January 7th, 2010

January in Silicon Valley

I believe the J-term (short for January term) might be the best thing to happen to an academic calendar since President’s Day.

I never had one in undergrad (silly quarter system) so I was unable to appreciate that four weeks of “do-a-small-project” at the beginning of the year is a most excellent way to try something new.  Almost no downside.  It’s not like the “internship” during the summer between the two years of business school – a popular topic of conversation at cocktail parties among MBAs.

When I started business school, I was totally S.O.L.D. on cleantech. Coming from Texas, I had drank the energy kool-aid hard. I was extremely lucky to land an opportunity to work for a clean-tech startup in Beijing over January 2009 and it was through that opportunity that I realized that although I was in love with cleantech conceptually, I needed to have a more direct interaction with consumers. And that I loved the internet too much.

So, as they say here in Silicon Valley (SV from now on), I “pivoted” away from Cleantech and approx one year ago decided that the consumer web and everything that goes along with it was really my jam.

Instead of another international trip this January, I decided instead to pursue a different type of “cultural immersion”: spending the entire month in Silicon Valley. I am curious how I’ll do here – after many failed attempts to ditch my East Coast attitude problem, I have mostly stopped trying (which could potentially conflict with the “hella chill” personality type pervasive here in norcal).

The first few days of January was the MIT Entpreneurship Center’s “Silicon Valley Study Tour” where first-year students visit tech startups (both early and later stage) around Silicon Valley. 93 first-year students plus a few wise second-years stayed at the Stanford Park Hotel (which BTW is totally awesome – one of those places where you really feel “taken care of”) and organized a crazy scheme of rental-car-key-trading to get to lots of different startups over 4 days. Company List included below.

The two companies I visited – Pandora and Digg – were interesting to see because I am a user of both sites. Hearing stories from the execs about the challenges that each company is facing and the underlying shifts in the media industry that both companies are helping to perpetuate left me with a new respect for both companies.

Though the tour is over, I am very excited to be taking a class this January through Stanford/Harvard Law Schools called “Difficult Problems” taught by Jonathan Zittrain and Elizabeth Stark. The course will wrap up its first week tomorrow and has already provided a fantastic overview of a few very pressing current and future problems in cyberspace. For more on the class, check out the wiki, blog and twitter pages.

Finally, I’m working on a side project of my own in January while living in Palo Alto.  Because there’s always a side project.

I’m hoping after this month I’ll come away with something insightful to say about the startup ecosystem here in SV.  We’ll see.

MIT E & I Silicon Valley Study Tour Company List –