We started the day off with a “pilgrimage” to Google and Facebook. It was lame. Neither one let us in (perhaps because it was Saturday and they had no idea we were coming) but at least Google had some smooth little bikes to ride and Facebook offered us some free soda.

Next we headed to Stanford Stadium which was closed, but entrepreneurially we found a way in. The place was jaw-droppingly huge. Imagining the place packed to the rafters with students cheering on their own brought some insight into the type of togetherness and sense of community that Stanford students experience. We need to figure out a way to instill this sense of belonging at Aalto.

Co-working

Last stop in Palo Alto was Hacker Dojo. It is, quite possibly, the most “hackery” space we’d ever visited. Totally ‘bootstrappy’, totally techie, with a pure focus on working and a love for all things technical. Very cosy if you like that sort of thing.

Making our way back to San Francisco, our next visit was with Dogpatch Labs. The place was unique. An old pier remade into a mellow and very open co-working space, with a harbour view and an awesome decor. It was by far the coolest “office” we’ve ever seen. Sadly, the place has been condemned and will be gone in two weeks. Hopefully the atmosphere can be preserved at their new spaces.

Rocket Space was the largest co-working space we visited. Divided over 3 floors, with a mix of private and open offices, the space houses around 500 people. Original brick walls and timber elements gave it a unique feel. I/O Ventures was a mix of wifi-café and office space with a capacity for 200-ish people. It was located in the ‘hipster‘ area of San Francisco, which gave it a very trendy yet laid-back vibe. On the bar you can see a guy working on CAD, someone else coding away and another designing fashion, i.e. a diverse mix of people.

Seeing a variety of spaces over here gave us perspective into what we are trying to establish with the Garage. Creating a welcoming sense of openness is of the utmost importance and in this sense we need to cater to a really diverse bunch of people.

California dreaming

This week has been a series of realisations, new perspectives, new comfort zones, and intensive learning; a week of draining long days, hard work, little sleep and re-calibrating our thinking. The week has left a mark on us all and we strongly recommend it to everyone. “Get out of the country, not just the building“, is what Steve advised during his visit. Not only does this give you perspective but it is also a great, great source of inspiration.

Standing on a cliff, looking over the Golden Gate, the San Francisco skyline and the incredible sunset over the Pacific Ocean, made us all very philosophical. The simple beauty of this world was humbling and mixed with this week’s experiences, somehow made us all look inward. It had been an amazing, awe-inspiring week and on the drive down we came to thinking about how most things you achieve in life depend on yourself. Perhaps this is really the most valuable take-away this week’s had to offer: it made us dream like never before.

- J, N, R & J

After meeting with Forrest we headed to Plug and Play Tech Center where we met up with Dom who was actually the first guy we met on Monday at TCDisrupt. Plug&Play wasn’t that nice of a space but their depiction as “Silicon Valley in a box” was very interesting. Basically the same building housed over 200 startups, tens of Angels and VCs, coaches and mentors. Finnpro and Finnode had booths there but they were empty. Collaboration here could be useful for some of our startups.

Highlight of the day

At Disrupt we met Hermione Way, a cool British girl, who does video coverage for The Next Web. We wanted to do a piece on Startup Sauna with her so she told us we need to have an interesting setting for the interview, sort of like you would on a date. Consequently, we agreed to do the interview in a sauna. This was certainly the most bizarre interview any of us had done, but we felt it was a great idea and it was very interesting. We discussed important points and hopefully it will turn out great. So stay tuned. In addition we were able to provide the sauna experience to the next web crew and we’re certain it left a lasting mark. (Thanks to everyone who helped us make this happen and thanks Hermione!)

In the evening we headed out to Santa Cruz where the videographer we worked with today lived and had a nice seafood dinner. Also saw some seals at the wharf!

Lessons of the day

Being different is really important in what we do. It’s a core reason behind the success of Aaltoes and Startup Sauna and should be so in the future as well. It is why we got the interview and it’s why our Startup Sauna t-shirts attracted so much attention at the Disrupt conference.

Being open-minded and receptive to ideas and people leads to serendipitous connections and opportunities – another key lesson that today’s events epitomise.

Doing is learning. Even though we weren’t on sure footing today in the sauna, taking charge and going for it taught us way more than not doing it.

Tomorrow is our last day here and the schedule will be tight. Now a couple of beers and then bed.

Looking forward to another Super8 brekkie,

J, N, R & J

We met up with Rebecca from the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP). She was hired recently to take care of STVP’s external partnerships and told us of the future ambitions of the program, Stanford and Aalto cooperation. An interesting point she made is that Stanford is very intent on learning from everything that’s going on with Aalto, as they would like to see students engage in the same way. Stanford wants to cultivate its partnerships to be more than just business relationships and Rebecca is truly great with people.

One of the STVP’s programs is called “Mayfield Fellows”. It starts with classes in the spring, continues with internships in startups over the summer and concludes in the fall when students teach case studies to each other based on what they’ve learned during the summer. This idea made us instantly think that Startup Life could have an important role in the new Aalto entrepreneurship curriculum.

One of today’s highlights was definitely the d.school, Institute of Design at Stanford. The variety of spaces, people from multiple disciplines, the cross-pollination of ideas, a true sense of openness and ambitious projects create a unique vibe with a “change-the-world” mentality. The enthusiasm and joy that exuded from open-minded people creating with an aim to have an impact was purely inspiring.

In the evening we met up with Nruthya from Bases (Business Association for Stanford’s Entrepreneurial Students). She was awesome. They have a great energy going and collaboration with them looks promising. She also provided us with some insight into the student world at Stanford.

Today’s valuable insights

Today was truly an enriching experience for many reasons. Firstly, it was amazing to see what one of the world’s top universities looks and feels like. Secondly, it really broadened visions of what education can be. Particularly the integration of design thinking into education across disciplines, left a lasting mark. The ME310 course is taking a breather at Aalto this year, which feels incomprehensible based on what we saw today. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, today’s visit gave us invaluable insight into what Aalto is striving for, what Aalto can become and, to some extent, what we need to do in order to get there. It made us think, more than ever, about what we really want to get out of our education and what we can do to make great things happen for ourselves and our community.

Big day tomorrow, spirits high, feeling motivated,

J, N, R & J

What is a super angel?

Among the panelists was Ron Conway, quite possibly the most well respected angel investor in Silicon Valley. While discussion during the panel itself was not that interesting, there was something about his person that stood out. A certain altruistic mindset about startups, sprinkled with a passion for great businesses and innovation, shone through everything he said and the way he carried himself. For instance: a huge number of people wanted the mic during Q&A to ask the panelists questions, but there was only time for 4. This didn’t sit well with Conway who, as the others walked backstage, stepped off and spent half an hour talking to everyone he had time for. Maya Angelou says: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.“, a saying that certainly hit home today. The true passion these guys have for helping the little guy  and the value they potentially add is something perhaps overlooked and under-appreciated in Finland. Our angel investors aren’t viewed as heroes in the mainstream, and it seems current regulatory conditions even discourage angel investing. Room for improvement.

Victory on the  Battlefield

The 7 finalists pitching in the Battlefield were all in a league of their own in terms of presentation and flare. Vocre a startup doing a voice translation app received the Audience Choice and Best Mobile App awards. Prism Sky Labs a startup bringing physical spaces online was runner up and Shaker, an Israeli startup disrupting the way people interact socially online won first prize. Their demo was quite impressive. They called it “first life” as it is sort of like Second Life, except that you are yourself as Shaker integrates your Facebook profile. You interact, as yourself, just as you would with people in an actual bar or park etc. This approach enables you to e.g. talk to friends’ friends who you otherwise could not interact with.

Great stuff going on, way more than fits into this blog post. These days are long. Though we’ve only been here for 3 days it feels like 3 weeks. We’re all feeling tired, but the rate at which exciting things keep coming up keeps us going on. But more on that later in the week (seriously stay tuned).

Time for some shut eye.

J, N, R & J

P.S. Khosla Ventures just pinged they are eager to meet Startup Sauna teams in January. Vinod Khosla is one of the most successful Venture Capitalists, or by his terms “Venture Assistants”, ever.

Startup Life continues to generate traction not only in the conference, but also during the Startup Crawl event we attended today. Startup Crawl showcased startups from AngelPad, with btw some pretty swanky offices, who are looking to hire. Two TCDisrupt attendees, Quixey and Apptivo, have opened positions to Startup Life candidates. Talent here is very scarce and it seems our region is in high demand. The application period for the program is now open, we really recommend applying!

Highlights of the day include three pretty cool startups (Evertale, Tonara and Goinstant), Vinod Khosla’s business card (kudos Riku!), a story of Startup Life to be published in New York’s UNYstartups.com, an interview with Hermione from The Next Web tomorrow and meeting some of the brightest minds of the Valley at Blackbox Mansion.

2 down, 4 to go,

J, R, N & J

After just a few hours sleep, ignoring the jet lag, we spent most of the day at the conference pitching Startup Life to about 80 startups and Startup Sauna to 10ish VC`s. Generally, the feedback was great and it seems our region is able to generate some traction at the moment. Startup Life was particularly well received generating lots of interest from e.g. Eventbrite and Posterous. Having said that, the conference was an excellent source of perspective and some humbling realisations.

Are you good or are you “valley” good?

Firstly, the pitches at TechCrunch Battlefield were stellar. The confidence and professionalism with which startups pitching here present themselves is at a whole other level from what any of us have seen before, with the superstars setting a whole new standard in our minds. However, while the median level of startups here is easily above what we see back home, a vast majority of our rising stars can and do compete with the best of them, which brings me to the second realisation of today:

The range of startup-quality that get funding here is very wide

Some of the startups we saw in the Startup Alley showcase today were, in our opinion, less than stellar. However, stalls in the alley were very expensive (premiums at $ 30 000) meaning most of these startups were, none-the-less, well funded.  This is a striking observation and shows the necessity for improving conditions for private risk capital in Finland, as many of our really good startups that receive little or no funding would likely be well funded if they were founded and operating here.

All in all a very productive and interesting day.

Signing off,

J, R, N & J

P.S. Shout out to Kristo et al. for your awesome work evangelising. Lots of people recognised you and Aaltoes.