Time caught up with me I couldn’t continue to blog each night/morning after as I had started out, but instead had to take notes and hope that my memory would still be sharp a week later when I got the chance to write.

Today during the day needed to be light because we knew we had a good mixer to attend later in the evening.  No sessions for me today, I just couldn’t do it!  The trade floor turned out to be very good, probably one of the best targeted for my needs as well as my company’s needs.  We met a lot of great people along the way, and even more great applications!

My favorite application turned out not to be a a group text / chat app like GroupMe (I personally don’t have a large circle of friends that I chat with from my mobile device) but instead I fell in love with Neer.  Neer isn’t designed to broadcast your location to vast social networks, but uses location to communicate only to those who need to be in the know. Neer uses all the features of your smartphone to dynamically sense your location, eliminating the phone calls or text messages needed to synchronize the day.  For example, I can leave myself a note in Neer for when I drop my son off at daycare, and my iPhone will pop up a reminder *only* when I’m physically close to his school.  BRILLIANT!  I have a location set up for home, work, both schools, and the food store – and set reminders to myself for each location.  I love it!

The evening activities were pretty much limited to one party – the Silicon Valley Bank / NEA mixer.  The party was great, the classiest one yet.  The attendees ranged from SVB / NEA employees and clients to wannabe’s and startups looking for money.  Sharks and chum.  Dave and I did get to chat to quite a few people, met a lot of startups, and got some advice.  We were looking for a bit of direction and some names to follow up with, not money (but we would have to think about a $3m check if one was handed to us). I got an education, especially on what and whom to trust.  I’m more cynical now than ever.  Good thing we are well on our way to make obscene amounts of cash without outside money.

After a whirlwind three hours at the mixer, Dave and I make a quick stop into the Mashable party at Buffalo Billards.  As I checked in on Foursquare, I realized that the person sitting directly across from me was a ‘friend’ of mine on the platform, and had no clue who I was even after I mentioned my name AND showed him the connection on my phone.  I don’t value ‘friendship’ on social platforms unless the person is willing to at least say ‘hi’ and ‘cool’ when a serendipitous meetup happens in person.  I unfriended him later that night.

Saw :

  • Julien Smith
  • Estaban Contreras / Samsung
  • Saul Colt / Freshbooks
  • Sean Preshnel / MySpace
  • Shelby Drummond Kazynski / Samsung
  • Shai Goldman / SVB