

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

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).
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machrider
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>

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davewasmer
Unfortunately, I fly out Sunday night (if Boston Logan is cleared out by
then!). Thanks for the tip though, wish I could make it.

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d0m
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
Sounds like you had a fun time! Any tips on discovering those random trivia
parties (or YC parties to crash ...)?

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d0m
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.

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alex_g
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
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
So just asking questions and talking about their startup?

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davewasmer
Yep, basically. Wherever the conversation leads. I haven't been disappointed
yet!

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brandoncordell
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

~~~
davewasmer
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 :/

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tmornini_ey
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! :-)

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

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tjbiddle
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!

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

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

I'd checkout meetups though.

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

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nlh
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.

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

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

