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

89 points by davewasmer 13 years ago | 25 comments

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 13 years ago |

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 13 years ago | |

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 13 years ago |

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 13 years ago | |

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

d0m 13 years ago | | |

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 13 years ago |

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 13 years ago | |

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 13 years ago | | |

So just asking questions and talking about their startup?

brandoncordell 13 years ago |

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 13 years ago | |

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 13 years ago | |

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 13 years ago | | |

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 13 years ago |

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 13 years ago |

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 13 years ago | |

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

bradleyjoyce 13 years ago |

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 13 years ago | |

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

juanbyrge 13 years ago |

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

I'd checkout meetups though.

davewasmer 13 years ago | |

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 13 years ago | |

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

nlh 13 years ago | | |

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 13 years ago | |

Better get back to work then.

Jonovono 13 years ago |

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

davewasmer 13 years ago | |

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