Silicon Valley Networking Resources

Filter. The. Noise.

Meanwhile in Silicon Valley…

New to Silicon Valley? Welcome!

No doubt you’ve started checking out all the networking opportunities available for entrepreneurs and startup aficionados…and found that you could spend every night of the week at a meetup, mixer, or conference. Which of course means you’ll have exactly zero time to actually build a business…and find yourself at way too many events filled with lawyers, accountants, consultants, and job seekers (which is fine, if that’s who you’re looking to meet).

I spent my first few months here figuring out how to filter the noise and prioritize networking resources most useful for me. Below is my list of the most useful public networking resources. My focus is on consumer tech, so your mileage will vary. Particularly if you’re focused on a specific area like clean tech, healthcare (check out Rock Health & UCSF), or Enterprise IT (check out Structure).

This list is a living document and no doubt I’ve missed some great resources, so please feel free to add your favorites in the comments.

Event Listings:

• Web Wallflower: signup for their bi-weekly email (h/t Cass Phillipps)
• StartupDigest: https://www.startupdigest.com/digests/silicon-valley
• BASES: http://bases.stanford.edu/ (email list sign-up: link)
• TechCocktail: http://tech.co/

Recurring events with varying topics:

• Startup Grind: https://www.startupgrind.com/silicon-valley/
• SVForum: http://svforum.org/
• MIT VLAB: http://www.vlab.org/
• DFJ Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Series: http://etl.stanford.edu/
• Founders Space: http://www.foundersspace.com/events/

Worthwhile Conferences:

• LAUNCH Festival: http://www.launchfestival.com/
• Other LAUNCH conferences: http://www.launch.co/
• TechCrunch Disrupt: http://techcrunch.com/event-type/disrupt/
• Everything from 500 Startups: http://500.co/events/
• VentureBeat conferences: http://events.venturebeat.com/

Accelerators/Co-Working spaces with events:

• Plug and Play Tech Center: http://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/
• nestGSV: http://gsvlabs.com/
• RockSpace: http://rocketspace.com/events
• Galvanize: http://www.galvanize.com/events/

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Originally published at jonathanchizick.com on June 30, 2014.