Monday, August 16, 2010

The North Bay Growth and Innovation Forum vs The North Bay Investors Summit?






The North Bay Growth and Innovation Forum vs The North Bay Investors Summit?

This fall the North Bay will host two great events --the 9th North Bay Growth & Innovation Forum (NBGIF) and the 2010 North Bay Investors Summit (NBIS).

The NBGIF is put on by the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce with leadership from the City of Santa Rosa Economic Development team. The North Bay Angels are an event partner. This fall the NBGIF happens on October 20. The keynote speaker is Doug Clark, the CEO of Métier. Métier recently opened its second office in Santa Rosa. The Métier Santa Rosa story is amazing. In just 12 months Métier had brought on over 20 employees (with 11 open positions) in Santa Rosa. Métier chose Santa Rosa after an exhaustive evaluation of different cities.

The target participants for the NBGIF are growing small-to-mid-sized businesses in the North Bay. The NBGIF includes the standard company pitches. But the forum also has an educational component. The NBGIF has round table discussions where entrepreneurs can talk with an expert at no charge. Past round table topics have included financing, due diligence, social media, and email marketing. Attendance is open to anyone. This is a great event for any North Bay small-to-medium-sized business owner to promote their business. It is also a great forum for aspiring entrepreneurs.

On the other hand, the NBIS is hosted by the Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster (SMBC) with a focus on angel or VC-backable startups. The SMBC is partnering with the North Bay Angels and the Keiretsu Forum. Attendance is limited to accredited investors and VC's. This year's event theme is Cars, Cabernet, & Cash. Cash of course refers to the VC-pitches. And cabernet is obvious -- Napa and Sonoma counties make the North Bay the premier wine region in the country -- so the wine at the event mixer will be great. As for Cars, the event will include a small exotic and performance car expo and an opportunity to test drive a Tesla. The NBIS keynote speaker will be Barry Schuler, the CEO of Raydiance and the former CEO of AOL. The 2010 NBIS will be on November 10.

The NBIS is THE North Bay event for early stage startups to pitch to angels and VC's. Up to 200 investors are expected to attend.

So...clearly the NBGIF and the NBIS are complementary events. The NBGIF should appeal to any growing business in the North Bay. The NBIS makes sense for angel investors, aspiring angel investors, and VC attendees along with startup company presenters. This fall will be a good time for small businesses and startups in the North Bay to pitch their companies.

Full disclosure...I am on the organizing committee for both events representing the North Bay Angels.

2010 North Bay Growth and Innovation Forum
October 20, 2010
Hyatt Vineyard Creek Hotel
More info:  http://bit.ly/UP4MB








9th North Bay Investors Summit
November 10, 2010
Sonoma Mountain Village Event Center

Friday, August 6, 2010

Getting Voted off the Island?

Getting Voted off the Island?

Most people in the North Bay have lived somewhere else. So…they will know what I mean. I remember when we lived in Silicon Valley. We thought nothing about driving 15 or twenty miles to go shopping, go to dinner, etc.

But in the North Bay…people in Napa don’t like to drive to Sonoma. People in Sonoma avoid going to Napa. Petalumans hate driving to Target in Rohnert Park or Novato let alone making the trek to Santa Rosa or San Rafael. Santa Rosans don’t go to the great restaurants in Petaluma. San Rafael denizens won’t deign to go to Novato. And then there is the biggest barrier of all – crossing the Golden Gate Bridge to San Francisco.

My wife and I call this the North Bay island mentality. Nobody likes to leave their island.

I believe this island mentality comes from the greenbelts and agricultural land separating the towns in the North Bay. In the Silicon Valley and the East Bay…there is little to distinguish between cities. Cupertino melts into San Jose which is mostly indistinguishable from Santa Clara. Who knows where the boundary is between Berkeley and Oakland? Up here, the towns are not only separated by green space, but also by “narrows” or “gulches” or other distinct geographical boundaries. Psychologically, I believe this drives an island mentality.

The island mentality is good and bad.

On the good side – all of the towns have distinct personalities. Petaluma has its ag and rivertown history, telecom valley office buildings, and all the cute old houses. Sebastopol has its hippies and tie die. Napa legitimately trumpets itself as the center of the wine universe. Sonoma’s personality revolves around its plaza and its equally find wine. You get what I mean.

On the negative side…the North Bay ends up being parochial. The towns compete rather than cooperate. At one time Petaluma and Novato even tried to secede from their respective counties. How crazy is that? During the Civil War armed Petalumans started to head up to Santa Rosa*. Wacky!

I think the North Bay is the best place to live in the world. We need to work to keep it that way. We need to build a diverse regional economy. With technology and tourism. Wine making and manufacturing. Telecom and agriculture.

In 2004, my wife, daughter and I moved to Sacramento for me to work at a venture capital firm. When we left, we felt like we were being voted off the island. Of course, we could only stay away for one year.

As I look for my next gig, I hope we don’t get voted off again.



*  they only made it to the Washoe House where they got drunk and headed home…but that is another story.