Fly in on Sunday the 2nd and get our bearings and relax.
Monday: Mobile Monday in Silicon Valley. The biggest mobile event in the Valley. It is on in the evening, so the morning is free to meet any big names/investors you have contacted to meet with.
Tuesday Morning: E.I. will organise a half-day morning seminar with local Silicon Valley people who will give us the lay of the land and how business works over there. This will include Irish-friendly VCs. Pitches will be checked-out and even done for real at at this event.
Tuesday Afternoon: Free but ideally you will have set-up some pitching opportunities either in advance or from the morning sessions. Possible sub-group visits to local companies.
Wednesday Morning: Free for you all to do your own thing, meet contacts and people you know in the Valley. Also sub-group visits to local companies.
Wednesday Afternoon: E.I. will organise a tour bus and will be bringing us to the geeky places we want to go to. A highlight will oviously be a visit to Googleplex and meeting some of the folks there. In addition we will do photo-ops at HP Garage, Infinte loop etc. If there are sites where you think we should all go as a group, let us know.
Thursday Morning: Pitching practice
Thursday Evening: Irish Network in San Fran networking event. Irish ex-pats and potential investors should be attending. This will be a night to really work your networking muscles.
Friday: Free day for anyone to meet up with contacts made from night before and any meetings you have arranged yourself in advance. Sub-group visits to local companies.
Saturday: Free to shop and do what you want before you pack and leave. We’ll look into some touristy things to do here. Golden Gate, Bay Bridge maybe. Computer history Museum?
We are aiming to have social dinners on most nights and invite guests to them. We can discuss this in more detail at the PV Meetup on September 13th.
August 27th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Rent a bicycle and head out across the golden gate, it’s a must-do. Alcatraz is a good touristy thing, book in advance.
Anyone who’s still looking at accomodation and isn’t afraid to gamble, don’t book anything and then use http://www.hotwire.com the day before or the day you fly. I’ve ended up at some of the best hotels in SF for next to nothing using this method and it hasn’t let me down yet. But don’t blame me if it all goes pear shaped.
Finally, rent a mustang when you get into SFO. It’s the only way to do it.
August 27th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Thanks for the tips.
Does Dollar RentACar have any of these beauties?
http://www.svt.ford.com/
August 27th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Hertz and Avis definately have them.
One thing on renting cars, obvious but might be helpful to some: always chance your arm and ask for something better, regardless of whether you actually booked the sub-compact or not. Turn on the diddly Irish accent, be very polite, etc. and you can often end up being upgraded for free. Joining up with the hertz one club etc. can help too, even if you are below their 3 rentals in 12 months limit.
Even if they do charge extra, ask – one time ended up with a mustang for $5 dollars extra a day over the shitty shitty bang bang i’d actually booked.
August 27th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
I’m thinking of heading over, but need to get my web business pitch in order first.
My opinion is that the irish should play their strengths a bit more. When the yanks hear that there are a bunch of irish coming over, and if they hear that they are planning a party, they will think… wow… the irish know how to party, that will be really really cool. Everyone will want to go to it. If it is big, the VCs will be hooked in.
So my feeling is
1. Organise a party that has loads of Guinness, Leprecauns and irish dancing
2. Blog the hell out of it. Inform all the geek media in the valley about what a wild event it will be.
3. Have lots of the paddy companys branding at the event. Branded pint glasses perhaps
4. Soak it all in
such an event would be the biggest event since tech crunch parties.
may not be the face of the irish you want to give, but it will be what the yanks expect, and want. Give um what they want
August 28th, 2007 at 9:05 am
I like your thinking! Watch this space.
August 28th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
Like the idea of a party…
September 10th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Either John Collins or I will be covering this week with all of you for the Times, most likely me, as the Valley is my home turf and where I grew up.
I also have been approached about possibly setting up some contacts with some Valley folks of interest that I know on the blogging/social networking side. Amongst those mentioned are Dan Gillmor & Dave Winer. If this is of interest let me know. Also anyone with the most remote interest in computing will want to see the Computer History Museum in Mountain View — their collection in Visible Storage is amazing — I know the director there fairly well and can likely set up a special tour with a few extras. Also there is a separate museum, The Tech, in San Jose. It is more a hands on contextual and thematic sort of place but also interesting.
I was also suggesting you should do a group lunch at Buck’s in Woodside as, along with the old Wagon Wheel, that IS the heart of Valley deals and ideas.
If people have other interests let me know and I will see what I can do.
September 10th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
That’s fantastic news Karlin! This will be a huge help to us and I love all your suggestions. We’ll do a post on it highlighting your comments here.
Our plan for those Valley people who are less comfortable with the big social events is to invite them as guests of honour to the various smaller dinners we’ll have.
Intros and contacts would be greatly appreciated.
Am I right in thinking you are away this week? If not, we have the Paddy’s Valley social meetup before DemoBar at 5pm this Thursday in Ely HQ. If you can’t make it, hopefully John can.
September 14th, 2007 at 5:54 am
Yes I am out in California (Menlo Park to be precise, about 100 yards from Sand Hill Road; I can wave to the VCs every day…). I did chat a bit today to EI out here about the trip.
I will sound out Dan and Dave. Setting up something at the Comp History Museum is easy — just need to know your schedule.
September 14th, 2007 at 5:55 am
Yes I am out in California for a while (Menlo Park to be precise, about 100 yards from Sand Hill Road; I can wave to the VCs every day…). I did chat a bit today to EI out here about the trip.
I will sound out Dan and Dave. Setting up something at the Comp History Museum is easy — just need to know your schedule.
September 17th, 2007 at 11:10 am
[...] / TripPlanr, Benchd, UseAMap / JustRoutes, and Toddle gave their pitches to the expert panel. Itineraries for Paddy’s Valley were discussed and arranged, meetings and visits scheduled, contacts [...]
September 17th, 2007 at 11:43 am
[...] and more continue to come in through email. Can I remind people to check the previously published rough itinerary and then encourage you to post your ideas as comments to that, or here, for further [...]
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:03 am
A suggestion on the rough itinerary:
Have the networking event or party earlier in the week (possibly Tuesday evening).
This might generate some cross-pollination of contacts and allow time for some followup later in the week.
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:18 am
Other suggestions for touristy things to do:
Go see the ocean (Half-Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, Carmel)
Go to Fry’s Electronics (I think Palo Alto is the original but the one in San Jose is bigger)
Santana Row (loads of drink/food choices) + apple store in the mall across the road
East Bay, go to Berkeley University, buy a sandwich, and have lunch in the main square watching all the loonies