Moving to Silicon Valley

[dvduval]

So very soon places like Apple, Google, Yahoo, Ebay and Oracle will be "right down the street" from me. I have a feeling there are going to be lots of ways to network, and I'm really excited about being around some of these tech giants and meeting some of the people behind them.

Any one here from Silicon Valley?
Any recommendations of people I should meet or places I should visit?

[nicholasb]

no, but you should watch pirates of silicon valley. it is a really good movie about how bill gates screwed over steve jobs to create microsoft

[money2k]

I live in the silicon valley. It's nothing really special. I'm about 10 minutes from goolge hq and apple hq. Pretty hard to meet the execs, but you see lots of employees everywhere in the area. There are lots of places to visit I can tell you about. Pm me and tell me what u like

[MarketItAll]

Pirates of silicon is a great movie, agreed.

[fitz10]

Have lots of cash. I have a few friends who work at Google and they all tell me that it's very expensive to live in that area.

[Traffic-Bug]

Obviously you are going to pay through your nose for lodging and accommodation in that area (where the big tech giants are) due to the sheer number and volume of employees already stationed there. But you could get acquaninted with lot of people who can come in handy when you are looking for jobs!

[jasonboom]

Are you moving to Milpitas? I used to travel there for work a few times a year. Can't say I have any recommendations, but I did love the area.

[Flierboy]

Hi dvduval, I live in the area (about 10 mins from Google, Yahoo, Paypal, Facebook, eBay...). My spouse works at one of the majors. Expensive place, but love it

In terms of IM specific networking opportunities, not sure if this place has any major advantage vs. other metro areas.

Now if you want to do a tech/biotech/clean energy startup then the ecosystem and the support system in the valley is unbeatable.

I also know of a bunch of internet marketing, mobile advertising firms etc. here as well which are doing well. Their model is more that of a platform or marketplace provider/enabler. Not really the kind of stuff that most of us discuss here.

PM me if you have any questions about your move. Maybe we can all grab a drink with money2k when you get here.

Welcome to Silicon Valley

Best,

-Ritesh

Originally Posted by money2k

I live in the silicon valley. It's nothing really special. I'm about 10 minutes from goolge hq and apple hq. Pretty hard to meet the execs, but you see lots of employees everywhere in the area. There are lots of places to visit I can tell you about. Pm me and tell me what u like

Originally Posted by dvduval

So very soon places like Apple, Google, Yahoo, Ebay and Oracle will be "right down the street" from me. I have a feeling there are going to be lots of ways to network, and I'm really excited about being around some of these tech giants and meeting some of the people behind them.

Any one here from Silicon Valley?
Any recommendations of people I should meet or places I should visit?

[Jarrett]

I remember I used to confuse silicon.. with silicone.. big difference let me tell ya

[Richnana]

Lived in Silicon Valley for years, San Jose, Santa Clara, Worked for Applied Materials, Xerox in Palo Alto, Apple. Great places to see some very interesting things to do. You might see Bill Gates in a Grocery Store , not Steve Jobs any more. The Google Execs escape to their private jets through an underground tunnel (?)

The real story of the Silicon Valley is how Steve Jobs screwed dumb Xerox out of the whole GUI interface that Xerox had developed and had used in house. But remember the Xerox guys said that there would NEVer be a computer on every desk. the soon to be Apple Executives were at a meeting and saw what Xerox had developed and made a bazillion dollars off of it.

That's the real story and I am sticking to it

Bill had vision and tenacity. He deserves everthing he has and more because no one really believed in his vision not IBM, not Xerox, nobody could see the possibility of affordable computers that are accessible to everyone.

Anyway Silicon Valley is a great place to live. It is expensive. Enjoy!!!

[grayambition]

Can't help with much current info. I grew up in Menlo Park (right next to Palo Alto) before it was Silicon Valley. Lots of weird changes. I left in '82 because it was getting too crowded and expensive.

There are only two things I miss about the Bay Area:

Tao Tao in Mountain View for the best Chinese chicken salad. Ming's used to have the best, but sadly, they are no more.

Good Earth's (Palo Alto) small planet burger.

Oh, and Yet Wah in San Francisco for the best potstickers in the world. Worth a drive to The City (and remember, it's The City).

Please enjoy for me.

[Jeremy Morgan]

I live near and work in the Silicon Forest , we have representation of nearly every company in the Silicon Valley, and I can tell you that the networking potential is not as good as you think. Yes I have networked a lot, and I know people who work for HP, IBM, Intel, etc and know a lot of talented amazing people, but it's probably not as easy as you might think to break into the scene. (And yes I work at one of those large companies but it took years get there).

To get on full time at one of these places and really meet some people on the cutting edge will take a good education, hard work, and slaving away a few years as a contractor or temp-to-hire and tireless work. That's what worked for me. Just being there isn't enough, and even getting hired on isn't going to make you an instant success.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, the opportunity is there, but it's probably not as easy as you might think. Just living in the Silicon Valley won't make you successful, but what you do once you're there probably will.

And yes, the cost of living in Hillsboro can be pretty high as well.

[Social Experts]

Just don't try cheat adsense lol. They'll find u haha

[grayambition]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Morgan

Just living in the Silicon Valley won't make you successful, but what you do once you're there probably will.

Very true!

I have a good friend in Silicon Valley who's been unemployed for over 2 years now, and he's a super-smart dude who was a VP at an electronics company when he got laid off.

I think it's slowly improving, but Silicon Valley had one of the worst unemployment rates in the country, up around 11.9%.

There's a ton of opportunity there, but there's also a ton of competition.

[dvduval]

Thank you for all of your replies. I'm going to save this thread for when I get there. It's good to know there are people to meet and places to see. Fortunately, I won't be looking for a job as I already own a company, and feel comfortable with the living arrangements we have made. Hopefully, I wiill be able to network and even add a couple of employees in the coming year, or even find some start up money. We are probably 1/10th the size of Wordpress and growing.

[CDarklock]

Originally Posted by nicholasb

no, but you should watch pirates of silicon valley. it is a really good movie about how bill gates screwed over steve jobs to create microsoft

How odd. I saw it as a movie about how Steve Jobs was a jerk.

[dvduval]

Originally Posted by Richnana

Lived in Silicon Valley for years, San Jose, Santa Clara, Worked for Applied Materials, Xerox in Palo Alto, Apple. Great places to see some very interesting things to do. You might see Bill Gates in a Grocery Store , not Steve Jobs any more. The Google Execs escape to their private jets through an underground tunnel (?)

The real story of the Silicon Valley is how Steve Jobs screwed dumb Xerox out of the whole GUI interface that Xerox had developed and had used in house. But remember the Xerox guys said that there would NEVer be a computer on every desk. the soon to be Apple Executives were at a meeting and saw what Xerox had developed and made a bazillion dollars off of it.

That's the real story and I am sticking to it

Bill had vision and tenacity. He deserves everthing he has and more because no one really believed in his vision not IBM, not Xerox, nobody could see the possibility of affordable computers that are accessible to everyone.

Anyway Silicon Valley is a great place to live. It is expensive. Enjoy!!!

It's funny how things that happened so long ago are still being debated today. I probably will not be meeting Bill or Steve in the immediate future, unless I am really lucky, and then they would need a reason to want to talk to me. Strangely, I did see Owen Wilson in Whole Foods last night, wearing jeans and lumber shirt and drinking a raw vegetable smoothie I believe. He didn't talk to me either.

I really do especially look forward to being near the mountains, parks and the Pacific, as well as exploring the surrounding area. I'm sure I will meet lots of interesting people in the process.

[dvduval]

2500 miles later... I'm here!

[apollocreed]

Originally Posted by Jarrett

I remember I used to confuse silicon.. with silicone.. big difference let me tell ya

If you are looking for Silicone you would need to go to the San Fernando Valley for that.

Originally Posted by Richnana

Lived in Silicon Valley for years, San Jose, Santa Clara, Worked for Applied Materials, Xerox in Palo Alto, Apple. Great places to see some very interesting things to do. You might see Bill Gates in a Grocery Store , not Steve Jobs any more.

I thought Bill GAtes and Micro$oft are in Redmond, WA.

[dvduval]

Originally Posted by apollocreed

I thought Bill GAtes and Micro are in Redmond, WA.

Microsoft has a strong presence here though. Probably Bill is more working on his foundation now, and doesn't come to the bay as much I would assume.

[dvduval]

Had our first rain. Apparently, this is what is referred to as "bad weather" here. Still it gets up to 60 F and it doesn't rain all day. I'm really getting used to this weather. I got to visit my first internet company this week, and my first winery. I really am loving it here. Thanks for everyone's feedback.