A noob in San Francisco…

I failed to get into the SSBB tourney… (stupid line)

I failed to meet Aaron Stanton… (or any other tech dude)

I failed to go to meetups or conventions… (GDC costed $$$)

I failed to make any progress startup-worthy… But hey I got to visit San Francisco!!!

That’s really what counts right? The west coast is truly a different environment and thrives with its own unique people. Just by knowing that someone like Kevin Rose could be walking on the streets is amazing, at least for a local boy like me. I actually think I saw Kevin Rose walking by Fisherman’s Wharf with an asian girl (gf Valleywag?). I was going to shout “Kevin” to see if he would turn around but I chickened out.

And now that I am back home, Jessica Mah has written a nice post on what not to do when visiting a new place. I sure could have used that mini-guide for I made about half the mistakes (not the airline ones, Virgin kept me happy =D). So traveling with my family basically turned the trip more tourist-y than startup-y.

But despite my noobishness, it was still an awesome trip! Because blog readers love bold words and lists so much, I’ll finish this post with a list of triumphs!

• Toured around Stanford! The literal hub of Silicon Valley, a lot of the accomplishments start right there on the beautiful campus. I’m determined more than ever to go to Stanford not only because of its acadamia but also its atmosphere to promote and develop all the ideas brewing in my head.
• Ate at In-N-Out Burger! Speaks for itself to anyone that has been there.
• Developed a clearer mindset on where to take this blog and the ideas for a startup. The really fun part of all this is that there are no rules and we are constantly doing something that no one has done before. Playing with APIs and seeing how the rest of the tech industry is evolving gives me a greater sense of “I want to be a part of this”.
• Learned from my mistakes. Half the job of being your own boss is making the connections with real-life people and travel is a big part of it. To anyone else that is going to somewhere new, be pro-active and initiate conversation with ANYONE about ANYTHING (disclaimer: unless they look creepy then watch out).
• Took pictures with logos!

~Kevin Xu