Guide to Silicon Valley Startup Events

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SKMurphy Guide to Silicon Valley Startup Events

This “Guide to Silicon Valley Startups Events” gives an overview of networking and startup events in Silicon Valley.

Please note the fact that we list an event here does not mean that we endorse it.
These events were selected based on their descriptions, we have not attended every group and cannot vouch for every organizer.

If we have overlooked an event or group you have found valuable please let us know.

Silicon Valley is considered Santa Clara, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Menlo Park, San Jose, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Campbell, and Redwood City (Santa Clara County). The Greater San Francisco Bay Area, with lots of startup activity, is San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland (usually about an hour or two away by car). There is little public transportation. Caltrain runs between San Francisco and Mountain View and Uber.

Silicon Valley map

The Golden Triangle is a slice of Silicon Valley flanked by Highways 101, 237, and 880. It incorporates parts of Santa Clara, North San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Milpitas. Apple, Google, Facebook, Cisco, Linkedin, and many more are in this triangle. Even companies headquartered in other states have research groups, including Tesla, Microsoft, Amazon, BMW, Capital One, John Deer, and Walmart.

Calendars of Upcoming Events

Good search terms startup, founder, hackers, bootstrap, tech, and any technology terms interest you (for example, js3, LLM, React, etc. – you can be as techie and narrow as you want and still find a group).

Many technical organizations put on events. Most organizations list their events on Meetup, Eventbrite, or both. These below are well-attended technology meetings that don’t necessarily cater to startups but have a heavy technology focus.

A recent search of startup events in Silicon Valley resulted in hundreds of results. Here are some broad categories that I found.

Below, I have grouped them by type of event. I have listed what I know about the group or person organizing the event. It is a work in progress that I will keep updating.

When looking at the events from the above calendars. I look at the organizers and put the events into the following board categories:

  • Free or low cost pitch event and pitch competitions
  • Networking and mixers
  • Programs and courses

In the following sections, I have listed common organizers for the common type of events.

Free or Low Cost Pitch Events and Pitch Competition

These can be insightful if you have never been to one. VCs do attend and they are there to talk to founders. Usually, they have good networking between founders and VCs. Even if you are not pitching you can attend and network with folks.

There are increasingly more high dollar pitch events. Real VCs do not ask you to pay beyond paying for a meal. These events normally attract many oversea attendees and rarely lead to any funding. Before you signup, always do your homework and dig into how many teams they have funded.

Here are 8 questions you should consider asking before you sign up for a pitch competition.

Our warning to you is to never pay to pitch. Read SKMurphy’s blog post

Investor Lists

Where you can find a list of investors.

Delegation and Professional Expat Groups – Innovation Hubs in Silicon Valley

Almost every region globally has formal or informal delegation groups in Silicon Valley. Some are informal groups of expats that are interested in connecting innovative founders to Silicon Valley. These professional networks know how to bring technology from one region to Silicon Valley and are great expertise to leverage. In general, these innovation hubs aim to build a “two-way bridge” supporting innovation in both ways (going to Silicon Valley and coming back to the region). Typically, there is no fee for the startups. If there is a fee, here are 8 questions you should consider asking before you sign up.

Networking and Mixers

Here are a couple of our favorites:

  • Bootstrappers Breakfast Roundtable Discussions – while small and organized by us (SKMurphy) these are definitely worth checking out, you get to meet and connect with folks in a more impactful way than most networking events. The Mountain View location is near Caltrain. Over 900 events (5-star rating)
  • Lightning Talks on Friday Nights organized by Hacker DoJo, a popular Silicon Valley co-working space
  • SJ Kurzgesagt – a fun networking group of Silicon Valley animation and design professionals organized by Dave Nair and Logan Dyer.
  • Idea to IPO Networking events – organized by Rob Lau and are well attended and worth going to. They are large events in a bar environment.
  • Hana Haus’ Coffee & Connect in Palo Alto
  • Friday Night Socials at Draper University
  • Startup Oasis, run by Robert Maddox offers programs for finding co-founders and pitching business ideas

One-Off Traveling Roadshows of Pitch Events

Programs and Courses

Usually these are online and have limited networking opportunities. Topics and quality of speaker vary. Some events are volunteer organized and some are for profit. Programs tend to be one off introductions into a given subject area. Courses are on-going for some duration and allow you to dig deeper into the subject material.

Short Programs and Webinars – our favorites

Courses

  • SKMurphy Bootcamps offer interactive guidance and training for market exploration and getting more customers. (fee)

Startup Houses

Because we live here, we have not attended any of these. So it is just informed by what I hear.

Silicon Valley is considered Santa Clara, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Menlo Park, San Jose, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Campbell, and Redwood City. The Greater Bay Area with lots of startup activity is San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland (usually about an hour or two away by car).

Coworking

Once, coworking spaces were a source of excellent startup networking – not so much anymore. Mostly, they are desk and office rental spaces with many startups but can offer drop-in networking opportunities.

Some of our favorite Silicon Valley coworking spaces:

Bay Area (surrounding area)

Favorite Coffee Spots

In Silicon Valley, coffee shops are full of people with startup ideas and experiences. Here are some of our favorites:

Finding a Conference Room

Silicon Valley Tours

Check out Ympact’s video for a nice overview.

 

If we have overlooked an event or group you have found valuable please let us know. This list is a work in progress that I will continue to work on. 

1 thought on “Guide to Silicon Valley Startup Events”

  1. Luis Antezana

    Hi – Founders Live is an ongoing Bay Area event. Yes, we are in over 110 other cities around the world, but each city hosts its own community event.

    Thanks for including us!

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