AVC Meetup: Palo Alto edition
Today was the first AVC Meetup for Palo Alto. A bunch of AVC readers gathered in downtown Palo Alto to meet each other, talk shop, and geek out. Overall, invigorating conversation had by all and an impressive turnout. We all agreed that we should convene again soon.
My own observations:
- I haven’t been surrounded by that much energy and infectious enthusiasm in awhile. It was a lot of fun. Everyone was down to earth, friendly, and eager to exchange ideas.
- The “stealth startup” is dead. Everyone working on an app or startup idea was more than willing to share how they built it, their preferred languages, and get feedback from others. Reminds me of Chris Dixon’s post on why you shouldn’t keep your startup idea a secret.
- Very little of the conversation focused on AVC.com. And I think that’s powerful. AVC may be how everyone came together, but because as AVC readers we had a strong interest in web technology and the disruptive nature of the web, there was a lot we already had in common even beyond the fact that we all read AVC. And this meetup was a great way to defrag everyone, even if just for a few hours and in one small city in the world.
- Scrappiness is a virtue. I met someone who was working on an iPad app. The amazing part? They don’t own one themselves. But through sheer enthusiasm, willpower, and of course smarts, they’ll be ready to launch tomorrow.
(The story behind AVC Meetups)
