, we always have a great exchange of information that inspires new tactics for each of us to try. We plan to bring other successful startup marketing leaders into our conversations which will surely generate additional insights and relationships.
Finally, David Weiden made the introduction to Xobni, where I am currently engaged in the traction stage of marketing. The Xobni team is extremely sharp and I’m sure will be part of my relationship network for years to come. Once again, while no one else at Xobni carries a marketing title, they’ve already added new marketing tactics to my arsenal.
Amazing it took me so long to move to Silicon Valley; especially since I went to college only about an hour away at UC Davis.
Andrew Chen
Brant Cooper
Dave McClure
Eric Ries
Jamie Siminoff
Steve Blank
Nice post. I’m gonna have to visit the Bay area soon. I’m in Chicago and I’ve heard similar stories from friends that have visited Silicon Valley. It’s funny because they were only there for a week or so and had met some really sharp people in that short time. I’m a wannabe marketer, so I’ll have to rub elbows with the real deal out in Cali soon. Raza Imam http://BoycottSoftwareSweatshops.com