Connecting the dots ...
The SF Chronicle has an interactive pic (Flash required) to show the White House, redesigned in San Francisco-style. Amenities include a jacuzzi and a massage table. Click the pic, then roll over the items to see their description.
The Chronicle opened up the design process to readers, asking them: What should Bush put in the Oval Office to reflect San Francisco styles?
The very first reader proposal:
“How about an exit sign? And make sure it is well-lighted, so they can find it!”
Valleywag’s Nick Douglas is leaving. Nick *was* Valleywag. Not much to add here, it’s the top item on Techmeme:
Good Morning Silicon Valley, Mathew Ingram, Master of 500 Hats, Thomas Hawk’s Digital …, Things That, WebProBlog, Federated Media …
But WTF is this new design?
Frankly, it makes me want to puke… except that it looks like someone has already puked on it 
This is a reprint of a previous post, because with 250 registrations I can now offer the few remaining tickets at a huge discount ($49 vs $199) at this special link.
Mark November 8th, Wednesday on
your calendar for a full-day entrepreneurial
super-event (actually two) at the Microsoft Conference
Center in Mountain View.
At 8am SVASE
will present The Art of the
Start, a conference all about helping
entrepreneurs succeed, offering time-tested, battle-hardened business
strategies and the opportunity to meet experienced entrepreneurs and
investors.
The drought of the past few years is over
and venture capital is flowing again. But starting a high tech business
is no less challenging and demanding than it’s ever been, even in an
environment of venture capital overhang.
Pure
talent and winning ideas are never enough. Whether you’re an
entrepreneur in a garage, dorm room, lab or inside a big company, there
are fundamental business 
insights and skills you need
to succeed.
Start-up authority and
popular business author Guy
Kawasaki and experts from Garage, along with Silicon Valley
leaders and mavericks, venture capitalists, and successful start-up
CEOs explore the art of starting up.
The conference
includes breakfast and lunch, including a Fireside Chat with
Guy Kawasaki and
Mike Arrington of TechCrunch.
Check out the agenda
here, then rush to register.
Rush, as Early Bird registration ends tomorrow, November 3rd. (Yes, I
know, posting this late, sorry…)
The conference ends
at 3:30, and an hour later a related event, Launch: Silicon
Valley starts at the same venue.
Launch: Silicon Valley is an
opportunity for the next generation of emerging technology companies
will to tell their stories to the world – literally, as the event will
be videotaped and broadcast later. Over 150 startup
submissions from all over the country, several European countries and
as far as New Zealand have been reviewed by an Advisory Board of
investors and executives. The 30 most interesting companies have been
invited to participate in the “Launch: Silicon Valley”
showcase, and 15 of these companies have
also been invited to deliver product
presentation to an audience of Silicon
Valley’s leading movers and shakers.
Product presentations will take place in three
categories, 5 companies each:
technologies
CleanTech
Other
Please check out the complete
agenda, and again, rush to register,
as Early Bird pricing ends tomorrow, November 3rd for this
event, too. The Registration site allows you to book both
events together, or any of them selectively.
Now,
for the surprise: Silicon Valley Auto
Group will be displaying Aston Martin, Bentley, and
Lamborghini cars at both events, and I’m hearing they’ll schedule
test-drives. I’m sure half the participants – the cream of
the Valley VC community – can actually afford these cars… as for the
other half, the Entrepreneurs, how is this for an incentive?
Kawasaki, Art of the Start, entrepreneurship, startups, silicon
valley, social networking, business events, lamborghini, aston
martin, bentley, venture capital, vc, vc
funding, startup
The Big Week is coming… and you get to pick how much you’re willing to pay for being “there”. If you got invited and coughed up $3,500, you can be at the Web 2.0 Conference which is actually no longer a conference but a Summit. If you didn’t make it there, don’t worry, thanks to Chris Pirillo, here’s the summary:
Of course if you want to get ahead of the crowd, you can upgrade… all the way to Web 2.2
The 2.2 upgrade is considerably less expensive, registration is only $32.95. Of course it’s all so relative, the original Web 2.1 which I had a chance to sponsor was a mere $2.80 – yes, that’s not a mistake, $2.80. Now, if we do a little trendspotting, we can figure out what one of the talk topics will be about: at Web 2.3 and Beyond, What’s Really Next? they will have to decide whether to increase next year’s price to $329.50. 
(OK, just kidding, $32.95 is still affordable)
Happy (Un)Conferencing next week. Oh, and if you’re not attending any of these events, meet Guy Kawasaki, dozens of VC’s and 30 or so startups here. (The Lamborghini is not included in registration)
(Updated)
Mark November 8th, Wednesday on your calendar for a full-day entrepreneurial super-event (actually two) at the Microsoft Conference Center in Mountain View.
At 8am SVASE will present The Art of the Start, a conference all about helping entrepreneurs succeed, offering time-tested, battle-hardened business strategies and the opportunity to meet experienced entrepreneurs and investors.
The drought of the past few years is over and venture capital is flowing again. But starting a high tech business is no less challenging and demanding than it’s ever been, even in an environment of venture capital overhang.
Pure talent and winning ideas are never enough. Whether you’re an entrepreneur in a garage, dorm room, lab or inside a big company, there are fundamental business insights and skills you need to succeed.
Start-up authority and popular business author Guy Kawasaki and experts from Garage, along with Silicon Valley leaders and mavericks, venture capitalists, and successful start-up CEOs explore the art of starting up.
The conference includes breakfast and lunch, including a Fireside Chat with Guy Kawasaki and Mike Arrington of TechCrunch. Check out the agenda here, then rush to register. Rush, as Early Bird registration ends tomorrow, November 3rd. (Yes, I know, posting this late, sorry…)
The conference ends at 3:30, and an hour later a related event, Launch: Silicon Valley starts at the same venue.
Launch: Silicon Valley is an opportunity for the next generation of emerging technology companies will to tell their stories to the world – literally, as the event will be videotaped and broadcast later. Over 150 startup submissions from all over the country, several European countries and as far as New Zealand have been reviewed by an Advisory Board of investors and executives. The 30 most interesting companies have been invited to participate in the “Launch: Silicon Valley” showcase, and 15 of these companies have also been invited to deliver product presentation to an audience of Silicon Valley’s leading movers and shakers.
Product presentations will take place in three categories, 5 companies each:
Please check out the complete agenda, and again, rush to register, as Early Bird pricing ends tomorrow, November 3rd for this event, too. The Registration site allows you to book both events together, or any of them selectively.
Now, for the surprise: Silicon Valley Auto Group will be displaying Aston Martin, Bentley, and Lamborghini cars at both events, and I’m hearing they’ll schedule test-drives. I’m sure half the participants – the cream of the Valley VC community – can actually afford these cars… as for the other half, the Entrepreneurs, how is this for an incentive?
Update (11/4): I can now give away a few hugely discounted tickets ( $49 vs. $199).
Tags: SVASE, garage.com, Guy Kawasaki, Art of the Start, entrepreneurship, startups, silicon valley, social networking, business events, lamborghini, aston martin, bentley, venture capital, vc, vc funding, startup pitch, launch silicon valley, product showcase, techcrunch
Live from the Office 2.0 Conference, where the winners of the audience votes are just being announced:
Best Ofice 2.0 Suite: Joyent
Best of Show: EchoSign
Best Demo:
Congratulations to the winners – and all other presenters!
Update (10/13) Unfortunately there was some trouble with the voting. 
Google purchased the 1,900 sq.ft. home in Menlo Park where founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin rented a garage eight years ago to start the business. The rent back then was $1,700 a month. Yes, you read it right, $1,700, and it’s not the entire home, just the garage!
In comparison, HP co-founder William Hewlett rented the garage where HP was started for $45 per month.
Only in California ….
(Updated)
This is NOT a joke: on the heels of the widening HP Spy Scandal deposed (?) Chairman and Chief Spy Patricia Dunn is still scheduled to be inducted into the Bay Area Business Hall of Fame at a $500-a-piece Gala Dinner at the Westin St. Francis. The other inductee is former Chevron Chairman & CEO George M. Keller.
I don’t know Mr. Keller, but I don’t believe he is involved in any dishonorable activities, and frankly, if I were him, I would feel very-very inconvenient right now. Perhaps to the point of rejecting the “honor” of sharing the pedestal with HP’s Master Spy.
Fellow Hall of Famers, HP Founders William Hewlett & David Packard must be turning in their graves now that that the Executive who did the most to destroy their company’s reputation is being honored along with them. Other business legends in the Hall of Fame must feel the same: Eugene Kleiner & Thomas J. Perkins, William Hambrecht, Charles Schwab, Gordon Moore, George Lucas, Larry Sonsini. As we know, at least Mr Sonsini and Mr Perkins were subject to HP’s pretexting – this must make for cozy dinner company 🙂
If Patricia Dunn had any decency left, she would not provoke further attention and public outcry by accepting the honor and attending the Gala, But for all we know now, she plans to.
Perhaps the other participants will save the day and boycott what would otherwise become the Bay Area Business Hall of Shame… (?)
Update (9/21): Apparently no-one “saved the day” Patricia Dunn was toasted and inducted yesterday.
Related articles:
Tags: Bay+Area+Business+Hall+of+Fame, Bay+Area+Business+Hall+of+Shame, Hall+of+Shame, HP, Hewlett+Packard, HP+Scandal, Pat+Dunn, Patricia+Dunn, Gala+Dinner, Boycott
Bad. Bad. Bad. I guess Robert is right: HP still has a major ethical problem.
Update (9/12): Management guru Tom Peters weighs in: 
“Your watch. Your responsibility. That’s the whole damn point of a chain of command—in Iraq or Palo Alto.
Step down, Ms Dunn.”(hat tip:Paul Kedroskyy)
Tags: HP+Scandal, HP+Board, Board+of+Directors, Corporate+Governance
I’ll be moderating another SVASE VC Breakfast Club meeting on Thursday, Sep 14th in San Francisco. As usual, it’s an informal round-table where up to 10 entrepreneurs get to deliver a pitch, then answer questions and get critiqued by a VC Partner. We’ve had VC’s from Draper Fisher, Hummer Winblad, Kleiner Perkins, Mayfield, Mohr Davidow, Emergence Capital …etc.
Thursday’s featured VC is John Parsons, General Partner, The Halo Funds. The Zvents post has all the info and a map, and if you plan to attend, please register here.
These sessions are a valuable opportunity for Entrepreneurs, most of whom would probably have a hard time getting through the door to VC Partners. Since I’ve been through quite a few of these sessions, both as Entrepreneur and Moderator, let me share a few thoughts:
Here’s a participating Entrepreneur’s feedback about a previous event.
See you in San Francisco!
Tags: Venture Capital, VC Breakfast, Funding, VC Funding, Startups, Entrepreneurship, SVASE
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