Successful startups, as they say, do not exist in a vacuum. Oftentimes, a mere idea is transformed into a multi-million dollar startup venture through the simple act of networking. It is Startup Social’s mission to create events that foster this environment of innovation. On Friday, April 12, we hosted our largest event yet, attracting over 1000 entrepreneurs, investors and other professionals.

Set on the water, against the backdrop of the stunning Bay Bridge lights, One Ferry Plaza was the ideal location for this networking social, which featured a products showcase, full-bar, dance floor with DJs and more.  The event kicked off with the Startup Showcase, where a selection of handpicked companies presented their products to potential investors and consumers alike, generating valuable feedback and forging lasting partnerships.

These tips are applicable for networking whenever you are trying to engage your partner and form an important immediate connection as a foundation of a future follow up.

I recently read a post by Fred Kofman, a professor of leadership and coaching, titled “7 Steps to Prove That You Are Listening”. It was addressing men, husbands, fathers suggesting how to open up the channel of communications with their wives, daughters, significant others. What was interesting is that I realized this was the intent only after getting to the end of the post. I read the whole thing with the impression that the tips were for effective networking for anyone.

Read more at http://www.women2.com/effective-networking-by-learning-to-listen

As promised in my last blog entry, I'd like to address the topic of efficient networking and bringing to a close stale conversations. I called it "Knowing your No's". 

You've been there, I am sure of it. You're talking to someone new at a networking event. You are eager to identify the threads that connect you only to discover that the two of you have nothing in common. Furthermore, you are sure you cannot bring value to each other and any further interaction is simply a lost opportunity to connect with someone else. We're talking about efficiency here! Worse yet, you have probably been on the other side of that handshake oblivious to the fact that your partner is trying to shake you off. 

The value of networking events cannot be overemphasized. A stimulating conversation can spark a new idea. A thoughtful introduction can create an opportunity. A supportive ear can rekindle the passion in your pursuits. Whatever the benefit an entrepreneur receives, networking events provide a great overall value to the startup ecosystem.

However, with so many events happening seemingly every day in Silicon Valley, attending more than a few every month can be taxing. How does one maximize the utility of these events? Here are 6 tips to taking better advantage of networking opportunities.

Once in a while StartupMonthly will feature guest bloggers who will share with us their wisdom, experience, and inspiration. Here is a little post by the new addition to Silicon Valley - Val Dobrushkin. He offers the following impressions of Silicon Valley as a recent outsider.

by Vadim Slavin

Welcome back, readers, to the StartupMonthly Blog. It's a new year, new beginning, new resolutions to keep and to procrastinate on. One such resolution of mine is to keep this blog current. There is so much to share with our community, so many lessons learned, so many ideas for how to help our growing ecosystem.

Here is what to expect in this Blog in 2013. I will be sharing the ecosystem news from around the world where StartupMonthly is active. Currently it is Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Israel, USA, UK and the list is growing. Secondly, I will be sharing our lessons learned on running our accelerator. I will report back on what we, at StartupMonthly, are learning from our own mentors and advisers. And lastly, I will be giving away insights on how to get your next idea funded. Phew. Let's hope someone will be reading this.

Let's get our minds stretched in 2013, let's get pumped to achieve what we set out to achieve, and let's be accountable for our own actions towards our own dreams - it's the only way to go. Happy New Year and see you all soon!

Smart$Money is a unique program which informes, educates and prepares foreign business angels and VCs for their future investments in IT startups. Smart$Money enables them to exchange knowledge and experience as well as share, inspire and connect with each other.

Program moderator Pemo Theodore and Startup Monthly team made it a reality.

40+ participants, keynotes, and panelists (among them Steve Blank, Robert Scoble, Buddy L. Arnheim, Christine Herron, Jeff Pulver, Bill Reichert, Greg Kidd, Brant Cooper and more key players in Venture Capital ecosystem) learned about foreign and domestic angel and VC investments, deal-structure, market trends, and the Silicon Valley ecosystem. The participants got connected to leading investors in Silicon Valley, visited successful startups, and got acquainted with various accelerator programs. During the 4-day program, participants visited Facebook, Microsoft, Stanford University and other Silicon Valley companies' offices. Agenda also included keynotes, roundtable discussions, networking events and pitch sessions (5 companies from Startup Monthly Accelerator presented their products to investors).

Each day had special keynotes, themes, mentors and speakers: Ecosystem Day, Angels Day, VCs Day, Investment Day.
Learn more...
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On November 13 Palo Alto's Patio saw one of the biggest Happy Hour event organized by StartupMonthly!

More than 250 ambitious entrepreneurs, investors and startups got together to mingle, pitch and discuss future business opportunities on a Tuesday (!!!) night.

BIG special thanks goes to our sponsor Roger Royse.
Download a free copy of his book "Dead on Arrival: How to Avoid the Legal Mistakes That Could Kill Your Startup" 

Another big thank you goes out to Softlayer for co-sponsoring this event which enabled StartupMonthly to provide free beer and appetizers to attendees.

And finally, a big thank you to all attendees for coming: we will see you soon at the next Startup Social Party, December 7 in San Francisco!  More info here!

Sunday evening the StartupMonthly team invited friends, mentors and investors for a housewarming party to welcome our new guests in their new home - the StartupMansion House. The guests are the startups who have recently arrived to take part in the StartupMonthly's second startup accelerator. 

Family style table was full of international dished: Russian "blinchiki", "manty", salads and appetizers and of course Polish "Zubrowka"!
The "BIG START" celebration brought everyone together with a great reason to talk informally, make new friends and get know new roommates closely.

Four out of five startups participating in the accelerator will live in the same house for 4 month during the program and share the working space, located close to the Mansion.

Throughout the evening the atmosphere remained very warm and filled with jokes, stories, and toasts for good luck and a great start!

Accelerator Program 2012 is rapidly gaining speed, 5 teams from Russia, Greece, Lithuania and Silicon Valley are working side by side with mentors, investors and angels improving their products.

Every other week we will be introducing you to one of the Startups!

Meet Weendy!

Weendy is a web and mobile application for surfers, snowboarders and extreme sports fans, enabling them to share action video and photo updates, meet with people, explore places and find the best conditions before they go out.

Co-founders Katerina Stroponiati and Yiannis Varelas will tell you about Weendy.

Problem
All sport enthusiasts face the following problem: lack of real time updates from the spots they care about as well as failing forecasts. These challenges makes these enthusiasts drive for hours to the beach/mountain, but most of the times actual conditions are far away from those expected. These guys are struggling to find a way to connect with the people who are already at the spot in order to get an accurate update of the conditions, so they can save their time and their money. To overcome this problem, some created Facebook groups, but they ended up as advertising lists. Lack of filtering based on users' profiles makes the groups noisy and (due to their local character) it's hard to discover new places or connect with people in different locations. Also, industry fragmentation and the lack of a common communication platform provides a unique opportunity for businesses to find, communicate and engage with new or existing customers through weendy.

How they started
Both of the founders are addicted windsurfers, kiteboarders, surfers and everything related with watersports, so they know first hand how it feels to spend all your weekend driving around to find the appropriate conditions and get in the water. And it's common to be wasting your time and money, either because forecasts were wrong or because you didn't have the right information. So, they decided to do something about this in order to help their community members not wasting their time. They built a simple app that allowed you to shoot a 10 second video of the conditions, and share them with your friends. In just two months, the app dominated the Greek market, and expanded to more than 15 countries.

Why they got selected
They believed that what they had was a kick-ass product. They are part of the extreme sports community, great niche of the crazy people/surfers, so they deeply understand how this market works. The product has been validated from their market, has remarkable traction and the business model is straightforward.


Good luck, Katerina and Yiannis!