How to break into Silicon Valley at andrewchen

(Above: No, it doesn’t actually appear like this — and sure it’s principally workplace parks and tech billboards. However I wish to faux)

You’ll by no means remorse spending time in SF
Should you work in tech, you’ll by no means remorse spending 3-5 years within the Bay Space. That is recommendation I’ve been giving to folks for years, and it’s formed by my very own expertise — in spite of everything, I moved to the Bay Space in 2007 and it fully modified my life.

How?

• I met tons of unimaginable folks, a few of whom went on to create main merchandise and located unicorn firms. Most are nonetheless constructing
• I used to be launched to many traders who at this time run a number of the main VC corporations and investor networks
• discovered a lot!
• made life lengthy pals
• fashioned basic elements of my world view
• Due to the latest AI growth, I’ve been assembly numerous people who’re new to SF. Many people very deliberately need to construct out their community and get rooted within the Bay Space, and to totally immerse themselves in tech. I discovered a lot in my first few years and wished to go alongside a few of my classes.

Specifically:

• private viral loop: Asking folks for extra folks
• ask for recommendation and hear
• why it’s useful to “have a factor”
• know what you carry to the desk
• discover your cult
• how running a blog/tweeting is useful
• why I keep away from conferences/occasions
• constructing a community when you sleep

Getting began by asking for intros
I first moved to the Bay Space as a 25 12 months previous nerd with a light-weight resume and large tech desires. I knew precisely 2 folks, and that was it. However very deliberately, I wished to construct a robust skilled community and to be taught from folks. The very first thing I did was to be intentional and methodical about it, by asking the 2 folks I knew to please sit down and recommend 5 to 10 folks for me to fulfill — an they did various e mail intros for me. The wonderful factor about SF tech tradition was that this labored! Though the intros have been very mild on context, folks have been keen to seize espresso and share what they have been engaged on, and what they’ve discovered during the last couple years.

After every assembly, I’d comply with up with just a few bullet factors on what I discovered from the dialog, after which ask for 2 or three extra folks to fulfill. This was like constructing my very own private viral loop, the place each chat was just a few extra chats. For my first six months within the Bay Space, I ended up assembly 3 to five new folks day-after-day. I discovered an unimaginable quantity. I can affirm that is nonetheless doable, as others I do know have performed it in recent times.

How one can add to every convo
You would possibly ask, what do you find yourself speaking about? What worth are you able to add as somebody who’s simply moved to the realm and is beginning in tech? The reply is, you merely ask for recommendation. Individuals transfer to the Bay Space from all around the world as a result of they’re extremely captivated with what they’re constructing. They love speaking about that. and in case you have one thing that you simply’re captivated with too, and ask for recommendation, you have been certain to get numerous it. The tradition within the SF tech neighborhood could be very open and the intro tradition makes it simple to talk with quite a lot of new folks.

For me, I used to be coming from Seattle, and I requested folks about numerous mysteries of the tech business I didn’t perceive as an outsider. Why have been there so many client successes within the Bay Space however not elsewhere? How does angel investing and VC work? Why don’t they construct extra homes/places of work within the Peninsula? And so forth.

Having a “factor”
That mentioned, the conversations are extra productive when you will have “a factor.” What I imply by that’s that every one of those conversations and networking are extra helpful when you find yourself beginning an organization, creating a brand new podcast, are engaged on a brand new undertaking or ebook, or one thing else. When you will have a directed objective in thoughts, then the conversations typically are extra helpful for all events concerned, since you have been making your self an knowledgeable in a selected space and your questions are extra related. In any other case you’ll certainly encounter very busy individuals who merely refuse to “seize espresso” to “catch up” as a result of it’s a poor use of time. I encourage you to be on a quest of your individual, and even higher a very attention-grabbing quest, in order that your conversations with folks will be as productive as doable.

In my case, I used to be very within the state-of-the-art on rising customers, metrics, community results, and advertising and marketing. I requested everybody about this matter, and started to develop my very own concepts that I’d share freely. Ultimately, it turned clear that just a few small communities orienting the PayPal mafia have been the furthest alongside of their considering. And that’s how I ended up being uncovered first to ideas like retention curves, DAU/MAU, viral loops, and so forth.

These concepts have been curiosity to me, as a result of my skilled expertise main as much as that time was truly an adtech. I had beforehand labored in on-line adverts, with prospects from WSJ, CBS, MySpace, and so forth, and had even gotten a patent filed on advert concentrating on (sure, US7747676B1). I had a superpower in my area information of CAC, A/B testing, funnel optimization, lead gen, and so forth, and started to merge all of this considering with client merchandise. In 2007 this was innovative at a time when product success was typically measured by vainness metrics corresponding to the whole registrations for a product. This bit of specialised information was what I delivered to the desk, and I talked about a few of these learnings and concepts, and the way they could apply to merchandise. Generally I’d get intros to attention-grabbing folks merely due to this experience, which I appreciated.

Discover your cult
I generally joke that the Bay Space is dominated by cults. Again in 2007, there was a cult surrounding quantified self, which intersected with numerous people kicking off Crossfit, keto, Soylent, and different well being traits. There have been folks constructing robots and {hardware}. The PayPal mafia was a factor, however look a bit of nearer, and there was an enormous community of Stanford CS folks and even Canadian mafias. And Burning Man folks. In 2007, YCombinator was simply getting off the bottom, and I used to be fortunate to fulfill most of the early people again after they have been residing in North Seashore on strictly ramen diets. At this time, these cults have developed however they nonetheless exist — there’s a big benefit find one which fits you, and even higher, beginning one. Years later I joined Uber and had the concept in the future there can be an ex-Uber cult. I believe that’s occurred, and there’s been numerous founders, traders, and builders from that community.

Why running a blog/writing is so useful
Within the first 12 months, I discovered the significance of writing issues down. The opposite factor I began to do immediately was to jot down down all the things that I used to be studying. I began an actual/skilled weblog at first of 2007 on the Blogger platform and initially, I acquired writers block as a result of I used to be attempting to provide you with wonderful and grandiose concepts that I’d share with the world. My first month, I had 20 e mail subscribers, from family and friends I forcibly subscribed.

However ultimately, I created a extra profitable technique for myself, the place I’d merely doc what I used to be studying. It turned out that if one particular person instructed you a singular thought I’d deal with it prefer it was a secret (or a minimum of, I’d ask permission). It was typically the case {that a} dozen folks would discuss the identical thought, and there was merely consensus memes floating round within the ether, and I targeted on writing these down. I discover that numerous my running a blog has been much less about inventing model new concepts, however as an alternative merely amassing and increasing on the present tech zeitgeist. A number of months in, Robert Scoble linked to my weblog from his, and that helped a ton. (Thanks!)

It was with this perspective that I started to jot down about viral loops, development, hacking, measuring retention, and product/market match, and all the opposite ideas that got here to outlined my writing.

There’s a virtuous cycle in speaking to attention-grabbing folks, writing down expanded variations of concepts that come up, thus being uncovered, to extra attention-grabbing folks, and rinsing and repeating. This core loop helped energy the expansion of my skilled community over the primary few years. In later years, I added a touch of advising and investing.

15+ years later it’s bizarre to assume that by accident growing a behavior of writing and blocking would nonetheless be with me at this time. The truth is, this behavior is so highly effective that I like to recommend doing it above and past virtually some other skilled “networking” exercise. After all at this time you may be making movies or podcasts as an alternative of writing. Or if you happen to’re an engineer, publishing your code on GitHub. It’s all the identical idea. Placing your work into the world, whether or not it’s textual content or video or code, and letting that interact the world.

On this method, you’re constructing your community when you sleep. Individuals discover you and your work and your concepts, so that you simply don’t must put in time for 1 million espresso conferences.

Why I keep away from conferences
And particularly, I discover writing to be rather more highly effective than going to conferences. One factor you’ll discover concerning the SF tech business is that there are infinite occasions and conferences. Whereas a secondary startup hub might need a serious tech occasion as soon as each month or two, SF has them day-after-day. There’s workplace warmings, product launches, new AI meetups, hangouts at Dolores, massive splashy conferences, hackathons, and so forth. There are infinite varieties.

Construct a community when you sleep
Nonetheless over time, I’ve discovered them to be much less scalable than writing. They’re enjoyable, and it’s a lot simpler to have a one on one dialog than it’s to create a content material. Whenever you actually assume by means of how a lot time you spend attending to a convention, on a regular basis between classes, and if you communicate how few individuals are truly within the viewers listening. Distinction to any sort of digital platform the place you possibly can write a blurb and 1000s of individuals see your concepts.

Going again to my unique assertion, I believe it’s arduous to remorse 3-5 years working in SF. Many individuals say it’s not an important place to reside — and generally that appears true. People hate the monoculture. Nonetheless you possibly can at all times transfer residence, and if you do, you’ll at all times be the particular person with Silicon Valley tech expertise. And moreover, the training curve is so sturdy, notably for startup founders, as is the community of capital and friends. It’s a one among a sort place, and I extremely suggest founders spend just a few years even when they don’t intend to remain in the long term.

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