Networking In Seattle Page

I recently compiled all of my links of networking events in the Seattle area into one page. I incorperated all of the links sent to me since my first post on networking in Seattle. I hope you find some of it useful and I look forward to seeing some of you at events.

So check it out! Networking events in the Seattle area .

Welcome to StartupDay 2009

It’s great to be at StartupDay, early and ready to go. This is looking to be an exciting day here in downtown Bellevue.

They have put together a great lineup of speakers. I’m looking forward to hearing from Richard Barton of Zillow, Ksenia Oustiougova of Lilipip Studios, and Dave Schappell of TeachStreet.

Sunday edit:

I took notes at the event and I’d like to share some of them with you. If you’re one of the speakers and like (or don’t like) what I wrote, let me know! I hope I do justice to the speakers with these comments.

Marcelo Calbucci (Event Organizer)

Did a good job of introducing the event and promoting the sponsors. Put an a spectacular event.

Hillel Cooperman – Why Do a Startup?

An unexpected view on why to create a startup. He mostly talked about why he created a startup and how much damn work it takes. A reality for those unaware.

Takeaways: Don’t quit your day job; not even when you think it’s time, because it’s probably not. It takes a lot of work.

Josh Petersen – Pick an Idea

First, have lots of ideas. Collaborating is a necessity. When selecting an idea, keep in mind that we have biases, including towards our own ideas. Solve your own problems. Use a technique called “regret minimization framework” to decide on what project would you later regret not doing. Ask yourself: What if it works? And will I be happy with that outcome?

Colin Wong – Co-Founders and Advisors

Trust is critical. Find cofounders who complement you. Cofounders can provide operations, capital, knowledge, and introductions. Advisors provide knowledge and introductions. Pitfalls to cofounders: delivery (or not) of promises, conflict of personality. Build mechanisms to modify terms, partially to allow for a graceful exit if necessary. Put the terms on paper, even if they feel informal. Set expectations (of time, etc) with advisors. Be open to offering 1-2% equity instead of cash.

Alex Algard – Growing Through Bootstrapping

Cut non essential expenses. Work understaffed. Work with people with complementary skills. Know key financial terms – don’t get ripped off. All decisions inside the startup should be based on the $ it has today. Read “The Bootstrapper’s Bible”. Join local organizations for startups.

T.A. McCann – Funding Through Angels or VCs

T.A. talked mostly about how to go about acquiring outside funding for your startup. Write an operational plan instead of a big business plan. What investors are looking for: 50% people, 25% idea, 25% execution. I listened to T.A. give advice to a pre-entrepreneur during lunch. He really knows what he’s talking about.

Kelly Smith – Naming and Branding

Getting noticed is the hardest part. Be straightforward with intent and purpose. Feel special! Brands start with good products. Brand is difficult to replicate. Make fun stories. Say audacious, yet truthful, statements.

Dave Schappell – Building the Product

Cycle: build team, ship prototype, simplify, test, avoid the giant decider, scrum. PODS- Product Owner Daily Scrum.

Alex Berg – User Experience and Metrics

A small team that’s fast. Design patterns – not just for code. Fail quick, fail cheap. Use prototyping tools. Use personas. Despite the title, Alex shied away from talking about metrics.

Mike Mathieu – Acquiring Customers and Marketing

The worst insults for your startup are: feature or product, not business. You have to have sauce to have secret sauce.Value is defined by the customer. Working capital. Customer scalability. Know the unknowns. Build a revenue engine.

Shelly Farnham – Networking and Partnering

When networking, ask yourself “could this person be a: partner? customer? investor? advisor?” Seek diversity. Freely give away your ideas and knowledge. Go to events with possible customers.

Unfortunately I missed two presentations, which were:

• Ben Huh – Advertcraptizing: Where’s the Silver Lining?
• Alex Castro – Making Money Through SaaS

Ksenia Oustiougova – When It All Fails

I was so into Ksenia’s stories, I forgot to take notes. She talked about how startups can fail. About putting too much into the business and how it impacted her family.

Jonathan Sposato -  Being Acquired

17 secrets: 11 things you can control.

Rich Barton – Closing Keynote

Be revolutionary. Have a big hairy audacious dream (BHAD).

This Week in Networking

I booked myself for a total of 6 events this week. I’ll walk through them quickly. Monday was August 24th, 2009.

Monday | Eastside Small Business Meetup (Redmond), Bellevue Job Club Meetup (Bellevue)

Tuesday | Seattle Startups Open Coffee (Seattle)

Wednesday | Eastside Startups Open Coffee (Redmond)

Thursday | NWEN House Party (Seattle)

Friday – Sunday | Startup Weekend (BizSpark at Redmond)

Very soon I will be creating a dedicated page to networking events in the greater Seattle area. Look there for reviews of all of these events and more. Expect a post on Tuesday about Startup Weekend.

Enjoy your weekend! I certainly will, programming.

Startup and Networking Events in Seattle

These are all the event websites currently in my IE favorites.

• Seattle Tech Calendar – the most populated online calendar of tech events in Seattle that I know of.
• Startup-Entrepreneurship Events in Seattle – Seattle 2.0’s list.
• nPost event list – nPost’s event list.
• Gary’s Guide – just found this a few seconds ago.
• list by TechFlash – includes STC from above.
• Seattle Tech Startups – Last Wednesday I met Robert and Nathan at STS. Thanks guys! Great event. Monthly event.
• Seattle Startups Open Coffee – I will be there the day this is published (Tuesday).
• Eastside Startups Open Coffee – I will probably be there the day after this is published (Wednesday). If I do go, I will be bringing a guest.
• Seattle Job Social – Heard good things about this networking event. Employers, recruiters, job seekers, etc. I might be there this Thursday.
• Hops & Chops – regular event. Again, heard good things. I will be at one of these soon.
• TechFoam – Eastside version of Hops n Chops. Yet to go.
• Six Hour Startup – Recently heard about it. Yet to go.
• Saturday House – Recently heard about it. Yet to go.
• Startupweekend with MS BizSpark – Design and code a small application in a weekend. $50 entry.

Lots of events, so little time. Also, check out Meetup.com for more local events. I think all of my links are are tech or startup related, but Meetup has great meetings as well. I’m participating in two so far. If you have more events or lists of events, please comment.

By popular demand (about 5 people). Hope to see you at an event.